Success stories of billionaires who started a business from scratch (20 photos). How I decided to start my own business How I started my business from scratch

Hello dear readers!

Today I want to tell you how I started my modest business. Let me tell you right now, there is nothing wrong with this. I will not tell you how to open an individual entrepreneur or LLC - you can easily find this information on the net. There are hundreds of articles on the subject. I will note only one thing - if you decide on your own business, then it is better to open it yourself, rather than pay someone.

Better to start this quest yourself, so to speak. Yes, and you will gain connections with the first experience while you are launching. What could be better? I immediately met an accountant and a notary, with whom I still communicate a lot.

For example, if you decide to have children, will you take a direct part in this event? So right? Or hire a company?

By the way, while I was blogging, I opened my own online store, which I wrote about in detail in a series of notes. I recommend reading, there are a lot of practical points and tricks :)

So, a little background:

At one time he lost his job and was forced to return from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod, where he lived and worked for a long time. I was looking for a job in NN for a very long time, but there was a crisis and I could not find anything. The experience was so extensive, and there were so many ambitions, that they played a cruel joke on me.

In short, the question became an edge just a year later: -) Something had to be done. That is, you had to somehow earn money. And it doesn't matter how, but within the law, of course: -) And the time has come to search for an IDEAS for business. It was not for nothing that I wrote this word so ironically in capital letters. I explain why:

Many dig in already at this stage and tie up in search of some kind of super-idea that will make them rich. Believe me, it is better to start at least something, and then everything will go by itself. Start doing what you know and love.

For example, today I was very puzzled by the search for a master who would make me a duplicate of a very tricky key. Found, looked around his workshop and realized that the guy lives quite well. Even stood in line for a bit.

And so I searched and searched for my super idea and lived on all sorts of forums. But... ended up starting a completely trivial business - servicing and repairing computers. And things went. And the secret is very simple. Yes, it’s not even a secret, but I adhere to well-known principles:

1. Maximum customer orientation. Yes, I “kiss on the gums” of clients, so to speak. They understand this and recommend me to all their friends. I always go forward, make small concessions, etc. Maybe I'll write more about it.

2. I started my business from scratch. Well, everything is very simple here. I had no money after a year of looking for a job. I didn't want to take out a loan. I advise everyone to start from scratch. So it's easier to survive a possible collapse :-)

3. I don’t cheat clients with extra money and I always build long-term relationships. I always explain to people what and how I will do. The pros and cons of our work.

4. If I see that the client is “one-time”, then sometimes I will refuse. I'm more interested in long-term collaboration. Why waste time and energy on “once”?

5. I don’t take on dubious orders and too complex work if I understand that I can’t handle it. Or the quality will suffer.

6. I have a clear understanding of who I work for. That is, who is my client and who is not.

7. I don't strive to "know everything". For example, I'm good at looking for clients, but I can't fix the monitor. But .. I have friends who will fix the monitor, but they will never be able to find customers for these very monitors. Therefore, do not kill yourself if you do not know something. You probably know something that others can't. And in servers, I'm a complete sheep. But I have friends who... :-)

Let's go further.

1. The main thing that scared me at the first stage was the issue of accounting. There were many questions: How to issue documents? Where to put a squiggle? Where to go and who to call? :-) My head was spinning. But it also has its own drive and got a great experience.

Just at that time, the online accounting service “My Business” was launched. Then it was still free and, of course, I immediately went to it and registered.

I was just lucky with this service at the first stage. The fact is that with the help of it you can quite easily do without a hired accountant. This is not an ad - just try this service. If I'm not mistaken, they give 14 days of free trial. In short, I recommend, I myself have been using it for 3 years. The first year was free - tested on me :-)

That is, the issue of bookkeeping for me was closed literally in the first month. Now this service is worth it for me 3800 rub. in year. I call the accountant only when I doubt something.

2. I have an individual entrepreneur without employees. This is important, because if there are employees, then the complexity of bookkeeping increases and everything becomes less obvious. Therefore, try to do without employees.

I pay taxes quarterly. Now I will pay 4302 rubles. 06 kop. for 1 quarter on PF and FFOMS. It turns out that in a year I will give to the social program in the amount of RUB 17,208 24 kopecks. Not so much.

3. I pay taxes in the amount of 6% of income quarterly. It is clear that I will not disclose the real numbers here.

I can only say that you need to choose a profitable taxation system

— 6% of income

- or 15% of the difference between income and expenses.

It is more profitable for me to pay 6% of the income and, of course, the USNO.

4. Opened a bank account and pay 500 rubles. monthly account maintenance.

5. Yes, I bought another number in MegaFon, with direct urban. That is, I proudly leave the “city” number to the clients. This service costs me 150 rubles. per month.
6. I printed business cards myself + ordered printing for importance. It cost about 600 rubles. Pennies, that is. IP can work without printing. But I did, because my customers are mostly legal entities, and they love all sorts of prints.

15Jul

Why I decided to write this article

Because many who ask me questions ask something that at first you shouldn’t even bother at all. There are even questions that a person may never face at all. In general, “Woe from Wit” occurs in the minds of many novice entrepreneurs, and we will “eliminate” this grief in this article. At least I'll try my best. Now let's talk about mistakes, and then I will give a step-by-step plan as I see it.

Some errors and their solutions

1. Break-even point not calculated

Many start a business without even considering how much in what period they need to sell in order to break even. This is important because many business models are cut off at this stage.

