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How I Started a Business and You Too Can

A business can help you be your own boss, acquire financial freedom, and attain your financial goals. Here is how you can start a profitable business.
Man happy about starting a business
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A business can help you be your own boss, acquire financial freedom, and attain your financial goals. However, you may face failures or stumbling blocks if you do not first understand the key concepts of entrepreneurship. First of all, it helps if you start a business that you’re passionate about. Here are more insights into how to start a profitable business. ~ Ed.

I was out of money. I couldn’t find a way to pay my bills — my dad had to fund all my expenses. But how long will you ask your dad to pay for everything? 

That was in 2011 when I was in college. I was tense as I didn’t have any income. I couldn’t think of any way to make a couple of bucks, so I called my American friend. 

“Can you please help me make money?” I said it with a slight tremor in my voice. He could sense my suffering and hired me as his virtual assistant. And within a few months, I was making more money than the professor standing next to me who was teaching me how to do business! 

So, you want to start a business and you may be asking yourself: “Do I need to learn everything about “business” before I start?” The answer is definitely “NO!” You can see from my story how I started a business before I even knew anything about it.

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Starting a Business

My belief is that entrepreneurship is something that you can’t do by learning from an article or a book. So, why do I still choose to write articles about this topic, something you can’t learn from? Well, I just want to help you learn from my personal experiences so you are better safe than sorry when you land into this uncharted territory of entrepreneurship.

One of the many lessons I’ve learned from interviewing a lot of entrepreneurs is that you should learn and develop a long-term learning habit. It will help you in the long-run. 

I’ve spent nine years in business now, and I’ve failed in business more than a hundred times. Failure is not a problem at all. If you don’t fail, that means that you don’t take any action and if you don’t take any action that means you don’t have the option to succeed. Business has taught me how important it is to take action. 

4 Steps to Start a Profitable Business

Once you get into business, I recommend that you at least know about these four core concepts, because this is where your business begins.

Mindset

Research shows that ideas pivot, business models evolve, and customers come and go. The North Star in your business, always, is you.

I see many people thinking about how good they think their business ideas are and how they think those ideas will make them money. I’ve been stopping them for a while and asking one question: “Why don’t you just get a job?” If their reason is that they think business will make them rich fast, then I tell them that “… business isn’t for you!” They don’t have a mindset that will see them through the tough times. 

Mindset is everything. Your Mindset is more important than the business you do. A proper mindset will keep you on track to never, ever give up on yourself or your Dream. Remember, everything was in the acorn in the beginning, as it is with everyone,” said Richard Petenaude, founder of Student Billionaire, while giving an interview to me.

In certain situations, people want to do business because they believe those who do business are more successful – and it’s true that business gives you independence, but you shouldn’t forget that it is filled with challenges. 

For example, how many businesses are in trouble due to the current pandemic? So, you’ve got to take care of your mindset before you even think about starting a business. That will help you later when you’re stuck in such a situation.

So, before you get into a business, I suggest you first ask yourself if it’s really something you want to do – not because someone else has done it, but just because you want to do it for yourself.  

Audience

Now once you understand your mindset, dive in to find your target audience. It is essential to define your target audience before building your product. This is where most people make mistakes. They make a product without knowing their target audience, and then once they are in the sales process, they end up discovering that there is no one interested in buying their product.

Have you ever asked yourself why this happens? I used to ask myself this question often, and I found an answer: we usually create a product caring about ourselves and we don’t give any attention to our target audience needs. 

So, most of the businesses care about themselves and their products and you would find them bragging about how good the product. But it is not about you. It is about who you are selling to. 

The simple approach to do this the right way is to first figure out how to define your target audience, then see what problems they have, and then build a product to solve the problems you discover.

It’s a matter of solving a problem. What kind of problem would you solve for them?  You’d have to do extensive research about it. The best way is to do a survey, but you can also go to different blogs and read the comments to see what problems people are facing. Keep investigating, and then decide what interest you have in making a product that will solve their problems.

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Without understanding your target market, no matter how effective a product you’ve made, it just doesn’t matter. Find the target market that will pay for your products by building a product that solves their problems. Don’t forget about it!

Product 

For every business, having the right product or mix of products is essential. Without a product to sell, well, you don’t have a business. 

