The Step by Step Guide to Become an Entrepreneur 

Deciding to start your own business can be as difficult as it is exciting. You are jumping on the most enriching life adventure ever but at the same time you may feel lost without knowing where to begin. This is a basic guide of steps to take to open your own business. 

1. Take a Stand for Yourself

Whatever the motivation was for you to decide to become your own boss, either if you were unsatisfied with your current situation there is no point on blaming anyone else. The only way you will see changes in your life

is if you start making changes yourself. You have taken the decision now take the challenge of becoming an entrepreneur.

2. Identify the Business that Fits You Best 

If you were unhappy with your previous job and you felt like either it did not fit you well or you where not getting anything out of it, you might as well start a business that you are passionate about but that has the potential to be successful. 

Get to know yourself. Find what your drive is and see if you could make a business out of it. Trust your intuition, and understand the three most common approaches to entrepreneurship:

Do what you know: If you already have some knowledge from a previous job, identify the skills you acquired and see how you can apply these to a new business. 

Do what others do: Explore different businesses until you find one that you like. 

Solve a common problem: Is there anything you see as a common problem where you can contribute to solve it through a product or a service? 

3. Determine If You Should Get an Education 

Education is a key factor of becoming an entrepreneur, even though it is not required it helps to have technical knowledge of your own business and should not be ignored completely. Besides, you have to consider that some industries will require some type of education. 

4. Plan your business 

Planning will help you get a clear vision of what your business would be like, it will help you to stay focused and be confident, and it is even important if you would like to get investors on board.  

Write down your goals, strategies, and action steps you will implement and you

will see how your business shapes itself.

Some questions that may help you to create your business plan can be:

What am I building?

Who is my business going to serve?

What am I promising to my customers?

What promises am I doing to myself as a business owner?

What are my objectives?

What strategies will I use to accomplish my objectives?

What is my first step going to be?

What is my action plan going to be?

5. Identify Your Target Audience 

Identifying your target market is key in order to shape your business according to it. Not everyone may feel identified with your business, or not everyone may find it useful. Demographics such as age, income, race, and culture will play an important role on determining who are you going to market to.

There is industry research available that you can take a look at, but the most effective way to know if your business is marketable or nor, is to reach directly to your target market and ask.

6. Finance Your Business 

Financing will be different depending on the business you choose. If you are planning on opening a lifestyle business, a small amount of funds is needed. On the contrary, if you plan to open a high-tech business, it will require a greater amount of capital. 

Being an entrepreneur means that your personal life and your business are connected with one another, which is why it is important that you make some personal financing to track your money even before you start reaching ou

t to external investors.

7. Network 

Network is basic and needed in any industry, but it may be more important to entrepreneurs since networking is going to get your business growing. Create a strong network of advisers, suppliers, and customers. Networking will help you connect with people that have skills that you can apply to your business, and you may be able to find investors for your business through networking. 

8. Sell by Creating Value 

Often-times, customers do not know what product they are looking for, they just know they are looking for one. It is your job as an entrepreneur to convince the customer that your product is the best option out there. 

Focus on serving your customer through your product or service rather than focusing on selling it to them. Customers in general can tell when someone is genuinely trying to help them find what they are looking for whereas when someone is selling the same product, the same way, to everyone. 

9. Promote Your Business 

It is very important to market your business from beginning to end. You can have the best business ever but nobody will go to you if they are not aware of your business' existence.There are many ways to do it, and this is where having identified your target market is important so you can know where you can reach them. 

Social media is the channel most used during these times so be active on them and promote your business to reach an audience that will be part of your target market. If your target market is not very active on social media, do not underestimate the other methods outside of it. For example, word-of-mouth marketing, having a website, public relations, creating a blog, reach people through e-mail, and make some calls. 

By following these 9 steps you will be on the right track to accomplish your life-long goal of becoming your own boss. 

T. M. (n.d.). So You Want to Be Your Own Boss. Retrieved February 20, 2019, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/207488

How to Become an Entrepreneur. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2019, from https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/entrepreneur/