Calculating the break-even point is easy. You consider how much you incur expenses per month and then consider how much you need to sell goods or provide services per month in order to recoup these expenses. If the figure is too large and seems unrealistic to you, then it is better not to take on such a business. If you think that you can sell the right amount of goods to cover expenses or start covering expenses in a few months, then you can think about this business further.

Conclusion 1: Until you have a complete financial picture of the business in your head, you can’t borrow money or even use your savings.

2. Everything must be perfect

At the beginning of your business, you want everything to be right and beautiful: the most modern equipment is bought, the most functional website is created, the office is repaired, etc.

Striving for the best is useful, but there is one “BUT” - before you spend money, check the performance of your business model. If you are going to make an expensive website design, first make sure that your services or products are in demand at all.

Or, if you're opening a cafe, before making expensive renovations, try to start selling in the premises that are available with minimal investment. If sales go on and a place in this area of the city will bring at least some profit, then you can expand or make a cool renovation.

Conclusion 2: Don't invest a lot of money until you're sure people want the product. And you don’t need to bring everything to perfection, thereby delaying the start. Start with what you have and gradually develop and improve.

3. Not understanding your future business or simply no love

I personally think that a business should at least like it. For example, I love each of my business projects, and if I didn’t love them, they wouldn’t turn out to be profitable.

Some start-up entrepreneurs write me questions like “What to sell”, “What services are profitable to provide”, “What kind of business is profitable to do”, etc. I answer everyone: "Open your own bank." And no one likes my answer, although it answers all these questions. Each entrepreneur has a different life situation, different interests and different knowledge. If one likes selling toys and the other likes selling men's suits, then they won't be able to switch businesses and be as successful. This is because they do not understand the model itself and simply do not feel interested.

Conclusion 3: You can't build a business on an idea just because you just know it's profitable and you're not interested in it. Business needs to be understood, loved and “be in the know”. For example, I could not open a massage parlor and lead the business to success. Not because I don't have enough money, but because I don't understand anything in this business.

How to start your own business - 10 steps from scratch

To begin with, I want to say that below I will give 2 plans on how to start your business: complete and simplified. Let's start with the complete.

Step 1. Business Idea

Of course, to start a business, you need to know what to start. I have always said, I say and I will say that an entrepreneur must have an idea. If you can't even come up with an idea, then what kind of business are you talking about. It is not necessary to be an innovator and come up with something unimaginable. You can take an already working idea, look around, find flaws in it, or simply improve it the way YOU see it and it will be a different business. It is easier to enter a formed market than to form it yourself. And the idea should not be global, you can start a micro business or.

In order to come up with or find a business idea, read the following articles and after reading you will 100% decide on the idea:

After the articles are read, the ideas are thought up, you can proceed to the next step.

Step 2. Market Analysis

After choosing a business idea, you need to analyze the market, find out if people really need your product. Evaluate the competition, identify the positive and negative sides of competitors, find in yourself what will make you different from your competitors. Compare prices, quality of service, assortment (if it is a commodity business) and look to the maximum for what you can be better at. It is necessary. Why? Read!

Once you have assessed the supply and demand and realized that you can compete with existing companies, you can move on.

Step 3. Business Planning

Step 5. Registering your business

This step cannot be missed, because the business must be registered. You can use LLC or IP. It all depends on your activity. This article will help you:

Once your business is set up, you can move on to the next step.

Step 6. Taxes and reporting

I indicated this step right away, because you must initially decide on which taxation system you will work with. This must be done immediately, because the amount of taxes and how they are paid depend on it. To do this, read the following articles:

And also read other articles of the rubric, because there you will always find up-to-date and complete information about tax and accounting. You can also ask your question and get an answer from a specialist.

Step 7. Quick idea testing

Someone will say that you can test without registering a business. And you are right! It is possible and so, but it was not in vain that I wrote at the very beginning that there would be 2 scenarios for the development of events, and in the second I will talk about it. Now let's move on to testing itself.

Initially, you need exactly quick testing - “testing in battle”. With your own money, test the idea, give minimal advertising, make the smallest possible product and try to sell it. Study demand in practice so to speak. You have to look into your plan, estimate what you need at the minimum in order to get started and start right away. Why is this being done. At the very beginning, I wrote about one of the mistakes of novice entrepreneurs, which consists in delaying the start, in constant improvements, etc. You don’t need to bring it to perfection, you need to start as soon as possible in order to test the idea in action, get the first sales and be inspired to continue development.

If the start does not give the first sales, then you need to revise the plan, idea and look for errors. A quick start is also done so that in case of failure you spend less time, effort and money. Agree, it would be more annoying to prepare for a year, and then fail? It is less offensive to realize your mistakes right away, while you still have little time to do. So you can make adjustments along the way and everything will start to work out!

To test ideas and your business can help you. It is more for testing ideas on the Internet, but it is also suitable for the real sector (offline).

Step 8. Business Development

After the tests have been carried out, the plan has been adjusted and sales have started slowly, you can develop your business and refine everything that you wrote in the plan to perfection. Now you can improve the site, increase warehouses or office, expand staff, etc. When your idea and business model has shown its performance, it is easier for you to set more global goals. Moreover, you have already received the first money from the first orders or sales and can reinvest them in development.

If there is not enough money, then here you can already resort to loans and borrowings, because business brings money and you can borrow with a clear conscience for its development. If you don't need much money, even a credit card might work. In I told how you can use credit card money for your business without interest.

