Know Your Market
Despite the excitement of starting a new business, it takes loads of research and planning to actually launch a successful venture. Bentley asked expert professors and successful alumni entrepreneurs to share their top tips for avoiding financial loss when starting a new business.
One of the most common mistakes new entrepreneurs make is failing to conduct market research. This can be a huge mistake because it will not only impact the success of your business, but also your finances.
Know Your Competition
Performing a competitor analysis is an important step in any business. It helps you identify the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities that your competitors are leveraging in the market. It can also help you determine gaps in the market that you can exploit.
You can find out more about your competitors by looking at their advertising, brochures, and products. You can also try out their products or services and talk to their customers to find out what they like about them.
Know Your Budget
Developing a budget is an essential step for any business owner. This will help you avoid financial loss by ensuring that your expenses don’t exceed your income. A well-thought-out budget will include both one-time costs and ongoing expenses. This will also help you determine if your business is profitable enough to expand.
Start by tallying up your fixed costs, which are recurring expenses that stay the same each month, like rent, utility bills, and insurance. You can use historic account statements to determine these numbers, and then subtract them from your projected revenue to get a reliable figure.