First thing you wish you had done when starting a new business

hi,i wish i had enough money for starting a business

I've helped many, many people with their startups and here's what the #1 problem they have is:

NO SALES PLAN.

They have poor branding clarity, unclear expectations on what they're going to have to do to succeed, and spend their time playing around on stupid stuff like their website colors.

That is NOT what makes you money.

Getting conversations with people you can help is what makes you money.

Without a sales plan, these poor folks don't have a revenue target...they don't know how many people they need to connect with...and they don't know what activities they need to focus on.

Trying to "make as much money as possible" will keep you broke.

You need to know where the goalposts are.

Most don't.

I wish a had an internet marketing mentor when I started out in internet marketing.

I wasted a lot of time, money and energy, investing in quite a bit of useless Internet marketing courses. Until one day I invested in an internet marketing mentorship program

I immersed myself in the Internet marketing materials, in the mentorship program everyday for five years. In the first two weeks into the Internet marketing mentorship program, I was able to create my first set of information products to launch with bonuses, and set up my own online sales funnels.

Having a mentor shortens your learning curve and speeds up the income generation process in your internet marketing business.

I wish I started with WHY.

When I started, I was all about the service I was providing. Not why I was providing it.

You need to have a clear goal and expectations. Make sure that you have everything on paper first (business plan, marketing plan, sales plan and so on).

I think for me, a better long term plan. At first I focused too much on short term.

I wish I had just reversed -engineered a business model that's working rather than figure it out myself.

Before I had success with business, I've had a lot of losses and failed businesses. The reason for that was because there was no detailed plan of what to do after each process. Also I invested in business with very little knowledge. So it's two things:
1. Business plan
2. Invest in knowledge and learning

I wish I had participated in Facebook groups of successful entrepreurs so that I would learn from them and start right away on the right track.

I wish had stuck to one type of service and not try to be everything to everyone. I also should not compare myself to others and focus on where my strengths which is setting up and branding wordpress websites and social media accounts for small businesses. I don't need to be a social media manager, a copywriter, SEO specialist, etc. If client needs those extras I could simply find the people to help me and not kill myself trying to learn everything under the sun within online marketing. Although, I am proud of myself for at least attempting to learn many digital marketing strategies and being able to speak confidently on the topic.

I am going to setup a small internet marketing company and the responses here will help me a lot. One thing that I am doing is that I am in no hurry, I want to plan everything before starting out.

Hi J,

First thing what I did
- What kind of niche you want to focus on
- sales funnel
- drive traffic to your website
- build a list
- close sale

Here is the path that I did, PM me if you want to know more information about this

Wish I started with more money in savings. When you're first starting out you've gotta have some back up funds to pay living expenses.

Not getting a mentor and focusing on one product instead of learning how to adopt the mindset of a marketer. Think like a marketer and you can sell any product or service.

Outsourced more menial tasks.

Maybe if I had I wouldn't have wicked Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.

I wish I surrounded myself with the right people from the very beginning.

Bought a domain and hosting and create a website to make my business look legit

The most practical initial step is going to be finding out if a market exists for what it is you are trying to do. A great idea is only as good as the customers that will support it. *For every business as small as it may be, having a professional business plan is a great idea.
These are the reasons why having a good, solid business plan from the outset is very important, and then revisiting that business plan regularly will keep you on track and remind you of why you started this venture to begin with.

Once all aspects of your business plan are in place, and you are very familiar with every detail, you are going to be very prepared. Also, a plan serves to keep you on track as your business goes through cycles that every business does. It will be the reference point for you every day outlining why you started this venture, and it will help you build your dream.

Business Planning made easy. BrainHive Consulting.

