Business

Some companies are successful and become market leaders, but 80 per cent of new businesses fail. There are many reasons of failures. Cash flow problems, bad debts, old equipment and poor planning.

Well, the first step, of course, is to develop a new product idea. Many people decide to start a business because they have a good idea. So you have to learn industry trends and invent a new, innovative product. And you should make sure that your product will have differences with products of competitors and will have some key selling points.

The next step is to prepare a good business plan. Your business plan helps you to focus on what you want to do. It also helps with the fourth step: getting finance. In the plan you need to show that you can run the business. So you include information about staff, management, production, marketing and, of course, finance. You should note funding, figures for first two years, profit and loss forecast.

Then you should build a customer base. You need a number of regular consumers who come back to you year after year. Without customers you don’t have a profit, so a strong customer base is key to making a success of your business.

Another factor for success is growth. You should be prepared to make a loss for at least the first year but even then you shouldn’t stand still, because your competitors will put you out of business. Successful companies are always finding new markets and new opportunities to grow.