Startup

How to Start a Profitable Small Business in India

At some point in our lives, we must have thought of starting our own small business in India. We also might have hundreds of great business ideas and learned a lot about the same. But starting a new business is not easy if you don’t have any knowledge and experience in this field.

What things should be considered before starting a Small Business?

Doing business is not about profits only but it has many modules like customer support, public image, loyalty and brand value^[1] and so on. Thus a person thinking of starting a new business should consider all this before starting a business. Therefore, the following are a few points which an entrepreneur should consider before starting a small business in India.

• Take the First Step

Most of the people just thought of starting a business but many of them never dare to take that first necessary step of starting a business. Hence, everyone who is thinking and has an idea should take that first step of implementing the business idea. The steps could be simple things like start saving, making a business plan, start coordinating with different stakeholder etc.  Also, you must have a passion that you could make your profession.

• Make a Business Plan

Before kick – starting a business idea into reality you must have a business plan. Now what is a business plan?

The Business plan contains all the details about the implementation of the business idea like the type of business, nature of the business, a form of business required for the type of business like a sole proprietor, joint-stock company or partnership firm, etc. Also, having a business plan will help you in proper implementation at the same time coping up with the changing environment.

• Determine the Sources of Funds

A business can only run by some initial investment by the entrepreneur or the businessmen. It is important to predetermine the type of source like retained earnings, loans or investment from outside. Along with that from where the money will come has to be decided in advance.

It is highly recommended that the entrepreneur should invest his own money an initial investment since by doing that he will get the maximum return for all his hard work later on when the business will succeed.

• Make Good Relations with people in your field of Business

Doing business is like learning new things each and every second. It is important that you have contact with at least a few people having the same field of business as yours. As, it will help you to be updated about the latest developments, new government regulations, solving business problems, etc.

It is also recommended that you must have healthy and fair competition rather than using unfair means of getting business advantages.

• Build a Website and Start doing Online Marketing

Those days are gone when direct communication and direct marketing was important for doing business. A large investment is required in the traditional way of business which is quite expensive.

Henceforth, we should form the beginning by making online presence by making a website, SEO, online marketing, etc.  Nowadays, a business can sell his products thousands of miles away by online business. Minimum infrastructure is required in this type of business which is a good option for little businesses having little investment amount.

• Build a Social Media Presence.

Apart from online presence, it is equally important to have a social media presence on various platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. As online presence is used to sell the products or service but social media presence will help in building brand image, customer relations, extend customer reach.

Also, people will not go directly to your online sites but social media presence will help you to transfer the followers from social media to their business model.

• Setting Goals

It is very important to set goals while doing business. Now here I’m not talking about long term goals but short term goals. Setting weekly, monthly goals is important to achieve long term goals while starting a business since it will help to boost our morale and confidence at regular intervals.

Short term goals could be like setting a benchmark for this week sale, setting the number of complaints to be resolved this month, or increasing customer to so and so number.

• Start Small

Although it is correct that all of us want that we have a successful business with big offices and a lot of employees. But since you are doing the business for the first time it is important that you start with small investment i.e. on a small scale. Since during beginning of the business, you might not be so experienced or specialized in dealing with the uncertainty and hiccups.

Hence to get experience it is very much important that not to invest in a huge amount in infrastructure, online websites, customer relations, etc. In the beginning, you are only required to know how the business is run in that particular field.

• Hire the Right Employees

We all know that running a business is not a one-man show as a lot of human resources are required for running a successful business. In every successful business, there are always a few loyal and hardworking employees. Therefore, while recruiting the HR manager you should consider those employees who could provide some worth to the business and are also loyal and hardworking.

Hiring is just one thing it is equally important that the employee of the company is regularly motivated to increase their morale and confidence by awarding them with bonuses and work linked incentives.

• Decide how you’ll make a profit

Earning a profit is the ultimate goal of all businesses. So it is very much important that before starting a business you have sorted out how you are going to generate revenue for the business. As you are required to pay a lot of expenses while running the business like paying employee salary, utility bills, rent of office, etc. Therefore, profit is the ultimate goal for the survival of the business.

Nowadays, many societies have moved forward to the maximization of stakeholders a secondary goal of their business. Since, once the business has started earning profit the next thing is to see that interest of various stakeholders like lenders, employees, and shareholders are also maximized.

• Know government rules and regulations

Before starting a business it is quite important that you have gone through the rules made by the government in that territory and the field of business that you are going to in. Since, if there are lapses on your side it could be very harmful to your business in the long run.

• Prepare Proper Contracts or Agreements With The Parties.

During business activities on a daily basis, we are supposed to have a lot of agreements with outsiders. Therefore, it needs to be properly documented by way of contracts and should be properly stamped. Since in the future if a service or act has not been performed then we should have recourse for the non- performance of the act. The contracts which could be made are rent agreement, raw material supply agreement, employee agreement, selling agreement, etc.

• Learn from Others

It is quite important to find mentors and be in a group of like-minded people, learn everything about your industry and what it takes to get from where you are to where you want to be. Take training courses and attend conferences when they are available. You’ll save a tremendous amount of trial and error by learning from people who have been there before so start learning.

• Keep trying new things

It is necessary for every entrepreneur to try new things and should try to analyze how the market or the customer reacts to it and change it accordingly. The market is very dynamic and the trends keep on changing hence an entrepreneur should never rest thinking that its business is doing well.

Also Read

Thing to keep in Mind before the Launch of Startup Company
Top 15 Reasons Why Startups in India Fail
Are Startups in India Eligible for Tax Benefits?

Concluding Thoughts

As we all know that thousands of businesses are opened each year but very few can reach that point where it can call itself successful. An entrepreneur is one who should not rest or wait since running a business is a continuous process. You must have leadership qualities and must have a vision and mission for his business. You must take the business in the forward direction along with all the stakeholders.