According to my point of view money is not the big matter for start any business,firstly we must have good plan for start a business .you have to follow some step before startups;_
1. Don't Go Into Debt.
2.Find Mentors:-You think you know what you're doing, but you don't. You're a young punk. You don't have a clue. Find someone who has done it before and buy them lunch.
sometimes we are well confident that we are know everything about our business but experienced person always first preference as compare to the freshers.
so, we have to take advice from mentors,who are already do this things before.
3.Don't Work Weekends:-
Overtime is somewhat good thing,but i want to suggest to work smartly instead of hardworking. When we are working upto so many hours it also become the part of bouring life.
so, have to divide time in each bundle .Give time for family,business,enjoy with freinds etc.
4.Get Organized:-
Get organized until nothing ever falls through the cracks. Make your organization scheme a habit that serves you
5.Meditate:-
Stop. Remove yourself from all distractions. Relax. Think. Or don't think. Then think. Do it every day. At least 15 minutes per day. If you don't have 15 minutes a day for meditation then do it for an hour a day.6.Take Time On Important Decisions.

I like this question!!! Not trying to learn everything there is that is in the internet marketing world, a lot better time management and consistency....

Time. That's the biggest mistake I made in the first years of IM. The best thing to do is to plan and take time to work on something until it works. In the beginning I went from method to method all over the place. Always latching on to the next biggest trend.

After 2 or 3 years chasing your tail with no results, you then start to think, if I had of just stuck to building my list or building traffic for my site how far would I have been now.

You will hear so many people on the forum saying things like, "I don't want to xyz because it takes too much time" when in reality, they are likely to be still trying to figure it all out 5 years later.

Spending 6 months to year may not seem fun or sexy generating traffic or working on a list, when you see so many stories over and over again about how people are killing it with e-com or whatever the latest fad is, but trust me, after 2 years when you have achieved nothing it will seem like time very well spent.

I wish I have done thorough research on the feasibility of the business. A wrong decision will waste time and money.

I learnt a few things a bit too late. I wish I had learnt email marketing in the beginning itself. Lost a lot because of starting it too late.

Zero regrets buddy. All things happen at the perfect place, perfect time. I suggest you do the biz bit mainly for your passion as a newbie. Keeps you detached, patient, and honest.

Gone straight to online trading, it would have saved me almost 10 years of all of that IM guff.

I wish i had a Clear Plan and a Vision !

I thing that the first thing every businessman wants from his business is to return the money he spend on it in less time. But one more thing is not to regret about the launching new business

Do a deep analysis, take time.
Don't think only about positive aspect think negatively what would happen if it fails
Don't put loan for business, have some capital and when you start.
Do a periodic risk analysis, Fix a time and then think whether you need to continue or not.
Don't hesitate to close it if its not going in a correct way. you can learn a lot from business.

I wish I immediately hired an extra pair of hands when things started getting too much to handle, instead of being scrimpy scared to spend a bit of what I've earned to get some help. I was so stingy back then that I once backed out when a Filipino VA offered to do some customer support service for me for cheap--because I didn't realize his rate was cheap until later on.

This is not Internet Marketing. This is Internet Business. Please get this point in your head first. It takes money to create a successful Internet Business. Don't think you can succeed without investments of TIME and MONEY. The online investment may not be as expensive as an offline brick and mortor business, but don't be fooled, you will need money to invest if you want true online success.

Remember: "You Can't Scale Free Traffic."

So if you think you can create a $10,000 per month online income only with free traffic, YOU ARE LIVING IN A DREAM WORLD. $500 per week on a regular basis is not attainable without paid traffic.

To realize exactly what is needed to be done to have the "Internet Lifestyle", you need to learn the truth, not some pipedream that some scammer tries to sell you just to make a quick buck. You have to wake up to the truth. It may be difficult to accept, but once you realize what is real, a whole new world of possibilities are now clearly set in front of you. Just go for it and don't stop until you reach that feeling inside that says, "I am where I want to be."

I know that the promisses of overnight success is tempting, but in the long run is 6 months down the road or even a year down the road, after the effort is put in, too long to wait for what you really want?

I think I've made my point...