It’s an exciting time, having a new product or service that you want to bring to market. You know the product or service inside out, everything about it, can see in clear detail why it will be beneficial to people, and you’re also certain that you can be the one to make it a success. That’s all good and well (really! An ideal start), but alas, that’s not all you need to know. Because you’re not a New-Cool-Idea-person, you’re a businessperson. And that means your job is going to include a broader range of tasks than you might previously have thought. Here’s the lowdown on some of the essentials you’ll need to know about.
Marketing
It’s not enough just to have a great idea; you need other people to know it’s great too! Because if they don’t, then how do you expect to make money? In the early days, after you’ve ironed out what exactly you’re offering, your task will be to get the word out to other people, so they know exactly what you’re all about – and then keeping them as customers. And before this you’ll have to conduct your market research. It can’t be underestimated how valuable this will be to your business—without it, you’ll be dead before you even begin.
Finances
Things are about to get a bit complicated finance wise, so we hope you’ve remembered your maths from school (or know how to use a calculator). OK, it doesn’t have to be so confusing, but you’ll have to read up on all the financial matters relating to your business, and what to do about funding it. Learn about factoring and other ways to make the most of the money you already have, and also what to do if things aren’t going so well. Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it!
How to Price
How to price your goods or services is one of more unexpectedly complicated factors in business, because it’s less about what you want to price it and more about how you should price it. Too low and you risk large sectors of the market rejecting your product on low price point alone (isn’t that odd?), too high and you have the opposite (less odd). This is where your market research will come in.
Laws
The idea of free enterprise is all good and well, but there are some pesky laws you need to stay on the right side of. You can’t be running around doing whatever you please. While most people don’t want to do anything wrong, some inadvertently fall foul of the law—especially when it comes to using copyrighted material. Make sure you have the right license for all promotional materials you use in your branding and online, as they can cause massive headaches for you later on down the line should you get it wrong.
The Setbacks
And finally, you’ll need to learn how to deal with setbacks. The course of business success never did run smooth, and your is unlikely to either. As long as you learn from where it goes wrong, you’ll be doing OK!
Mia Guerra
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