Ideas for Starting a Business

If you're looking to start a business, the first step is to get noticed and gain trust. The product you choose has to be of good quality, and treating people well goes a long way. So, you might be wondering what kind of business to dive into. Start by honing your skills; soon enough, opportunities will present themselves. Check out your local area for products that are in short supply but have a solid demand. Once you spot that gap, you'll realize that your journey from nothing to making it big could happen faster than you think. We all dream of success and growth. But to really expand, you need to create products that cater to what consumers want. This leads to another question: do you need machinery to make your products? And if that’s the case, where do you get those machines? There are plenty of companies out there that can supply you with what you need. They might have some conditions that could trim your profit margin a bit. Still, it’s absolutely possible to kick off your business and establish your brand. If going that route doesn’t appeal to you, you might consider pooling together some cash with a few friends and building something together.

I expect you to start about the competencies in a potential entrepreneur that he must possess before starting a business, because this goes a long way in determining for how the entire ideas and operations goes with the business we are doing, planning before the start up is very important, so that we cant afford to later stop along the way when we couldn't move on the operations at the middle of the way because of some minor challenges.

Op, while you are right I will like to say that starting a business, you also need to have planned things down maybe 4 to 2 years ago ,Yeah not all business needs this much time but without proper planning and business management, you might have customers who will purchase your product but you wouldn't be able to save your capital well if you do not have a well thought out plan.​Basically to me I like to believe that yeah products which are short in supply but high in demand are the best to help you grow your business but still the price of your product also plays a crucial role. Whereby you as a businessman you must prioritise quality over quantity to the customers, unfortunately demand will surely increase when customers are satisfied with your product.... ​Overall building a business takes time and definitely there would be competitions. So to avoid that we should prioritise building our business in places that are busy with no competition. That's just it a business success is determined by the businessman or woman's risk management, capital, strategy, planning, and lastly, how well they relate with the customers and their satisfaction. That's all for me....

These are all general words without specifics. Here I am reading the channel of an entrepreneur who himself interviews other entrepreneurs about their business. So there's only specifics in the channel, right down to the calculations of what profit they receive per month and what expenses. He even recently published a book based on these interviews. There are all kinds of businesses described there, but I remember most of all the business of making corrugated cardboard scratching posts for cats. And surprisingly, it makes a considerable profit.

Quality is already subjective nowadays due to the introvert of cheap items from China. It’s hard to compete with products even if you have quality if there’s an alternative that cost much cheaper and perform the same even on a short period of time. I preferred business on services such as laundry shops and so on which people use it as necessity without competition against China cheaper products.

Just do it, you'll gain experience eventually whether you fail at first or you deliver. Just execute. If you're starting out, always test the water and don't go all in yet. If your product can be produced by what's available to you, do it until you get a lot of orders and you need machine to do that automatedly. Because that's the mistake of many businessmen who are starting out. They put all of their money when they don't know if orders will come out. As you go in the process, you'll figure out each of what you need to expand or where to invest next in your business, either in manpower, equipment, more stocks, etc.

Yes personal branding, the more people who know us, the higher the potential for our success in business, therefore in marketing science personal branding is the frontline for business success outside of capital, hard work, consistency and patience, doing market research is also something important, but on the other hand I am a little confused by the machine you are referring to, because the basis for starting a business is having capital, strong intentions, hard work, patience and several other things such as market research that you mentioned above.

If you look at the goods in my neighborhood kitchen, you will see how honest your words are, the products of China are destroying the market of domestic small entrepreneurs in my country in appliances and furniture, a lot of entrepreneurs are going out of business because of the proliferation of cheap goods, while if we produce independently it is quite expensive and cannot fight against those goods with almost the same quality, if we improve the quality of the product then offering a cheaper price is torturing our capital, and we will lose money. My friend runs a laundry and also rents out a mini football field which is better than making products like that and such, if domestic entrepreneurs want to grow we just need to hope the government closes the tap on Chinese products.

I think business starts not with a product or a machine but with a solution to a problem. Business becomes much easier if you understand what people are upset about. Even if you don't have your own machine, it's not a problem but it has flexibility. You can easily change direction if the demand changes, I'm a little cautious about doing business with friends. Running a relationship and a business together is mentally difficult. So in my opinion, it's better to learn small in the beginning, alone or in a clear partnership. Scale will come with time but learning at the beginning is the real investment.

