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Starting a Startup Business? Choose the Right Business Consulting Firm for Success

Being your own boss is the dream of many and lately, the instinct seems to be taking the world by storm. People are now more inclined to start their own firm, it seems to lure many people and running an own business shows the larger than life picture, however, the reality is a bit different. As an entrepreneur willing to start a new business you need to understand the market, do the need analysis and many researches before executing your plan. You might be budding with business startup ideas but mere planning will not help you succeed, rather you need a right plan of action to succeed.

The upsurge of small business consulting firms has proven to be a panacea for startups. They offer the consultation and startup mentoring services which work as a guide for entrepreneurs to successfully implement and execute their business plan. Not only it supports the Business Startup Ideas but provides feedback to improve the business plan which helps in removing bottlenecks usually faced by startups.

Why do you need startup mentoring?

There is no denial to the fact that many startups fail in their nascent stage, and they may have a number of reasons for the same, the likes include entrepreneurs being naiveté and lack of supportive startup ecosystem, lack of funds, poor market conditions and much more. But, the most important factor that most of the startups miss is a lack of guidance, inspiration, and feedback from small business consulting firms and no startup mentoring. It might sound absurd to a few strong-headed entrepreneurs to take the support of a mentor to execute their business plan but these firms are a must to make your business successful.

Startup Mentoring – your ultimate supporter and motivator

In the lead to succeed, most of the entrepreneurs break rules or make mistakes which they are not even aware of, these mistakes, however, can adversely affect their business. Also, many times as an aspiring business builder you find yourself stuck in a situation where you don’t know how to proceed. Startup Business Consulting firms and mentors work as a savvy guide who constantly provides you feedback.

Initially, you may be having a lack of confidence but with the mentorship of a good startup mentor, you can move ahead with confidence and without hesitation.

How to find the right startup consulting firm or a startup mentor for your company:

You are entrusting your faith and vision on a person who will be your mentor or support or guide, hence, it is very important that you have a strong relationship with them and at the same time, it’s important that your startup mentor’s or consulting firm’s vision should coincide with yours. A good startup has the following qualities:

An expert-level experience
Already a successful entrepreneur
Are patient and action oriented
A harsh critic yet supportive

Before moving ahead and getting associated with any firm or person, as an entrepreneur you should check for the aforementioned qualities.

What does a good startup mentor do?

A good startup consulting firm or a mentor will:

Listen to your concept and give honest feedback
Will give you time and talk through your areas of difficulties. Since they carry with them good amount of experience, they also share their experience which helps you understand your problems and come up with right solution
They are action oriented and hence, always suggest practical ways on how to start a business by making optimum use of available resources

Takeaways-

You must accept the fact that it takes a village to become a successful entrepreneur, of course, your vision and idea is important but what’s paramount is its right and timely execution which only comes with the right support system. The upsurge of companies like Virgin startup is a move to support and guide the newbies in the business world to succeed and survive.

Indian Startup Scenario – India Towards Its True Potential

India ranks among the top five countries in the world in terms of the number of startups founded. India has made tremendous growth towards the creation of innovative startups and has emerged as the 3rd fastest growing hub for technology startups in the world.

Introduction of initiatives like GST and Make In India have given a momentum to the startup economy. Indian Start-ups are moving on the upper line and are expected to increase in size and number in the coming year. It is measured that India houses around 4,200 start-ups, creating more than 85,000 employment opportunities. With over $5 billion worth of investment in 2015 and three to four startups emerging every day, it is projected that the number of startups in India will increase to more than 11,500 by 2020, with job creation from these entrepreneurs reaching 250-300k. The number of Investors has also risen multi-fold in the past few years.

Recent Developments

Indian startups have undergone many developments in the second quarter of 2017. From being selected in the Google’s accelerator program, to raising funds from the Chinese investors, the startup ecosystem has been quite encouraging. Google selected six Indian startups for the accelerator program in July 2017. Startups using latest technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence have been chosen for the same.

Limitations

Despite such promising statistics, only 9% of the Start-Ups have female founders/co-founders. Delhi NCR, Bangalore, and Mumbai, along with Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai account for more than 90% of the Start-Ups in India. The focus is largely limited to information technology-enabled products and services including e-commerce, aggregators, analytics, health-tech and online payments. Amongst all this, the product start-up sector has been largely ignored. A big factor behind India’s growth is software enabled firms such as Flipkart and Ola. Rarely do hardware product companies bring about such success. The reason for this can be attributed to the lack of funds. India’s ecosystem clearly does not have any scarcity in terms of capital. However, only a very small amount of this capital reaches these startups. Additionally, startups in India spend five times the amount of effort to raise funds as compared to US startups.