A product is the most important part of your business. But can you have a business without a product?

Yes! You can sell others’ products if you don’t have your own. Alibaba and Amazon are the most renowned examples of this. You can either build your own product or sell others’ products by having a distribution business. 

It must be something you love doing and have a huge passion for. Running a business is hard, and if you don’t like what you’re doing, then you won’t last. If you lack passion, then you might as well get a job (even if you don’t like it). At least you’ll have more financial security. 

Besides being passionate about, when choosing a product or service to start a business, you need to make sure that there is a need for it out there.

There are some key differences between Product and Service businesses. If you’re unsure about which business idea to pursue, or are already thinking about how to expand your mix of products to include both Products and Services, then it’s helpful to understand those differences. 

While a product may require much time and money to make the business profitable, the service businesses can be started overnight and be profitable. But of course, a product-based company would be more valuable. The product and services businesses have their own pros and cons.

Business Model

When jumping into the business, many people get lost in the complexity and don’t know what the business model entails. 

They concentrate on their products and think more about the innovations that will help them build their products. While the business model is one of the most overlooked aspects of a business, it is more critical than anything else.

Whether or not we know it, we use a business model in every business. A business model is a framework built in your mind that enables you to succeed. It’s about how the business works, how it plans to accomplish its goals – and how it makes profits.

Lewis has simplified this concept as – “All it really meant was how you planned to make money”. You simply make a conceptual structure of your business to achieve your desired goals. It also means how you map the value for your customers.

Business is about making profits, and if you don’t make a profit, then you are out of business. And, to make any income, you have to be determined in your mind to follow your plan to make money.

One of the most persistent problems I see is that many people just jump into business, and only try things. They start a business about coaching, start learning how to build their own websites to save money, and then they get lost. They’re no longer focused on building a coaching business; they’re more interested in a website business! 

So, create a business model, a plan for your business to make a profit, and focus on it – it is one of the most fundamental things to do. 

Conclusion

You’re not supposed to start a business because you think it will make you a lot of money; instead, do business because you feel a calling for it. Listen to yourself, and don’t try it until you hear that voice inside of you saying, “I want to do business!” 

It’s a long journey of rewards and challenges, often both at the same time. And as you are open to your reward, you also have to be as open to your challenges.

It is like your baby, and you have to take care of it in all situations, including good and bad times. Make sure you are clear about your target audience, as they are more necessary than anything else. Then satisfy the target audience by helping to fix their most irritating problems.

And focus on your business model – you’ve got to take care of that, too!

Over to you

Did you start your own business? What is your advice to make it profitable? Do share your tips and experiences in the comments.

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Disclaimer: Though the views expressed are of the author’s own, this article has been checked for its authenticity of information and resource links provided for a better and deeper understanding of the subject matter. However, you're suggested to make your diligent research and consult subject experts to decide what is best for you. If you spot any factual errors, spelling, or grammatical mistakes in the article, please report at [email protected]. Thanks.

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  1. Shan – good article. I particularly like mindset. I would also add that what i have found is to not wait for your product or service to be perfect in your mind before you get it in front of customers. You’ll spend so much time on features they don’t need / want and miss out on features that they do. Get into the marketplace and listen / respond.

  2. Hi,
    Yes you are right For every business, having the right product is the most important part to grow your business & with the right target audience.

  3. In this pandemic situation how to start business from home? Because there are some of resources which needs to start business are not available right now what to do?

  4. Shaan, I am not starting my business, but I started my blog a few months ago on the topic “hosting”, affiliates are ready, but I failed to increase my visitors.
    Have you any best suggestion for me.

    1. Hmm Pardeep,

      You asked me a really critical question. I reviewed your blog and sent you a thorough reply. I ‘d also look forward to writing a blog post about it soon. 🙂

      Cheers,

  5. Hi Shan,

    Hope you are doing good. Your blogs are literally adding value to the readers.
    What do you think about reading motivational books while startup or doing any business ?
    I suggest you to add about this in your blog.

    Cheers,
Roshan.

    1. Hi Roshan,

      First of all, thank you for your comment, and I really agree with you about reading motivational stuff upon this journey. Also, if you don’t know me, I’d like to tell that I’m also an NLP and CPT therapist, and I’m also working in Heart Meta Medicine. I have three books in work about personal development and psychological problems.