Nowadays, with the advancement of the internet, it's possible to sell services, and the number of services that can be offered is vast. Regardless of whether you sell products or services, invest in knowledge; most businesses fail due to poor management. If possible, focus on something you already know or have worked for in a company that sells what you intend to sell. The chances of success are much higher when you have expertise in the market you intend to enter. Never stop studying, stay updated on trends and constant changes in the market and the economy, and always be alert for new opportunities.

It's BS, customer satisfaction is important for a business to be successful but that didn't made anyone a billionaire, it is for the very small scale business operated by themselves or with a very few employees but if we are talking about creating a product or building the brand then we need to think about how to make the people to use it, that is how most of the brands we know got success not really with customer satisfaction.

I have a serious question to ask. My father used to say that you have to be kind, gentlemanly, and healthy. What do you think about rebuilding a destroyed country and attracting a certain number of people who might buy the product I want to sell, demonstrating not with the company name but with the will of the public and a slogan and symbol with a happy face that says we are together, don't worry, be happy?

Yes, there are highly skilled people in my country that makes shoes, bags, clothes, minor electrical gadgets but they can not compete with the cheaper alternative from china and they are coming into my country in tons of shipping containers. Some of this skilled people are now looking for connections on how they to can be an importer of these Chinese products, now we aren’t seeing the bad this is causing and some people who supposed to be an activist for the country is spare heading the importation.

See how easy it is to talk. If only it were that easy. Find a product that is in short supply but high demand and start supplying it. sounds easy, but it's not at all. Most times, there is a reason why those products are in short supply. The cost of doing business may not be worth the profit, or many other factors. People often give advice on how to be successful in a business, and although they're not wrong, it's not that easy. Building a business from the ground up and becoming successful is not easy at all. It's very difficult work. You make it seem like there are companies out there that are ready or willing to just fund your business whenever you request it. Reality is always different. There is a reason there are more failed businesses than successful ones. If it were so easy in reality, a lot more business would have been built and a lot more would have been successful.

I believe as a business man, or as someone who want to go into a business, you must not be known to start any business, what make people to know you and put trust in you, is your ability to satisfy your customers and you can do this if you sell good products, maintain good customer relations. When you showcase those good qualities of a good business man and you are selling good products, people will definitely know you. Business is majorly about trust, if your customers find trust doing business with you, they will be the ones to advice you and your product and will help to make you successful in your business venture.

You have given many good business advices. Customers will always come back when they are satisfied with the goods or services offered. Marketing is another area that is important to the success of a business. You would achieve your business goals only when your products get to the target customers. Until they are aware of your products they might not have access. So every business owner needs to develop and implement sound marketing strategy that will take the product to the right market. Promotion will also convince the prospective customers that the product is good.

Op, Your point is really valid about the successful business. Everyone wants quick profit but the actual thing that is more necessary is trust and good reputation. When people begain trust in your services they also recommend you to others. If you chose quality product and give a good and quick responce to customers than you will gain long term growth in your business. Many people don't know which business is best for them but we should focous on skill development because with a professional skill we will create opportunities. If want consistent growth in business we don't need a huge investment at start. And another strong opportunity is to start business with friends. At last the learning point is that we should must have knowledge about customers need and that's the key to going from zero to success.

I was understanding the whole thing until I came to this part... Does every business have to do with the production of goods?, and the use of machines?. When you mentioned business, and the need to identify what could probably be a demand in your local, there are literally a lot of business that anyone can do that doesn't require personal production or even the usage of machines. And mind you, having a skill is entirely different. But if i'm to go back to the first 2-3 lines of what you wrote, I totally agree with that. As a consumer, I always look forward to my first interaction with whosoever is offering me a service, and I also try to see if that service worths it. A lot of people that wants to start business don't understand this. One thing is for you to offer a service, while another thing is for that customer to be pleased with whatever has been offered according to what you told him/her. As a business person, your customers must trust you, and in order for them to trust you, your services must meet up with what you've told them(their expectations).

What of in a new environment,  would you immediately start to be known and get peoples trust, if not it will take time before that begins to happen, through the way you treat and communicate with your customers base network. Remember, that's not what someone would expect overnight, it will take longer time for someone to get themselves known to people and to gain people's trust.

This guide that you mentioned is easier said than done. For a business to be successful, the operator should have the necessary skills and experience to handle the pressure of running a business. I have a lot of businessman friends, and many of them run and lose their businesses on their first tries. The money and the products are there, but they lack experience; experience gives you insight as you run your business. Business is not an 8-to-5 job; it's a 24/7 venture, it's imposing but rewarding.