This is where the Government intervention is required. Through the provision of alternate sources of funding and through a partnership between the Industry and Academia, the government can facilitate and accelerate the growth rate. Alternate debt financing instruments will help Start-Ups and other small enterprises to overcome the problem of lack of adequate collateral, limited cash-flow and the high risk involved. While direct support of start-ups and the right kinds of skills to start & run a business are important, the ease of doing business in the country also matters a great deal. This includes ease of starting a business, obtaining relevant permits, accessing credit, paying taxes, etc. The Labour laws in India are out-dated as well. Thus, appropriate government policies are required to make the Indian Start-Up Ecosystem reach its true potential.

However, Government and international organizations are investing in innovative ideas. Monetary and infrastructure support is accelerated. Start-ups are also making good use of the facilities available and are showing a sign of good times. This can certainly not be dismissed as a passing trend and it’s surely going to change the way the markets are working today in India. Government initiatives are also expected to play a vital role in the startup ecosystem’s bright future. For instance, the commerce and industry department of the Indian Government is planning to organize a south Asia regions’ meet of startups for exchanging new ideas and increasing interaction among them, thereby showing confidence in startups.

Thus, the scenario in the last quarter suggests that the investors’ interest towards funding the India startups remains strong. Next quarter is likely to be more attractive owing to the economic reforms and their implementation. Startups are now focusing on cutting losses, increase their overall valuation and attain operational excellence. These qualities along with the positive sentiments of the investors and support from the government can make the startup ecosystem of India reach new heights in the near future.

10 Effective Small Home Based Business Ideas for Startup Small Business Owners

It is always desirable by many of us to establish a home-based business where we can work from the comfort of our home and can earn a handsome residual income. Therefore, we have listed here ten effective home based business ideas for starting up a home-based small business. Why do we say these “effective small home based business ideas”? Because these are all ideas which are tested and we actually made money through these ideas at one time or another.

1- Develop a Niche Affiliate Site

A niche website is a small website that only focuses a single segment of market. There are hundreds of thousands of niche-websites on the web. You can search for a segment of your interest or expertise and then build a catchy website with high-quality content. Choose the products based on high turnover and handsome commissions for affiliate sales on your website. Promote your site for targeted traffic and then track results.

2 – Get paid by Online Paid Surveys

Online paid surveys are a popular and easy way of generating a residual income stream for you and your family. Every global company is spending a lot on the market research and consumer behavior patterns. They hire survey firms to conduct market research for their existing and upcoming products and services and pay generously for views of the people. So it is easy to sort down reliable survey companies and filling out surveys to get a comfortable way of earning from home.

3 – Selling on Craigslist & eBay:

Craigslist is an online garage sale site. It is free to place your sale offers on the craigslist, and sometimes you don’t even need to be worried about shipping and packaging; people come to your home and pick up the items they bought from you. You can sell anything at craigslist or eBay from the old garage items to your small handmade unique items. You can find a clientele for almost anything on these sites and can earn money for you and your family.

4 – Design a website:

If you are running your own website or blog, then you will be familiar with the WordPress and can learn how to create websites by using readily available WordPress themes and how to fix them. You can offer these services to other peoples by learning some customizations like changing color schemes, designing simple logs and banners, make small changes in the layout, etc. In this way, you can easily create and sell unique websites for others and can earn residual income.

5 – Earn Money as a Virtual Worker

You can sign up websites like MicroWorkers.com to offer your services to the individuals and small businesses. MicroWorkers.com has different categories like content writing and social media. You can earn money by completing small tasks like writing a review of a product, posting comments to the blog posts and being fan of a Facebook page, etc.

6 – Earn through Ads on Your Website or Blog:

If you are running a website or blog which has a reasonable amount of daily visitors, then you can earn through placing ads on your websites. Quality content and high-traffic site can give you a handsome stream of advertisement earnings through CPC and CPM campaigns. In these ads, you will be paid for click or impression of the ad placed on your website. You can place any good ad network like Google AdSense for ad campaigns can enjoy extra money through advertisements.