Step 9. Active promotion

This step could be attributed to development, but I took it out separately. After you have wider warehouses, more powerful equipment and site, more employees, etc., you need to make it all work. This requires aggressive advertising to the maximum. You have to use a lot of promotional opportunities. Look for clients on the Internet, do offline advertising, do direct sales, etc. The more advertising tools you use, the better the result. But be sure to record the results and filter out ineffective advertising tools so as not to waste your budgets.

Step 10 Scaling

Your business is doing well, making money, you are constantly developing, everything is great! But there are also adjacent areas or neighboring cities. If your business model is successful in your city, then you can make representative offices in other cities. If there is no desire or opportunity to go to neighboring cities, then you can simply capture an adjacent direction, if there is one at all.

For example, if you sell household appliances, you can simultaneously open a repair service and provide paid repair services. If your client's equipment is beyond repair, you can always offer him to buy something from your store in exchange. In general, look at your business and I am sure that you will find something to cling to.

What else can you pay attention to

During the launch of a business, there are several parameters that allow you to evaluate how effective your business is at the start, take them seriously:

If the net income of your business is above zero, excluding equipment costs and taxes, then your business will survive because it generates some money. If it is below zero, it means that your business is burning money, and it will not have enough loans and investments;

If you planned sales for 200,000, and sell for 50,000, then this is an occasion to seriously adjust your work and, possibly, the plan itself;

You should be comfortable. Business is hard. If you, too, are constantly having a hard time, then it will be difficult to cope with the tasks of the business. Give yourself enough comfort so that you don't feel left out because of your own business.

How to start and open your own business in a simplified way

As promised, I will give another simplified diagram of how to start your own business. Because I have already written all the points above, so I will refer to them here so as not to repeat myself.

I myself have used this scheme more than once, because before I started very small projects in which a lot could be missed. So the schema looks like this:

Idea (it should always be);
Easy planning, you can not paint, but fit the main points on a sheet of notebook. It is done in order to draw a model;
Quick idea test. Perhaps even without investments and search for money. Or very little money will be required and they will simply be in your savings;
Development and active promotion. After the first orders are, you can start active promotion and bring everything to mind;
Business registration and scaling.

As you can see, I missed registration at the very end, because some business projects can be implemented without registration, because during the test you don’t get so much money to immediately run for them to report to the tax office. But if the business model has shown its performance and, after active promotion, it is growing, then the design should be instant.

But you still can’t do without registration even at the first stages if you need a retail space, an office or work with companies under contracts, because for this you need at least an individual entrepreneur.

Conclusion

In this article, I told you how to start your own business, talked about the mistakes that beginners often make and I made, and now you know what to do before starting your own business. Read my site, subscribe to it, and try to start doing your own thing. We will not leave anyone on the site without help. Thank you for your attention!

Sincerely, Schmidt Nikolai

How to start your business from scratch if you have no money and experience? Where can I find a working business idea to start a project? What kind of business to start in order to get the first profit tomorrow?

Hello dear friends! In touch Alexander Berezhnov, entrepreneur and one of the founders of the HiterBober.ru business magazine.

Today we will talk about how to start your own business from scratch. Is it really possible to do it at all? I answer unequivocally - YES!

Here I will describe a step-by-step technology for starting a business, and give examples from my own business practice, as well as talk about the experience of my entrepreneur friends who started their own business without money and other material assets in the form of premises, equipment or goods.

You just have to study this material and apply the knowledge gained in life!

Ready? Then let's go!

1. Why is it better for beginners to open a business from scratch?

Dear readers, this section of the article is very important! I sincerely advise you to study it carefully. I guarantee you won't regret it.

Here, the key points for starting a business for beginners will be explained in terms of entrepreneurial psychology.

Before you start a new project, be sure to think about what your desire is due to.

Understand yourself and your motivation to open a business, and my little test, compiled in the form of two blocks of different beliefs, will help you with this.

For example, a great way for a beginner to start a business would be to sell popular, in-demand products from China.

Belief Block #1.

With what thoughts you SHOULD NOT start your own business:

How to quickly earn a lot to pay off debts?
The idea that I have in my head will definitely work, but I need money to implement it;
Am I worse than others? Here my neighbor is engaged in business and everything will also work out for me;
Tired of these fool bosses, tomorrow I quit and open my own business!

Yes, friends, business is more psychology than technology. I'll explain why a little later.

Belief Block #2.

Conversely, you are READY to start a business if you think like this:

I am very good at doing a business that is in demand by the “market”, and on its basis I want to open my own business;
I am aware that in the beginning large investments in a business are very risky, and only free money I can invest in a business, but I will not borrow it, since the risk of losing money without business experience is very high;
My business requires a lot of time, and in order to develop it, I must have a cash reserve or source of income until my project brings tangible income;
Having started my business, I will no longer have bosses and controllers who guide me in my work, and I need to become an organized person now enough to act independently and achieve success in entrepreneurship.

If you are dominated by beliefs from block number 1, do not rush to get into a fight. After all, most likely, such judgments indicate the emotionality of your decisions and underestimation of the risks that arise when starting your own business.

The beliefs that prevail in your head from block number 2 indicate that you are fully aware of what a business is and are going to take a responsible approach to its start and further development.

I already wrote above that business is basically psychology and only then - technology.

It is time to explain why this is so.

The thing is that our internal "cockroaches" and delusions prevent us from starting our project.

Here are just a few of the myths that hold back successful projects:

Without money and connections, a business cannot be opened;
Taxes will eat up all the profits;
Bandits will take my business;
I don't have a commercial streak.

Surely you are familiar with all these fears of beginners. In fact, if you overcome them, or rather, just score and do not think about all this nonsense, then your chances of success will increase MULTIPLE!

