A friend introduced a well-known new media team. They planned to make a program about business content, filming the story of the second start-up of small and micro enterprises in traditional industries in trouble. Although the team has a strong professional media background, creative ability, and organizational skills, I suggest that they understand the laws of business - it is not easy for any business to sprout from zero to one, and it is even more difficult to survive, let alone a small business in trouble to start a second business.
From the perspective of a consultant, I sorted out the six steps for starting a business to the production team and suggested that they use this framework to string together the entrepreneurial story. There is no need to talk about high-level business and management theories. None of these six steps can be missing, and the order of the steps must not be wrong:
First of allHave money to invest, have a business plan: Doing business requires investment, buying equipment, buying raw materials, promoting brands and products, renting venues, hiring people... these are all money. Without money, everything is just fantasy and idle talk. In order to plan for funds, you must first have a business plan - calculate the business income and costs in the future, predict investment and financing, predict profits and cash flow, and prepare for the worst - how long the business can last before making money or obtaining positive cash flow; in content, the business plan covers the following five aspects.
SecondlyIdentify customer needs: All transactions must be based on capital resources and customer needs as the starting point. What kind of customers do we want to serve? What characteristics does he/she have? What unmet needs are there that are opportunities for our business? Entrepreneurs should not be self-centered and fantasize about customer needs. Instead, they must enter the original ecology of customers' work and life, study their needs with concentration, and listen to their expectations and feedback on our products and services. Be careful not to confuse the concepts of who the customer is and what the customer wants. Spend effort studying "what the customer wants." For example, if your goal in making health care products is to serve high-income elderly people, such positioning is actually meaningless, because the same high-income elderly people may have different attitudes towards spending money to buy health care products. Some are willing to spend money, while others are very frugal.
The third is yoursUniqueness of products and servicesWhat it is: No matter what business you are doing now, most of them are facing a fully competitive market. Generally speaking, it is difficult to generate ideas that no one else has. Only if you can survive in the red ocean of bloody battles, you will find the blue ocean of smooth sailing; even if you think of a business idea that others have not thought of, as long as your idea enters the market and is proven to be commercially viable, competitors will follow. You have to figure out how to maintain your continued competitiveness?
What is the fourthReach your customers: There are many models for establishing channels from enterprises to customers, and the construction of each model requires huge investment. For example, if you want to sell beer, the place where customers pay for it will include: drinking in restaurants, drinking at food stalls, stocking up in chain supermarkets, retailing in convenience stores, drinking in nightclubs, receiving benefits from the company, opening a beer hall... At each sales site, there are different market access models such as direct sales, direct supply, wholesale, retail, etc. When resources are limited, entrepreneurs must make choices.
The fifth is how do youIntegrate resources: Whether it is upstream cooperation with raw materials and manufacturing suppliers, or downstream cooperation with distributors, advertisers, landlords, or even investors, brand spokespersons, etc., how to establish cooperation and benefit distribution relationships and integrate resources outside the organization?
The sixth isBuild a team: Entrepreneurs need to solve the organizational construction of two teams and coordinate internal personnel relations. The first is the shareholder team, which manages the money and bears the risks of starting a business. Funds are the most important factor among all factors. Starting a business means investing and having the courage to take risks and burn money. The second is the business management team, which must have a team with execution ability and the ability to create results. In some entrepreneurial organizations, shareholders and management teams are integrated into one, and the decision-making mechanism and governance relationship must be clarified to avoid conflicts.
The premise of these six elements is that entrepreneurship is subject to the constraints of limited resources.
The current successful companies have more or less done these six factors in the process of starting a business. However, some of today's successful companies also have a certain degree of contingency in their success. For individuals and organizations who plan to embark on the road of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial success cannot be pinned on chance or gambling luck; whether a start-up company can continue to do the above six things is also the key to its continued success.
Machine-translated from the Chinese original 创业剧剧本 ｜ 怎么做一个生意 (published 2021-06-02). WeChat original ↗