7 – Domain Name Speculation:

Speculating and registering domain is a popular and easy way to earn money online. It involves creativity and thoughtfulness of the person. People find and register domain names, which appear valuable and wait for the time when someone approaches them to sell that domain name in the future. Such domains are parked on pages, which clearly indicate that these domains are for sale and also mention the contact details of the owner. Meanwhile, these owners place catchy advertisements on parking pages and earn advertisement money.

8 – Be a Freelancer:

If you have some expertise in graphics design, programming, writing, marketing research, data entry or any other simple administrative work, then you can offer your services through freelancing websites like guru.com and elance.com. These sites offer a fantastic platform for the people who want to work online. Simply join any of the reputable freelancing website, offer your services in any given category and start earning without spending a penny from your own pocket.

9 – Offer Transcription Services:

Transcription service is the procedure of creating text form of data from recorded voice and conference calls. If you have extra ordinary listening and writing skills, then you can offer your transcription services on the web and can earn a handsome amount based upon your work.

10 – CPA Marketing:

Cost per Action marketing means getting paid when a specific action is performed through your referral link. The referring money can be from $1 to $25 depending upon the type of action performed. This is a quick way to generate cash by referring people. It is highly recommended to use trust worth websites after proper research.

Should You Match Your Entrepreneur Personality With Your Business Startup Idea?

Did you know that the word entrepreneur comes from a French word “entreprendre” which means “to undertake? If you want to get more analytical and you speak French, you might think it comes from combining two verbs “entre” and “prendre.” “Entrer” means “to enter” and “prendre” means “to take” so combined they would mean “to enter to take.” That works too because a person following a business startup idea who enters markets to take advantage of opportunities for profits by assuming the risks is by definition an entrepreneur.

Let’s look at some interesting facts about entrepreneurs:

People who become entrepreneurs either seek out an entrepreneurial life or they fall into it. Not everyone who becomes an entrepreneur grew up thinking that it was their dream to become a business owner.

Entrepreneurs fall into different entrepreneurial personality types–the professional, expert or pragmatist, and the inventor. Maybe as a small business owner, you have not given much thought as to the type of entrepreneur you are. You were too busy focusing on getting your business operating and profitable and not so much on what kind of entrepreneur you are.

Those entrepreneurs that are referred to as professional entrepreneurs start one business, and another, and another. They are very good at establishing a business and making it very successful in a relatively short period of time. Sometimes if luck would have it, the first business does well and they sell it. Soon they start another business because now being an entrepreneur is in their blood and they can’t go to work for someone else so they start another business.

Did you think that every person who becomes an entrepreneur set out to be one? Sometimes an entrepreneur comes looking for someone who is an expert in a particular field that is needed for their business such as accounting, finance, marketing, or sales. It can also be that they need an expert in a particular industry such as software, pharmaceuticals, or cosmetics. Then they go looking for someone who has that knowledge and ask them to join their venture by making them a partner. Voila! they are now an entrepreneur.

The expert entrepreneurs are often well-educated and become experienced in their trade by working in a corporate setting for a number of years. There they hone their skills creating the expertise that makes them so valuable as an entrepreneur.

The third type is the inventor. Bill Gates is an inventor type entrepreneur that has made this type very well known. This type of entrepreneur may have the classic inventor personality. You know the “absent minded professor” who gets so caught up in his technology and invention that they do not function well in a fully functioning business setting. As a result, they cannot function as a leader of a company because they have much too narrow a focus.

Instead, to become a success as an entrepreneur, they compensate for their shortcomings by surrounding themselves with experts that can provide the business expertise that they lack. In fact, they may hire the “professional” entrepreneur as a partner to focus on the growth aspects of the company so that they can continue in the inventor capacity which they do best.

There are blends of these three entrepreneurial types. It is possible to find a professional-inventor type who is fortunate enough to have both skills at their disposal. They can become super-creative geniuses who can invent and start businesses that do extremely well and become very profitable taking full advantage of their creative and business potential. They can become billionaires!

The blend pragmatist-professional entrepreneur is one that takes a combination expert who also understands the operation of a business. They use their expertise to develop an idea for a business that will lead to a very profitable business idea and set about hiring all the talent they need in every area to make it extremely successful. For example, someone who knows the pharmaceutical business very well comes up with an idea for marketing and managing pharmaceuticals in a new and more efficient way. His expertise as a professional entrepreneur allowed him to dig in and help with the startup process of the business while supervising the development of the pharmaceutical end of it.

