How To Start A Business From Start To Launch
Do you have a business idea and are thinking about starting business, but don't know how to get started? This blog post will reveal how to start a business and the important business tools to get your business up and running online.
Business Idea: Defining Your Buyer Persona, Problem, and Solution
Many business owners start with a simple idea or motivation for why they want to enter the entrepreneurial world. Before taking that leap, it's essential to consider your marketable skills. These might include: information technology, creative design, artistry, software development, skills gained from traditional 9 to 5 jobs, counseling, coaching, or even product creation. You might also explore opening a brick and mortar business such as a restaurant, hair salon, car wash, or boutique.
Once you've identified your business idea, the next crucial step is understanding your customer’s problem and crafting your solution. Being clear on this will sharpen your marketing message and guide your business decisions.
Problem and Solution Example:
Problem: Difficulty finding customized artwork that truly matches home decor.
Solution: Commissioned abstract paintings that are personalized and tell your family history.
Once you’ve identified the problem and solution, it’s time to create your buyer persona. Tools like HubSpot can help you define the characteristics of your ideal customer.
Business Structure
Your business structure lays the foundation for future growth and financial success. Securing business capital is critical to scaling your business—don't rely solely on bootstrapping and revenue. Business capital can help you increase inventory, purchase social media ads, and pay team members who drive revenue growth.
Key Steps to Establishing Your Business Structure
1. Business Name: Ensure your desired business name is unique in your state. Once confirmed, secure it before moving forward.
2. Business Address: A physical address isn’t required. You can start from a home office while using a virtual office for mail handling and as a registered address. Services like Opus, Alliance Virtual Offices, and Regus provide these solutions.
3. Business Registration: Register your business with your state. Platforms like LegalZoom or ZenBusiness simplify filing for LLC, C-Corp, or S-Corp status. Beginners often choose an LLC for its flexibility.
4. Business Number: Don’t rely on your personal cell number. Services like RingCentral and Dialpad offer professional business phone setups.
5. EIN (Employer Identification Number)Apply for an EIN via IRS.gov—it’s your business’s equivalent of a Social Security Number.
6. Business Bank Account: Once your business is registered, open a separate business bank account to manage finances.
7. Website: Every business needs a website to showcase services and provide contact information. This is essential for generating leads and building credibility.
8. Merchant Account: Select a merchant service like Stripe, PayPal, or Square to process online payments.
9. Work Email: Set up a professional email address, e.g., [email protected].
Next, it is time to work on your business summary
Business Summary (Not a Business Plan)
Instead of a full business plan, start with a concise business summary. You WILL need a business plan three years after your business has been established to take to banks for funding. In the meantime, here is how to write your own business summary:
Business Description: What your business does and its purpose.
Products/Services: List your offerings.
Target Market: Define your customer demographics and needs.
Competitive Advantage: Explain how you stand out.
Marketing Strategy: Outline how you'll reach customers and achieve sales goals.
Management Roles: Identify key roles and their responsibilities.
Financial Projections: Estimate revenues, expenses, and profitability.
Refer to this document daily to stay on track especially the marketing portion.
Now it is time to create your content marketing plan.
Content Marketing Plan
Content marketing acts as a "commercial" for your business on social media. Use content to explain your business, share your story, and show potential customers how to purchase from you.
The following is the type of content you can start creating for your business:
Awareness Posts: Pose questions, share inspirational stories, share inspirational quotes as thoughts from the business owner, or introduce the business owner.
Demonstration Posts: Showcase your work— create videos of your producing your product, shipping updates, tutorials, or service demos.
Sales Posts: Include calls to action for purchases, free trials, or consultations.
Boost Successful Posts: Spend $5 to $10 daily for a week to amplify well performing content.
I recommend having several hundred posts ready to go before you launch to stay consistent. It took me 2 weeks to create 3 hundred posts for the year. I used ChatGPT to help me clean up the posts that I had written along with the captions. I used Canva to create the graphics. Pro tip: I used the templates within Canva to help when needing various styles of social media posts. Then I uploaded the posts to my social media planner inside of GoHighLevel.
I will create Reels and Tik Tok videos on the fly from time to time to make it more authentic, I don't spend more than an hour posting a new Reel or Video and I do one every single day. Although, I have 300 hundred posts ready to go, I am posting multiple times in a day. The best performing posts are repurposed and scheduled to go out later during the calendar year as well as boosted. Those that didn't perform can be repurposed and recreated to see if the post will perform better at a later time.
The Business Tools I Use
Instead of spending over $1,000 on disconnected tools, GoHighLevel integrates essential business functions such lead collection, email and text marketing, payment processing, AI chat support, social media scheduling, and task automation and more. It’s an all in one system ideal for building your online presence and the basic package starts at $97 per month. You can't beat that! You will be able to create a fully functioning website on GoHighlevel as well as take care of all of your marketing automation in one place. Once your website is up or being worked on, you will need to start thinking about how to generate leads for your business.
Lead Generation Strategies
Here are some lead generation ideas or 'samples' to give away for your business:
Free eBooks or courses
Video tutorials
Free consultations
Coupons or discounts
Membership access
Launching Your Business
Now it is time to launch your business. Launching your business should include going live, posting content regularly and consistently. I recommend going live everyday especially if your business is primarily ran online. Your potential customers or clients will have a stronger opportunity to learn more about your business and about YOU as the owner. Start by telling the story of why you started your business and who you are as a person. Share a preview of your product or service as invite people to connect with you about your business. Regular engagement builds brand awareness, trust, and customer interest. With a strong foundation and clear strategy, your business is poised for success.
I hope you were able to learn how to start and launch your business from this post. If you need assistance with starting your business we have consulting services starting at $50 and don't forget about setting up the backend of your business with GoHighLevel. Start a free 14 day trial today!