You can prepare documents for registering an LLC and an individual entrepreneur for free through the online service. At the exit, you will receive forms filled out without errors, which will be printed and submitted to the tax authority. So already at the first stage you save your money and time, insure yourself against the refusal of the Federal Tax Service, without delving into the complex language of the legislation.

2. How to start your business so as not to burn out - 10 iron rules!

Then I bought 2 terminals for receiving payments. You probably yourself have used the services of such terminals more than once when paying for a mobile phone. But this business cannot be called open from scratch, since at that time (2006) I invested about 250,000 rubles in it.

So, friends, perhaps you know both successful examples of business projects and examples where entrepreneurs with their “brainchild” failed.

By the way, basically everyone hears stories of great successes, but it’s not customary and even ashamed to talk about failures.

Like, here I am a fool, a loser, went bankrupt, lost money, got into debt. So what's now? And now there is nothing left to do, it remains to live on and step by step to get out of this situation.

So that you don’t end up in the place of this poor fellow, here are the simplest rules that will help you start a business with minimal risks and a greater chance of success.

How to start your business from scratch and not go broke - 10 iron rules:

Never take loans to start a business if you have no experience;
Before opening a business, take off your “rose-colored glasses” and ask yourself the question: “What will I lose if I fail” ?;
Be prepared for different scenarios, consider both an optimistic scenario and a pessimistic one;
In no case do not open a business with money intended for other strategic goals in your life (children's education, loan payments, medical treatment, etc.);
Carefully study the market and your capabilities, that is, the resources you have to start your own business;
Do not get involved with obscure or "super profitable" projects that require serious investments;
If possible, talk to experienced entrepreneurs who are successful in business and take note of their advice;
Start a business in a field you know;
Plan the upcoming actions in writing and clearly articulate each stage that you have to go through to achieve the goal;
Be optimistic and do not stop at the first difficulties!

3. How to start your own business from scratch - 7 easy steps using the example of a fictional aspiring entrepreneur Vasya Pupkin

For clarity, I propose to go through all 7 steps of the technology for organizing your business using the example of a fictitious entrepreneur, let his name be Vasily.

This is the hero of our story, who decided to open a business from scratch.

Step 1. Determine your value

Look, friends, I think you will agree that a business can be called an exchange of money for some value that you can give to your customers, that is, to solve their problem for money.

Let's say you're good at driving a car, or good at making beautiful designs on a computer, or maybe you have a talent for making DIY crafts - in all these cases, you have value that people are willing to pay for.

Let's get straight to the point and do a practical exercise that will help you start your business from scratch:

Exercise:
Grab a piece of paper and a pen, then write down a list of 10 things you feel you're better at.

Once this list is complete, consider what things you are good at that you really enjoy doing. Maybe you are currently doing this as a hobby.

The fact is that a person cannot do what he does not like for a long time, and business is a big creative process that requires you to be versatile in development, willpower and dedication.

For example, as a result of this exercise, you came to the conclusion that you like to teach something, explain, communicate with people and work with information, and most importantly, that you are good at it.

Then, by combining your abilities, you can become a private tutor, consultant or succeed in the network marketing industry.

This is a general principle.

So, Vasya lived...

Vasily decided to open a business, and responsibly approached this task.

Vasya made a list of his favorite activities and compared it with what he does best.

As a result of the exercise, our hero decided that he would be engaged in computer design, since he has been working for several years at DesignStroyProekt LLC in the city of Chelyabinsk, which develops interior design and then finishes the room according to a 3D project.

Vasily appreciated his strength and decided that he would become a private interior designer, he already had a number of completed projects, positive customer reviews and an impressive portfolio.

Vasya loved his work and sometimes even took it home, as there were a lot of orders from the company.

Even then, our hero realized that, in fact, he was engaged in entrepreneurial activity, only the company buys his services at a low price, and customers pay much more for the design development to the company.

Here Vasily realized that if he could find clients on his own, then he would not have to go to the office at all, and his initial investment in the business would be minimal. After all, his design skills themselves are, in fact, a business.

And so the idea came to our newfound entrepreneur to start a business.

While working in the company, Vasya even received a small percentage of completed projects, which means he could influence his income level.

Fortunately, he lived in a large city, where he had quite a few potential customers.

Step 2. We analyze the market and choose a niche for a future project

In order to understand whether your business will be successful, you need to conduct an appropriate analysis of the market in which you will sell your products or services.

So, Vasya decided not to rush and carefully prepared for a new life stage, which was called "free floating in the world of business."

During the few years that our designer worked for the company, he learned that there are about 10 similar companies in the market of his city, and they all provide similar services.

He asked his friend Pasha to go to these companies under the guise of a client and identify their strengths and weaknesses in order to further develop competitive advantages by working for himself.

After commercial intelligence, Pasha named a number of strengths and weaknesses of these companies. Pasha arranged these sides in a table so that it would be convenient for Vasya to compare them.

Strengths of Vasya's competitors:

the interior designer of these companies makes an inspection and measurement of the object for free;
all companies provide a discount on the subsequent finishing of the apartment;
7 out of 10 companies give a client a gift certificate for a 30% discount when ordering a design project from them again;
managers of 9 out of 10 companies talk attentively with the client, correctly ascertaining his needs.

Weaknesses of Vasya's competitors:

8 out of 10 companies try to oversell too many additional products and services on their first meeting with a customer. This causes his negative reaction;
the interior designer in all 10 companies, at the first conversation with a potential client, conducts a dialogue in a complex professional language using a large number of special terms;
7 out of 10 companies charge extra for editing computer-aided design projects.

