Planning a start-up business?

Meta4 Business Coaching

This year (2021) Birmingham has been crowned regional start-up capital for the seventh year. So, now is an opportune time to get your start up off and running. What are you waiting for?

Usually, it’s this… where do I start!? A common question I hear yelped when embarking on a start-up business. With so much to be done to get a start-up business underway it’s very easy to get those familiar feelings of overwhelm and then end up procrastinating and feeling like you’re achieving nothing of note.

Alternatively, start-up business owners can dive in feet first. Going straight into marketing mode when there’s little to no understanding of products and services or target market.

Here are a few simple tools to help you get started in a more strategic, planned way, by understanding what you’re aiming to achieve first:

Understand your values. Do some behind the scenes personal evaluation first. What will make your start-up business feel and look successful for you? Understand your most important personal and professional values, your rules for life.  Once establishing these, they make for clear marketing messages across your platforms which clearly show what you stand for, the integrity behind your products and services and the level of service people can expect from you and your business

Mind Mapping. Gift yourself the time and space to develop a clear (mind) map of what your start-up business will look like. Mind maps help you develop your thoughts and business ideas more freely, without restrictions. Start with your business name in the middle. What will it look like, who are your customers, services delivered, marketing platforms to be used, what will you feel like when it’s a success etc? Ask yourself a myriad of questions and see what springs to mind.

Develop your confidence & self- belief. Both are key skills small business owners need to be equipped with. The good news – they can be learned!  There are loads of techniques to rid negative, self-sabotaging thoughts and learn how to be a more positive, self-affirming, confident and a professional business owner. Firstly, know what these negative thoughts are and how they manifest themselves. Write them all down, start to address your insecurities. Then start to write down some thoughts that are in exact opposition of those thoughts. This will help you to notice when the negative or unhelpful thoughts and mindset occur and think about what steps you can take to start developing confidence building skills – time to take yourself out of your comfort zone!

Now you’ve laid a few of the foundations. Time to move onto the strategy and planning for your start-up business. Start to develop your product and service offering. Do your research, what are your competitors offering, how are they offering it and at what value? Differentiate yourself – what can you do with your business product and service that makes you stand out from the crowd?

Understand all the different ways you can market your product and service. What are the routes to your customers? Where do they shop, how do they think? Start to develop a wide range of marketing resources that you can utilise, so you develop the most cost-effective routes to your customer. From here you should see the development of your business marketing plan.

From each of these steps you will have unconsciously created lots of actions. Start taking action. Small steps every day, week, month. Create momentum and get your business off the ground one step at a time.

If you’re not sure quite where to start, book in for a free 1-hour business kickstart session and get some clarity, focus and direction for the best next steps in your business. 

Clare Whalley
Meta4 Business Coaching