Another interesting fact is that certain entrepreneurial types go better with specific types of businesses. You increase your chances of success if you choose a business that matches your entrepreneurial type. Often when you are thinking of starting a business, you do not give any thought to what kind of entrepreneur you are. Success often depends on your knowing your own strengths and weaknesses and your ability to find people that complement you.

Best Startup Business Ideas: Some Suggestions

Are you looking for the best startup business ideas? Everyone dreams of starting his own business someday. As a child, you probably have dreams of creating your own toy factory, or creating your own boutique someday. As we grow older, those dreams don’t fade away. Sometimes, they just stay untouched and unthought-of at the back of our heads because we got too tied with other things, like managing other people’s business. We all want to be our own boss and be able to generate enough or even more money to live the life we desire.

The desire to own your own business is sometimes fuelled by your yearning to have more money to buy your dream house, drive your dream car, travel to different places, or to save up for your kid’s college education. Everything is fuelled by your dreams of having a better and comfortable life.

Many successful entrepreneurs say that one of the best startup business ideas is an online business. With the power of the Internet, there are tons of business ideas that you can have. You can create a virtual assistant service, a small call center facility, a Public Relations business or a web design and development business if you have the right skills and knowledge. A lot of people nowadays shop online. You can start selling various products online like clothes, shoes, toys, bags and accessories to a huge market with a great buying potential. Because you can sell almost anything online, all you have to do now is to be creative with the products which you plan to market. Online business also involves life coaching. You can offer to help other people deal with their stress and problems. You can help them become better persons and help them manage their life as positively as possible.

Other best startup business ideas include candle-making business, cake decorating, real estate agency, customized jewellery shop, events planning, toy cleaning service, personal shopper or flower arrangement. You can start an accounting service, payroll administrative service, travel agency, be an interior designer or farmer and sell crops. You can grow your garden of flowers and start your own flower shop. There are so many business ideas out there, you just have to pick out the right one for you.

There are several things that you have to consider when choosing the best startup business ideas. You need to consider your budget, your knowledge, skills, and the amount of time that you can give to your startup business. Remember, for a business to succeed, you should have the skills and the time to make it successful.

Sustainable Startup Business Ideas

Starting a business at this time when even the world’s major economies are struggling to keep up with the economic crisis can be a big challenge.
There are people who believe that while this is true, this is actually the best time to start a business provided you have the right startup business ideas in mind. While no one can guarantee the success of any business, you can however choose a business that will stand the test of time.

When you talk of sustainable startup business ideas these days, you no longer just refer to green business ideas. A sustainable business idea means a business that is needed by the society not only for now, but for a much longer period. It is a business that can survive even the toughest economic times because it does not require lots of capital and overhead expenses to keep it operational.

Here are some sustainable startup business ideas you can explore if you have what it takes to go into these types of business:

Consultancy

Professionals who want to spread their wings but do not have much capital to go into business can start their own consultancy companies. Thanks to the internet, you no longer have to rent out an office to start one because you can work from home and promote your consultancy business online. It is important to be some sort of an expert in a certain profession before you can go into consultancy. It can be in accounting, writing, information technology or some other skills you have trained for and earned an expertise in the past years through employment, education or other methods.

But even if you are an expert, you still need to market your consultancy and in effect your brand. The best way to start a consultancy business is to create a website in your own name. The website should include all the services you offer and if possible, referrals from past customers who have benefitted from your services. Take advantage of social media to promote your website and your consultancy business. But do not just stop there. Send proposals to companies or individuals who may need your services.

Online retail

The Internet plays an important role in every aspect of society’s life today including how we do business. Thanks to the increasing accessibility to the internet, the retail industry now provides a level playing field even to small startup business ideas. Thanks to the internet, it is now possible to start your own online retail business without thinking about paying for the rent and other overhead costs that goes with operating a traditional retail business.

In the United States alone, over 24 million now rely on the retail industry for their livelihood. Food, clothing, books, appliances, automotive, name it and you will find an online retail store that sells the said product on retail. The market may be saturated but there is still room for innovative startup business ideas and yours might be another brilliant retail idea.

You only need a small capital to buy the items you need to stock up on your retail store. Then build a website and take advantage of the social networking platforms to promote your brand. This can be done even if you are operating in a home office which lessens the operating cost of your business.

Not all startup business ideas can become a successful venture but if you are passionate about any of these two ideas then you might be the next big thing in the industry. But first, you have to make your idea a reality.