      So, yeah … As you said, I read motivational books, and I agree, but here’s the most important part. We read a lot of stuff every day, and at the end of the day we forget and sleep like a cat. This is the main problem. The most important thing is to take on your own responsibilities. Motivational books and videos will give you a lift for a bit, but you’d miss that landmark. Solution to that one? Start taking on the responsibility.

      Do it right now. Right now, don’t give me a laundry list of your excuses for not being able or unable to do this because it would be a lie. You can do that.

      Also please be aware that according to psychologists and neurosciences, making new habits will take at least 60 days, so be patient and keep trying to develop this amazing new habit to take your responsibility.

      Thanks again 🙂

  6. Great article. I agree with your opinion, business is like your baby, and you have to take care of it in all situations.

    1. Hi Dipali,

      Thank you for your comment, and yes, it’s like your baby. You’ve got to take care of it. There would be situations when it makes you proud, like when your kids come in first positions, and sometimes you’d be surprised to see that your kid only took 2 marks. So be like a good mom. Treat it quite well. Give it more time. The same thing applies on and on! 🙂

  7. Hi Shan!

    “For every business, having the right product or mix of products is essential. Without a product to sell, well, you don’t have a business.”- You saying good.

    I am very impressed to read your post. That was very informative. Thanks for the post.

    Best of Luck.

  8. Hi Shan! You have Shared an Incredible post on Ahanow blog. Before reading your post I was confused how to start a blog as business. But, your post is very result oriented and covered almost all my questions about starting a new business. Now, I’m in a win win situation.well,still need your and Harleena Singh’s encouragement to me to start a new blog. Thanks.

    1. Hi Ismail,

      Thank you for your words, and yes, make sure you do it like a CEO when you start a blog and don’t be a hobby blogger. I know a lot of experts are going to yell at me, but I know what I’m talking about. Blog is a real business that can even generate 6-7 figures, and there is a lot of evidence to support this theory. John Morrow is one of the evidence.

      Think like a CEO, I’d say the same steps apply when you launch a blog from selecting audiences to business models. Every business is the same thing.

  9. You are right too many people aim to make money rather than do something they are passionate about

    1. Indeed, ED Robbins, I believe that passion is more important than anything else. I understand this better than other people, because I’ve spent half of my life comparing myself to others. The idea is that everybody is unique. We need to embrace this truth as soon as possible, because it will help us in the long run.

      A lot of people ask me what “Product” we’re supposed to build? And, well, I’m like … “But hey, how can I know this—-if I had a better idea of the product, then I could build it better than to tell you about it, right?

      In fact, life is too short. We’ve got to take responsibility for ourselves. We need to find out what works or doesn’t work for us.

      I’m hoping that the post, at least, would help people find out whether or not business is right for them.

  10. Hi Shan,
    Great share.
    Indeed this will give an over whole idea about starting a own business.
    You very well brought out some of the important basic things and aspects for starting a own business.
    The pros and cons need to check before starting one. Post is filled with lot information for any layman to start one.
    Keep sharing.
    I found this post shared on the IM site Bizsugar and I up-voted and commented.
    Thanks for sharing. Harleena
    Have a great week ahead
    Best Regards
    ~ Phil

    1. Philip,

      So kind of you to say that, and thank you for your vote on Bizsugar. Yeah, actually, there’s something I want to tell you … The aim was to help people find their way through their lives. It’s only a small step in their lives to choose business as their career.

      Yeah, there’s a lot more to choose from, isn’t it? Like, what kind of business? Will they be operating a remote business or a traditional one? Will they be offering services or products? Will they create their own goods or sell the products of others, so on and so on and so on and so on.

      In fact, I’ve met some people who make a living by selling other people’s services.

      My aim was actually to inspire them to choose a direction, and along with the route, I highly suggest that they develop the habit of long-term learning. This is really significant. We’ve got to learn through our lives.

      “Not only was my mother a piano master in her 80’s, but she was also a piano student” are the golden words of Jerry Jenkins that changed my life.

      Again, thank you for your words. I really appreciate it a lot.

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