Taking into account all the above pros and cons of competitors, our hero Vasily decided to design the interiors of houses and apartments in his city at a lower price. Similar companies on the market provide these services more expensively, since they spent a lot of money on maintaining a workplace and paying taxes for an employee.

The cost of the services of our designer was now one and a half times lower with the proper quality of execution of design projects.

This completed the second step of building your business from scratch with Vasily Pupkin.

Step 3. Decide on the positioning of your business and draw up a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

In order for your customers to understand what exactly you offer them and what makes you unique, you will need to decide on your positioning. In other words, in what light will you present yourself to your client.

Let's return to our fictional character Vasily, who wanted to open his own business and was at the stage of developing an offer for the customer.

Vasya already had a good portfolio and a number of testimonials from satisfied clients, but how to show all this to your potential customers?

Then Vasya said to himself: "I'm a designer!", and decided to create his own website on the Internet.

Here he posted his portfolio, reviews, information about himself and his experience, as well as his contacts, so that a potential client could easily contact him.

Vasily also formulated his Unique Selling Proposition (USP) *, which sounded as follows: “Creating the interior design of your dreams for a reasonable price. Creative. Brightly. Practical."

So Vasya began to position himself as a professional designer who, at an adequate cost, develops a good quality product for people with an average income level.

Step 4. We draw up an action plan (business plan)

In order to launch your business and avoid many problems, you need to be prudent and try to put your idea and action plan on paper in as much detail as possible.

You can briefly write down the main stages that you have to go through to organize and launch your project. Draw diagrams and drawings, make explanations for them.

Correctly, this stage of starting your business from scratch is called business planning. This is your instruction, following which, the chances of success are greatly increased.

I already wrote in one of the previous articles, be sure to check it out.

Now we return to our hero Vasily, who decided to become an entrepreneur and quit his job. Vasily has long wanted to open a business without investments, because he did not want to risk money. He understood that without proper experience, such an experiment could end badly and lead to loss of money.

As a result, Vasya decided that his actions would consist of 3 simple steps with subtasks and look like this:

Create your own website with portfolio, reviews and contacts;
Post your portfolio online on sites for remote workers;
Inform the immediate environment about your new project (friends, acquaintances and relatives).

Stage 2. Getting the first orders

Sign contracts and receive advance payments from customers;
Fulfill orders;
Get feedback and recommendations from the customer, add work to the portfolio.

Stage 3. Dismissal from work

Write a letter of resignation;
Work out the required 2 weeks, complete work projects and transfer cases;
Agree on the supply of customers for repair and finishing work to contractors.

Now he was fully prepared for the first practical steps to transform himself from an employee into an individual entrepreneur.

Step 5. We advertise our project and find the first clients

In order to find the first customers, when you already have an offer for your services, you must first notify your acquaintances, friends and relatives. Tell them that from now on you are engaged in such and such an activity, and also try to conclude the first contracts with them.

If at the moment your services are not relevant for them, ask them for contacts of people to whom they could recommend you.

It's no secret that for a large audience coverage and automatic self-presentation, you just need to create a website for yourself.

In the meantime, the hero of our business story, Vasily, did not sit idle and developed a personal website for himself, created groups on social networks, notified the environment about the services he provided, and sent out commercial offers to his potential clients.

The first orders have arrived...

Step 6. Launching a business, earning the first money and building a brand

Having completed all the previous steps, you gradually approached the most interesting stage - the first orders, and therefore the first profits.

Isn't that what we strived for when we became entrepreneurs!?
“How to make money by starting your business from scratch?” Isn't that the question we asked ourselves?

If you show due perseverance and follow my recommendations, then you will certainly succeed. Just believe in yourself and do not give up ahead of time, be prepared for difficulties, because they will be, I tell you for sure.

So, our Vasily received and completed the first orders. As usual, he did it with his usual professionalism. The designer understood that it was not enough just to earn money, because he already knew how to do it at his office job in the company.

Possessing a strategic vision, Vasily decided that in order to develop his business and increase the value of his services, he needed to develop a name for himself, or, as they say in business circles, a reputation.

Earn yourself a name that will help you earn everything else!
folk wisdom

To do this, Vasya did not just sit at home and watch TV, but methodically engaged in self-education, attended thematic exhibitions and seminars, went to creative parties of designers and entrepreneurs, where he could find potential customers and meet new partners.

A few months later, Vasya established a reputation as an experienced and punctual professional in the field of interior design. The average cost of his order was growing, and clients came to him already on the recommendations of their friends, to whom Vasya provided high-quality design services.

Step 7. Analyze the results and expand the project

When your business began to bring tangible income, regular customers appeared, and you began to be recognized in the business and professional sphere, it's time to sum up the intermediate results of work and outline new horizons. Simply put, it's time to expand your project in order to increase profits and your own "weight" (your name) in the chosen business area.

Vasily did the same, he analyzed his results, income, outlined possible ways to expand the business.

As a result, our designer drew up a new business plan.

Now Vasily could hire assistants for himself, who performed all the routine operations for him. Our entrepreneur opened his own interior design studio named after Vasily Pupkin. In it, he was now the leader and art director.

Thus, having gone from a novice designer and company employee, our now big boss Vasily proved to everyone by his own example that it is realistic to open a business from scratch and this does not require cosmic sums, and even more so loans that inexperienced entrepreneurs like to take.

Dear readers, perhaps someone will say that this is a fictional story and the issues of registering a company, proper negotiation with customers, legal issues and other subtleties are not disclosed here in detail.

