What Darwin Would Say About Entrepreneurship in Tough Times?

For new business, the solo-preneur and would-be entrepreneurs, the question of adaptability is an easy one.

With lower overheads, these kinds of businesses could be more adaptable than the corporate giants, who are looking to cut overhead costs but they also suffer butterfly syndrome, hovering from one idea to the next, with no real focus.

It’s important to get to a point of clarification as soon as possible. If you think of a new idea, a new way to deliver, find a niche that’s not met or not met as well as you think it should be, you need to set the ground rules.

Find the connection between ideas if you have many of them. Look at the many revenue streams you can develop cost effectively. Look at your channels to market.

Market test the ideas and take something that hasn’t cost you a fortune to market and try it out BEFORE committing your life savings and mortgage to your next venture. Look at ways to get free advertising, free promotion, free links and instant exposure.

For the would-be entrepreneur who is thinking about starting a new business and maybe see taking the advantage in a difficult market, now is definitely time to plan your moves. What training do you need? Get it while you can afford it. While you still have the income to pay for it AND believe it or not, the time to spend on yourself. Once you leave your day job, the stress of needing to earn money will over ride your ability to learn new skills. You need to plan your escape from corporate slavery. Work on the home finances first.

Clear your credit cards and other loans, start saving ½ your income in to savings. It may take as long as a year to have enough saved up to keep you going 6months to a year. The main reason 90% of companies fail in the first year is that they run out of time and money. Even if you are looking at receiving some form of redundancy check if you are part of a company downsize, don’t rely on this. You’ll need to start living on less, to make sure you have some funds to put in to the business. Services businesses can be started up with just a few thousand dollars. For product or manufacturing businesses, you’ll probably need financial backing from a bank. Start small if you can, and test, test, test, before you go too far.

Having a well thought through business plan is a must. Put all your ideas down on paper gets it out of your head and helps you to sleep better. Then you MUST look at a SWOT analysis - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It’s tempting to get so excited by an idea to only think of the positive stuff, but you do need to look at the negative too. Once you’ve identified the negative, you can then look at ways of eliminating or at least actions and activities you need to consider in reducing the risk associated with them.

For the existing solo-preneur business, the tough market is an opportunity to reposition. Look at what isn’t working as well as it was. Look for new channels or even new products and services. One mistake entrepreneurs make is looking at too wide a range of ideas that aren’t connected in any way. They come across as confused and lacking focus. In this market, no matter what you do, you need to be known for something - not everything. You need to be ‘front of mind’, so they know to come to you. Make it easy for them and seriously think about how you can position yourself and the things you sell. Diversify yes, but give yourself some boundaries so you can frame your offer. The stronger your proposition, the easier you make it for people to do business with you.

Certainly, what I am seeing in the business world is a great deal of people either looking at leaving the tiresome day job and the threat of unemployment or people who have been downsized, looking to find their way and either not making any money or not enough money. With people generally having more time in their hands, building face to face relationships with customers and referral partners is a must. Existing networking groups have seen a growth spurt and many new groups have emerged. What’s happening is there are many many ‘me too’ businesses fighting for the same $

What do Entrepreneurs need to look at in tough times? How to differentiate, reposition and get the visibility needed to win that $

Posted by Tina Jesson Visibility Creator http://www.tinajesson.com

Tina Jesson - The Visibility Creator
Author, business growth & markting consultant, trainer and speaker. http://www.tinajesson.com