In order to succeed in starting a small business in the 21 st century an entrepreneur should be aware of the requirements of time. There are many considerations that an entrepreneur must decide such as: type of business, legal structure, permits and licenses, market planning, , location, organization management planning, business telephone line, mission statement, and a business checking account. The first decision that the entrepreneur must make is what type of business he / she wants to start. The decision should be based on the amount of knowledge and skill that they have in the field that they are considering. The better that they know the industry, the stronger there likelihood they will have a successful business, and the better base they will have for the rest of the decisions that will have to be made in the time to come.
The next important decision in the business planning process is the legal structure of the company. The three legal structures are Sole-proprietorship, Partnership and a Corporation. Each one of these legal structures has its advantages and disadvantages. The different aspects that each legal structure differs are: management control, capital, liability, income taxes, business continuity, and government regulations. The understanding of these different issues is crucial to the decision of which structure is the best one for the entrepreneurs business. Promoting is the art of selling can be accomplished in a number of different ways, such as advertising, brochures, direct mailings, and personal contacts.
Your decision on the best way to promote your construction company will depend on the type of contract you are competing for and your market. In the construction business competing for the jobs in your market area is done with bids. The two different types of contracts are public bids, or negotiated bids. For public competitive bids pricing is the primary marketing emphasis, and for negotiated bids contacts are most important. Getting to know other contractors in the area is very important for your business. The relationships developed will enhance opportunities for networking which allows small firms to increase their capabilities by pooling knowledge and other resources together.
It also allows one to specialize, and limit the size and scope of the business investments required. Promotion and advertising will play a vital role in the success of a small business in the 21 st century. Utilizing the media, one should try and get as much coverage of his product as possible. The consumer has to be well informed and aware about your product for him to be interested in purchasing your product. One of the best forms of advertising is posting posters on the bus or other public transportation vehicles, so that the thousands of people that use the public transportation system everyday will come to know about a product or a service a small business offers. Organized sales service and customer care are fundamental for a successful business.
If a customer is not satisfied with the treatment he received during the transaction between him and your business. He is most likely not going to consider purchasing form you in the future, or even mentioning about your product or service to his colleagues. Therefore one should be well organized and use courtesy while dealing with a customer. A good business plan that is updated periodically makes the most powerful financing proposal a small business can have. A good business plan will play the most important role in the 21 st century than ever before. A logically arranged and reasonably complete business plan is essential for operating and growing a business in well controlled way.
A good plan serves your needs for business analysis, provides a financial forecast based on your rational assumptions about the future. Budgeting guidelines, including a working capital budget and a break-even analysis, help determine the amount and kinds of financing most appropriate for your business. A good plan also helps you present your needs to financing sources. Useful and persuasive information about your business is what lenders and investors need to make swift, accurate and helpful decisions. To summarize there are three key reasons that a begging business owner should go though the trouble of writing a business plan.
The first one is the process of putting a business plan together, including the thought you put in before beginning to write it. This forces you to take an objective, critical, unemotional look at your business project in its entirety. Also your finished business plan is good operating tool which, if used properly will help you manage your business and work effectively towards its success. Furthermore the completed business plan communicates your ideas to others and provides the basis for your financing proposal. As you can see a well thought out business plan can be a very useful tool for small company.
Location of a business used to be a key to help a business to make money. However, in the 21 st century with the rapid development of communication technologies location will not play such a vital role as it did in the 20 th century. In a world brimming with the pressures of economic stabilization and financial gratification, companies must adopt the methodologies of e-commerce in order to attract growth and prosperity. E-commerce is the best field to start a successful and profitable small business in the new millennium.
E-commerce involves implementing regular business operations into a telecommunications network. The most common form of conducting business online is through web pages. Companies create these web pages (usually with the help of such design companies as Net Dynamics) which allow customers to order goods and services from the convenience of their own home. Most new sites also allow secure financial transactions to be made. E-commerce is also used in the form of EDI or Electronic Data Interchange. This form of online business acts as a messaging system which automates and speeds the exchange of information between two linked companies.
This format is usually found in the user-supplier community and automatically informs the other party of needed supplies, arrival dates and payment information. The use of e-commerce technology presents many opportunities to companies, regardless of size, to expand and profit in the global marketplace; therefore, a small business owner should possess concrete knowledge in modern technologies.