Yes, this is true, but trust me, if you take these simple 7 steps as a basis, then starting a business for you will turn into an exciting journey that you will remember for a very long time. And as an experienced entrepreneur, you will share your practical knowledge with beginners.

I will say that I personally managed to open a business according to the described model.

I wish you good luck and I am sure that by approaching the beginning of your own project responsibly, after a while you will be doing what you love and getting paid for it.

Below you will find working business ideas for starting your own business from scratch, as well as real entrepreneurial stories about how my friends and I started our own business.

4. Things to do to Start Your Business from Scratch - Top 5 Business Ideas

The following business ideas will help you get started in business and feel like an entrepreneur in practice.

Some ideas will be related to making a profit with the help of the Internet, others will not.

You just have to choose the type of business you like and start diving into it.

Business idea number 1. Online store

Internet sales in Russia are growing every year - in the past 2018, the market grew by more than 150 billion rubles and exceeded 1 trillion in volume. Analysts' forecasts say that by 2023 sales will reach 2.4 trillion (!) Rubles. And the growth will continue...

It is not a sin to take advantage of this trend. However, the question is how to start? What product is really profitable to sell in online stores today? What investments will be needed? And so on.

Let's take a real example - Video-shopper online store:

the owner, Nikolai Fedotkin, is quite active in sharing information on the project;
the main product of the site - cell phones and accessories;
initial investment amounted to approximately 50,000 rubles (for the first version of the site and advertising, the goods were taken from suppliers “on order”);
now the average monthly attendance of the store is more than 500,000 people, the company has more than 150 employees, the guys opened their own courier service, contact center, service center, full-fledged offline stores, and so on

Of course, it is easier to open a store not alone, but in a community of like-minded people. An important tip is to join the clubs of online store owners, go to specialized conferences, communicate and absorb information. So you will gradually find “your” niche.

The largest club of online store owners in Russia at the moment is Imsider. The community includes thousands of working and profitable sites.

Many started even with even smaller investments - an average of 10,000 - 15,000 rubles. This is the main highlight of the Internet business: you do not need to spend money on renting a full-fledged store, a sign, repairs and many other things.

Club members work in a variety of niches:

metal detectors,
irrigators,
knitted clothes,
expensive books and diaries,
goods for gardeners and summer residents,
Tula gingerbread,
fur coats,
childen's goods,
hunting, fishing and much more.

The club regularly hosts online and offline events. If you are just thinking about opening your online store, I advise you to attend the club's online webinar, specially designed for beginners - “6 Steps to a Profitable Online Store”.

The webinar is completely free, where you will learn how to look for a profitable niche, correctly evaluate your ideas, understand how to build a product delivery process, make a website and launch with minimal investment. The webinar is hosted by Nikolai Fedotkin, the owner of the Video-shoper online store, that is, all information is given "first hand". Personally, I was most struck by the fact that Nikolai openly shares the figures for advertising costs - how much and where it is invested, which gives the greatest effect. And all this is not in a theoretical mode, but on the example of our own project. There is nothing better for the initial start in RuNet now.

The main advantage of the club Imsider is that all coaches are active practitioners. Everyone has their own working online store. No water and naked motivation in the style of "it's time to get off the couch." Cases, figures, concrete launch ideas…

You can sign up for the Imsider webinar at this link - just click, registration will take 20 seconds:

Business idea number 2. Business with China

The sale of trendy goods from China is now a very relevant area.

You can sell such goods by pre-purchasing them directly in China via the Internet, through social networks, one-page sites and message boards.

I have my friend Alexei in Moscow, a retail and wholesale business of Chinese goods. At first it was watches, various “cool things”, things for the home.

Now this business brings him clean 350,000 rubles per month.

His scheme is simple and consists of 5 steps:

Choosing the right product and testing.
Buying goods in bulk in China.
Advertising this product over the Internet in many ways.
Sending the ordered goods to the buyer by courier in Moscow or a transport company in Russia.
Scale your business and reward yourself.

And once Aleksey worked as a taxi driver and, as far as I know, he started with a debt of 30,000 rubles.

Its success lies in the study of the necessary information, you can start by watching a free webinar by Evgeny Guryev, an expert on the topic of Business with China, and then take the first steps to put this idea into practice.

Here is what Evgeny says about doing business with China - 3 topical issues:

If you want to start an effective online business selling popular goods from China, visit an expert in starting this type of business.

You will learn step-by-step information for starting a business right now.

Business idea number 3. Consulting and training

If you know how to do something well, then there will certainly be many who want to learn from your experience and knowledge.

Nowadays, online learning is especially popular. This is where you can find hundreds and even thousands of people who are willing to pay you.

For example, I have a friend Alexei, he lives with me in the same city of Stavropol and teaches foreign languages. A few years ago, Lyosha had to go to his students at home or invite them to his home. Now the situation has changed radically, everything has become much easier.

With the advent of the Internet, my friend began to teach people English and German via Skype. I myself used his services for a year. During this time, I managed to learn English from scratch to a conversational level. As you can see, it works.

You can also start your own home based business from scratch teaching or advising people over the Internet.

Nowadays, many lawyers, accountants and teachers earn good money in this way. But there is an even more advanced option for making money on your knowledge, it consists in creating and selling your own training courses via the Internet.

To make a profit in this way you need:

choose a topic in which you understand;
write a training course on it;
start advertising this course online in many ways and earn income from sales

The advantage of this type of business is that you record your course once and sell it multiple times.

In general, the sale of information on the Internet in the form of methods and guidelines is called infobusiness. You can also open it and make it your main source of income.

