Your thoughts are solidifying, and you want to develop your idea. To do this, make sure you have all the conditions in place that will lead your ambition to success. Adopt a logical and methodical approach, and seek support to support it.
Step 1: Identify your motivations
Now an employee and with the aim of getting up in the morning to work in accordance with who you are, you aspire to be an independent entrepreneur . Good job, your thinking is gradually progressing. Now let’s deepen your introspection, why are you considering this new life? According to Wikipedia, “motivation is the process that regulates commitment to a specific activity. It determines its triggering in a certain direction with the desired intensity and ensures its continuation until completion or interruption.”
Your motivations therefore lie in certain fundamental elements that you can easily identify.
- Triggers: your needs ,
- The direction to take: the activity to develop,
- Intensity: the effort you are willing to put in,
- Persistence: continuity in these efforts.
If you have answered these, you can move on to the next step.
Step 2: Set clear goals
To be successful in entrepreneurship, you need to set concrete, achievable economic and personal goals that will give you direction when starting your business. Goals aren’t just your destination; they’re also the white lines that keep you on track . For many business owners, this often reflects their long-term motivations and expectations.
While it’s crucial to have long-term goals, such as getting your business off to a good start and helping it grow, you also need to set short-term goals related to starting your business. Your short-term goals should be SMART . Why? Starting a business is a great challenge, but it can sometimes be a big risk. You’ll need to feel like you’re making progress, and your short-term goals will help you achieve some victories .
Step 3: Analyse opportunities and risks
The opportunities and risks associated with starting or taking over a business are varied. A SWOT analysis will help you answer questions such as:
- What current trends can I take advantage of in the short, medium and long term?
- What risks could arise and what impact will this have on my business?
- How likely is this to happen and what will be the impact?
- How to plan for contingencies to manage risks and impacts?
When taking stock of these external factors that may affect (positively or negatively) your business, there are six areas you should consider :
- Politics: Government changes and interventions, local politics, and national and international regulations affecting your business.
- Economic: Economic growth and interest rates in recent years have been marked by an unstable economic climate, which has impacted certain areas of activity. Also consider local or global economic measures that could have an impact.
- Social: Social factors are dictated by the general public and its references. Current topics such as gender equality, healthy eating, climate change, etc. are sensitive points for consumers , which you must put at the heart of your strategy.
- Technological: Technological aspects randomly disrupt certain activities. You need to analyse how your business could be affected by technological advancements .
- Legal: Laws are evolving and can potentially impact your business on a national or even international scale.
- Environment: Environmental changes particularly affect the primary sector but also create new opportunities; weather changes have repercussions in the tourism sector.
⚠️ Don’t hesitate to seek support for this part and then for risk management. Indeed, undertaking without isolation allows you to be more serene in creating a business.
Step 4: Study the different ways of doing business
There are three main ways to start a business in the UK , each of which requires careful consideration of what you’re willing to lose. Ask seasoned entrepreneurs to guide you in choosing the right direction for you and determining the project best suited to your lifestyle.
- Create a business that reflects your image by proposing a new idea. It must, of course, be realistic, verified, and approved by numerous parties (bankers, innovation jury, etc.).
Start a franchise to break out of isolation and rely on a proven business, supported by a network of franchisees who are experts in their field.