For me, I had a special interest in computers which led to getting very good at making websites. When I was 13/14 I tried to start a portal/search engine to compete with Google, but realising that was unrealistic by the age of 15 I was designing websites for small businesses in my local area. During this I developed a special interest in business too, and now at 21 I'm still running my web design/marketing company while studying business part-time at uni. I'm also hoping to try and start a media publishing company after I graduate.
My business has been pretty good as well up until recent problems that arose from a dishonest customer AND unfair harassment from HMRC. While I like to encourage people to try starting their own businesses, I also think it is important to note that being an entrepreneur at times can be like jumping off a cliff and trying to build a plane on the way down. It doesn't come with instant success and glory as some media outlets seem to think.
There are personal factors that would affect my advice to you, such as your current employment status, your current monthly outgoings (and the income needed to cover them) as well as your access to finance. The main constant piece of advice I could give you is to get an accountant. Some specialise in small businesses and can be as affordable as £200/year (but save you much more than that from HMRC scams or excessive fines for getting paperwork wrong).
Look into break-even analysis to help you work out how many sales/at what price you will need to sell your product or service to cover all of your variable and fixed costs (including paying yourself - and potentially others - a wage). If you'd like some help with this, feel free to send me a pm.
Also, if you have an idea for a type of business you would like to create, ask yourself "What can I do differently/better than those already in the market?" and "Is there space in this market for another competitor?".
Look up segmentation, targeting and positioning to learn more about how to select your place in the market as well.
Workflow and internal processes can also be very useful to think about. A related book I'm currently reading on that is "Operations Management" by Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers and Robert Johnson (sixth edition).
If you would like a good introduction to marketing try "Principles and Practice of Marketing" by David Jobber (Amazon Link).
09 Dec 2014, 4:12 am
I have lots of ideas, but no sense of how to convert those into concrete businesses.