Business idea number 4. Earnings with the help of the social network Twitter (Twitter)

Today, almost every person has their own profile in any of the social networks. But few people know that here, in addition to entertainment and communication, you can earn good money.

One of these opportunities is the usual for many Twitter - a social network for exchanging short messages up to 140 characters.

Ordinary people spend their time and money here, while smarter people have turned this social network into their source of permanent income.

It's no secret that wherever people hang out, there is money.

After all, our Internet users are an active solvent audience. So why don't you get some of their money. Moreover, it is absolutely legal and does not require outstanding knowledge.

It is enough just to make a few RIGHT actions and get the first profit. We have previously written about how to start your own business on Twitter and earn income comparable to the average salary in Russia. Read our article "" and implement the methods described in it.

Business idea number 5. We are engaged in mediation - we earn on Avito.ru

Earnings with the help of electronic bulletin boards is the easiest and most affordable for most people.

You are required to have minimal computer knowledge, a few hours a day and a desire to work for yourself.

With the help of sites that specialize in posting free ads, you can build your very profitable business.

This can be done in 3 steps:

Find what to sell
Place an ad on the site
Get a call from a buyer and sell a product

As a site for placing ads for sale, we will use the most popular Avito board (avito.ru).

Hundreds of thousands of ads are posted here every day, and the active audience of the site has tens of millions of users.

Can you imagine how many potential buyers for your product can be found here?!

First, you can start here by selling unnecessary things that you have at home, and then post ads for the sale of goods and services that you don’t even have in stock.

Do not believe that this is possible and want to know how it's done?

I myself tried to earn quick money with the help of Avito, I won’t say that I became a millionaire, but I managed to earn several thousand rubles in a week.

Business idea number 6. Grow from an employee to a business partner

If you are currently employed, it is not necessary to quit your job and start your own business. You can do this within the company you work for.

If your company is not too big, and you are one of the key specialists there, then under certain conditions you can get a share in the company's business. This will allow you not only to receive a salary, but to become a full-fledged managing partner on a par with the current owner - your main manager.

This is possible if you can directly influence the increase in the company's profits by your actions.

Become an indispensable specialist and it is quite possible that the owner of the company himself will offer you to become his business partner.

This method is offered by the legendary Russian entrepreneur Vladimir Dovgan. Yes, you will have to work hard here, but on the other hand, you will become a co-owner of an already operating company without any risks and really from scratch.

Dovgan himself cites as an example a guy who became a co-owner of a large chain of restaurants in Moscow, and before that he was a simple cook in one of the restaurants.

This young man really liked what he was doing, he was professional in cooking and courteous with the guests of the institution.

The owners, seeing his passion for work, first promoted him to a restaurant manager, and then offered him a share in the business for developing their network of restaurants and training staff.

I don’t remember the name of this person, but now he has become a dollar millionaire, without actually opening his own business, but starting to develop someone else’s.

This is also a good way to start your own business, especially if you have a good career in a small or medium commercial company.

Business idea number 7. Building your business online

If you are good at computers, know how to create Internet projects, or at least understand the principles of their functioning, then you should consider the Internet as a way to start your business from scratch.

There are two main ways to start an online business:

1. Freelance. This is the business of providing paid services to you over the Internet. If you have professional skills, such as drawing beautiful designs, writing texts professionally, or knowing programming languages, then you can easily make money on the global web. More precisely, it can rather be called work for yourself. Although successful freelancers earn from 500 before 10 000 dollars per month.

You can start earning in this way on the popular exchanges for freelancers Freelance (fl.ru) and Workzilla (workzilla.ru).

2. Classic business on the Internet. It is not so easy to build a full-fledged online business on your own, it is best to follow the beaten path.

To do this, just read my article. There I talked about how you can make money on games, on social networks, on selling information from 50,000 rubles a month and gave examples of real people who are already doing this.

This concludes my review of business ideas. I hope that they will help you move forward and start earning your first money.

5. My own experience of starting a business from scratch in the service industry

As I wrote earlier, I opened my first business at the age of 19 - it was a vending business (terminals for accepting payments). Yes, it took money. Then I had several more projects. All of them had nothing to do with the Internet.

And so, about 3 years ago, my current friend and business partner Vitaliy and I opened our own website creation studio without a penny. We ourselves learned to make Internet projects literally on the go, but in the end, after a few months, we earned about 500,000 rubles at our website creation studio.

Naturally, I often had to work with legal entities that transferred payment for services by bank transfer. To do this, you had to either open your own company or work through someone.

We chose the second way, having agreed with our current business partner Evgeny Korobko. Zhenya is the founder and head of his own advertising agency. I interviewed him, you can read him in an article about, the material is published on our website.

Our first clients were familiar entrepreneurs.

We approached our business responsibly, and fulfilled orders with soul. Soon the word-of-mouth effect kicked in as our satisfied customers started recommending us to their friends.

This allowed us to get a continuous flow of customers, and sometimes we even could not cope with orders. This experience helped us to believe in ourselves, and today we have a complete picture in our head of how to start a business from scratch and make it successful.

I want to note that with the development of information technology in the world, your sales market today is the whole planet!

There are no more distances, any information is available, and now starting a business is much easier than even some 10 years ago.

I hope that all the materials in this article will help you take the first step towards your dream - your own business, which will eventually turn from a small home project into a huge company with a worldwide reputation.

Therefore, dear readers, I assure you, everything is in your hands, just act, because the city takes courage!

