If you decided you want to get in your business rocket and blast off to entrepreneurial space, now it’s time to assemble the parts of the ship so you can take off.
In my last blog post, I shared a series of questions that business consultant Sharon Oxendine of TenBiz (tenbizinc.com) outlined that people can use to determine whether or not they should start a business. If you think you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, the next step is to define your business goals.
It sounds simple, but if you don’t have a background in business, it can be hard to wrap your brain around what that means. I needed more information to better understand how to set effective business goals. Luckily, there are quality resources available that can help people through this process.
You can get world-class training in business on YouTube if you know who to follow. My favorite source for this type of information is the Harvard Innovation Labs channel, created by Harvard University. The channel broadcasts business lectures taught by millionaire venture capitalists and CEOs of wildly successful companies, such as HubSpot and Constant Contact. The speakers address every aspect of creating a business and share game-changing “startup secrets.”
Finding the right fit
Instead of discussing goal-setting specifically, the Harvard lecturers emphasized the concept of “building a business around you,” which they called “founder market fit.”
Determining founder market fit involves reflecting on your personal experiences, past jobs and education to determine what problems you understand well and what solutions you are uniquely qualified to deliver well, according to Michael Skok, an executive fellow at Harvard Business School and venture capitalist.
Once you form an idea around that, it’s important to make sure it aligns with your values.
Choosing values
Skok spoke a lot about determining the CORE (Capabilities of Really Exceptional) values that will form the “bedrock of the company.” He encouraged his students to consider which values are non-negotiable for them, which saw them through hard times and which reoccurred in their life stories.
“All you have to do now is think about how those values will evolve to support your vision and mission,” Skok said.
Setting a course
Crafting a vision for your entrepreneurial venture is like using a compass to make sure you head in the right direction. You don’t want to get lost in the looming forest of the business landscape.
“Developing your vision is thinking about where you’re starting as a founder – what problem are you uniquely able to solve – and then what you think over time you’re going to be able to do to lead a marketplace,” Skok said.
He said entrepreneurs should allow their visions to evolve as their companies grow.
Staying on mission
Related to the vision for the business is its mission. Both outline the impact you want your efforts to have on the marketplace and consumers. Skok instructed his students to draft mission statements that embodied four “M” words:
· Memorable
· Manageable
· Measurable
· Motivational
You can watch Skok’s lecture on business values, vision, mission and more here:
Smart start
Whatever goals you set, Oxendine said they should be SMART – meaning specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. To create SMART goals, the prudent entrepreneur should conduct in-depth market research. She suggested using resources such as Google Trends, census statistics, Chamber of Commerce data and potential competitors’ websites and social media platforms.
“Being able to understand what your competition is doing is not a way of copying them, but a way of seeing, ‘Is there room in the marketplace for this?’” Oxendine said.
There are two free tools for business research and guidance specific to North Carolina:
· The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (edpnc.com) provides a variety of resources for market research. The agency’s website includes a step-by-step checklist on how to start and register a business in North Carolina and information on permits, licenses and certifications needed to operate a business legally in your county. EDPNC also has business advisors you can contact via phone or email, and a video and a resource guide on how to start a business.
· The Small Business and Technology Development Center (sbtdc.org) is the business and technology extension service of the University of North Carolina. The SBTDC operates 11 regional service centers in 15 offices and several specialty programs. The organization’s services include research facilitation, strategy development and implementation, financial and marketing assistance and financial analysis. Its counselors work with small and mid-sized businesses throughout the state to help them become more competitive, create new jobs and improve the economy.
The only cost one should incur in market research is time.
“There’s a lot of information out there that you don’t have to pay for,” Oxendine said.
She advised aspiring entrepreneurs to research the following areas:
· Potential customers and their demographics
· Competitors
· Details of the product or service you want to offer
· Demand for your product or service
· Market size and saturation
· Economic indicators
· Location
· Pricing
· SWOT factors: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
“Once you’ve defined your skill set and chosen an industry, then you will explore if your product or service is relevant to a large enough target audience to begin to earn a profit,” Oxendine said.
When you have all of the information you need to set your business goals, you’re ready to craft a value proposition, or a compelling reason people will buy your product or service. Both Oxendine and Skok had a lot to say on the subject, so I will break it all down for you in the next blog post.
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