In this article, you’ll be guided step-by-step, on how to design and build your own business for free from scratch.
The first thing you should be thinking about is how valuable you are as a person. You've tailored your life since birth, you had your own experiences translated into feelings and lessons, and that made you who you are today.
You know yourself better than anybody else, you already know what you are passionate about and what you have to offer to the world. Because, who’s better at what you do than you are?
What's the Best Business to Start?
I see businesses falling in these 2 major categories: Service and Manufacturing.
But the most important and fatal part is in choosing a niche to support your business. And by niche, you must think about someone who would actually need your products or services.
A really powerful way of doing this, would be by creating avatars. The more specific and accurate you can be, the more you’ll be able to define your next steps.
Find about their demographics and psycographics to understand who would best fit your offerings.
- Is it male or female?
- How old is he/she?
- What’s his/her interests?
- What do they need?
- Why do they need it for?
- Is your solution making their life easier?
You can ask as many questions as you should to define your niche. And why would you do this, and not just go for "whoever comes is welcome", you ask?
Well, think about it: you like to custom your own things, right? Humans are unique and specific taylored individuals, going through different challenges and changes, whom need specific and unique stuf.
The funny thing about this is that we all belong in multiple and different niches, at the same time. And most of us vary from niche to niche in the course of our lives.
If you want to have everyone as your costumer, you won’t have anyone.
If you had a problem that you've already solved, chances are other people might have a similiar problem and your solution might help them solve it too. If you target someone you understand, who share the same view of the world as you as well as they challenges and motivations, they'll understand why you're their safest bet, making them more likely to purchase something from you.
Figure it out first, and plan your way.
Craft the Plan to Start a Business
This is crucial to do. If you do something without a plan, it’ll probably end up all over the place. Save yourself some time and headaches, and make sure to plan your plays.
If you think your goal of having a business is to make a profit... you're missing the point of having a business completly.
What if money is not the goal, but the reward instead - Will you think about your goals differently? Of course, we want to make sales and get wealthy… but that’s not exactly an unique business goal, is it?
Be S.M.A.R.T.E.R. about your goals. Set Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Bound goals and make sure to Evaluate and Revise them periodically.
Ask yourself about all the goals you want to achieve and write them down. I mean ALL of them!
Once that's done, prioritize them because if you did write all of your goals, you'll notice there's no way to do them all at once. So choose the most important ones and break them into achievable step-by-step plans.
See it as a course in progress:
Define the end point specifically, so you know how to break it into steps to start walking in that direction. Ask yourself:
- What do I need to do to get there?
- What do I have to do?
- How am I going to do it?
- Is it really important?
- What are my intentions?
- How might have other people done it?
Treat it as checklist! And now you know it will get you somewhere, because that’s what you set yourself to go after!
As you figure out these steps, you’ll find out that there is a lot to do. Don’t worry about failing, avoid it by making the best strategies you can, but allow it's presence enough to aid you in making bigger decisions. Refresh the plan, try other alternative paths as well, figure out what went wrong and make it right. The fastest you fail, the more problems you’ll solve and the more information you can absorb from them.
Hint to make less mistakes: Study the masters!
Should I Build a Brand?
Now that you have a product/service to promote and sell, have a business mission and vision, it's time to make get hands on it!
But keep in mind that brands are more than just visuals. Marty Neuemeier described "brand" as - a person's gut feeling about a product, service, or organization.
Business Hero
To develop your brand you should be treating it like a character. Make it the legend of a tale. The hero has a face, a name, a story, a purpose, a personality… a meaning!
That’s what makes a great and memorable brand: that which no one sees, but everyone knows about!
So, before you jump into the brand visuals, start by crafting your character. Tell his story:
- Who are you?
- What do you care about? And why?
- What makes you special?
- What problems are you solving?
- How you plan to change the world? And why do you want to change it?
- What are the values you share?
This step will ensure your brand to be relatable and trustworthy. Make sure you DO NOT create a Villain, or it will doom your business.
Business Visuals
Now that you know how your hero must be seen as, it's easier to customize the Avatar.
Visuals go beyond the logo of your business. It's everything that envolves your communication.
Things like colors, typography, icons, layouts, patterns, images, and any other graphical element you might consider using as a form of communicating your business. Visuals are the artistic portion of your business and remember: art is used a form of expression. And we express ourselves because we want to communicate.
Visuals are a very important part of your brand because that's exactly how you spread your message. Eyes are like a filter to our brains, so be mindful of your decisions.
Business Numbers
Feeding your hero is what will make him survive. If you are investing your time and effort building a super hero, then it must be worth it.
That way, understanding how to develop a business financial plan is of great importance if you wish to last long in the game.
Make sure you know exactly what are the costs of being in business and come up with a price for your products/services. Also, learn to manage assets and liabilities accordingly to your business necessities.
By coming up with a price, you must understand that you're also positioning your brand in the shelf for people to compare with your neighbours.
Pricing goods too high might not sell. And pricing them too low, might actually harm your business. People will judge things based on numbers too.
Should I Go Online?
In this digital world we are currently living in, you have to make room for you, so take advantage of what is available and use it in your favor.
You must find a way to market your products or/and services.
Social Media
The most popular and trustworthy way is through creating impactful content. Social Media is a great tool for this intent. It’s free and easy to use.
Hint: Pic the one's your niche spends the most time in.
Websites and Blogs
Websites and blogs are a great way to build an online and solid presence, specially because you own the domain of your brand. However, they are not free...
Websites are great to aid in boost your credibility as a business. But test your ideas with free tools before going to the paid ones.
I advise you to try Webflow for free if you want to fully customize your website, but you'll still want to add a branded domain later on.
Think of your website as a 24/7 open store for peolpe to visit all over the world.
There's a lot of tools to automate some work for you, that you can take advantge to make more time for other activities.
If you don’t want to spend money, you'll be limited to what the free platforms let you do. But, if you want to take it seriously, you’ll need tools to help you achieve your goals.
Let me put it this way: either you spend time learning all you need to do it all yourself, or you implement systems to get you what you want faster.
Start Building Your Business Today!
This is the most important thing anyway: ACTION!
Action shows you what you know and what you need to learn. You're already running a business called life and I bet you do everything you can to protect that "business", and that's because you can't put a price on it. It's just a one-way ticket.
Key thought: Work on what you love and you won't ever work a day in your life.
You have to start where everybody starts: with the first move. And the more you delay it, more people will get ahead.
Besides, it cost you nothing but an experience, so... what are you waiting on to start building your empire anyway? It's FREE!