6. The real story of how my friend Misha worked as a security guard and became a businessman

Here is one of my favorite stories about a real entrepreneur who started a business from scratch. After all, I promised in the article to give examples from life.

Do you want to know how Mikhail became an entrepreneur from a laborer, opened, bought a foreign car and an apartment?

A few years ago, my friend Mikhail worked wherever possible: as a laborer at a construction site, as a loader, and as a security guard.

In a word, he was engaged in not the most monetary and intellectual work. It all started with the fact that my friend was guarding a company selling building materials. One day a client came to them who wanted to buy a large batch of building insulation, but it was not in the assortment.

Misha knew that literally 100 meters from the company he was guarding, there was another hardware store where there was definitely such a heater. Taking a contact from a potential client, he went to this store in the evening and agreed that he would bring them a large client if they would give him a percentage of the purchase made from them. The management of this store agreed and Misha worked as a freelance sales manager, earning about 30 000 rubles for just one trade (recommendation).

And it was an amount equal to his monthly salary!

Mikhail thought that this was an interesting business, and the financial result of the transaction gave him confidence. So he quit his job and started by negotiating with various firms that he would sell their products. Since Misha already worked as a laborer and security guards in a construction company, he also chose construction goods for sale: windows, doors, fittings, roofing, and so on.

My friend just walked around the construction sites of the city and offered his goods. Some were bought from him, some not. As a result, Mikhail formed an assortment of the most popular goods and understood how to properly negotiate with foremen at construction sites.

After 2 years, Mikhail opened his own company selling building materials and connected his brother to this business. Prior to that, his brother Kostya worked at Gorgas and received the usual small salary. Now the guys are quite successful in sales and earn good money.

By the way, I have been to their office more than once and have known Misha for several years. He told me this story himself.

Conclusion:
By opening a business from scratch, you avoid the risk of losing money, and this is the most important thing. Also, starting without material resources teaches you to make better decisions in order to earn money. After all, if you manage to make a profit without investing, then with money you can even become a successful entrepreneur.

See you in the next articles and good luck in your business!

Please rate the article and leave comments below, I will appreciate it.

Today I want to tell you the stories of some of the richest people on our planet who were able to earn more than a billion dollars thanks to their brilliant ideas, hard work and desire to get rich. What is most interesting, all these people did not inherit a huge fortune and did not win the lottery, they all started their business from almost nothing. Very interesting, read on.

Li Ka-shing - $26.5 billion

Li Ka-shing was born and lived in China until he left the country in 1940 and moved to Hong Kong. Due to the death of his father, he had to leave school at the age of 14 and go to work. His first job was in a plastic products trading company and he had to spend 16 hours there.
The first ten years, plus thrift, led to the opportunity to open his own business, Cheung Kong Industries. Like Ka-shing's previous job, it was a plastics business, but over time, it has grown into Hong Kong's largest investment corporation. Li Ka-shing himself is considered one of the richest Chinese.

Sheldon Adelson - $26 billion

Sheldon Adelson, the son of a taxi driver from Boston, began his entrepreneurial career at the age of 12 by selling newspapers. After that, he was a court reporter, mortgage broker, investment advisor and financial advisor. There was a period when he tried to sell toiletries and charter tours.
But the organization of the computer exhibition-fair COMDEX in 1979 became a serious success. For the next 2 decades, it was the leading exhibition in the computer field in the United States.
And in 1988, together with partners, he acquires a casino and a hotel in Las Vegas (Sands Hotel & Casino), after which he quickly begins to get rich.

Sergey Brin - $24.9 billion

This is already a new wave of billionaires who began to earn money in the age of computerization and the Internet. Sergey Brin, a 40-year-old Google owner and former Russian, was born in Moscow and then moved to the United States with his family of mathematicians. Engaged in search engines (this is how Google.com itself is called correctly) began at Stanford with classmate Larry Page. The system was tested at the university, and then they began to look for investors. The name Google is a mispronunciation of gugol, a word spoken during one of the project's presentations.
Brin and Page were included in the list of billionaires in 2004, when they were 30 years old. Today, Brin is mainly engaged in the development of new projects and directions, such as augmented reality glasses and an unmanned vehicle.

Larry Page - $24.9 billion

The co-founder and co-owner of Google has been leading the company since 2011 and is actually responsible for its strategic development. In addition to Google, he is actively engaged in the development of the clean energy sector, in particular, together with Brin, he invested in Tesla Motors, which produces high-level electric cars (this is a normal car that is powered by batteries).

Roman Abramovich - $23.5 billion

A well-known personality in narrow circles, Roman Abramovich, a billionaire orphan, who was raised by his grandparents. He went into business while still a student, creating a cooperative for the production of toys and various polymers. After that, there were many other companies and cooperatives, both in production and in trade.
But, as some sharp tongues say, Abramovich's main talent is being able to be at the right time in the right place - thus he was able to gain control of Sibneft, which allowed him to become a billionaire.

Amancio Ortega - $20.2 billion

Until I read who it was, the name meant absolutely nothing to me - Amancio Ortega. If we say that this is the founder and owner of Zara, then a lot will fall into place.
He began sewing his first suits in his living room with the help of $25 and his wife. The first clothing store opened in 1975, and after a while became the owner of the popular clothing chain Zara. In addition to the Zara chain, he has chains of clothing stores for children, for young girls, lingerie stores, etc. In total, Ortega has more than 3,000 stores in 64 countries around the world.

Mark Zuckerberg - $19 billion

29-year-old Mark Zuckenberg is an icon of the modern world. Young, lazy, creative and rich. The creator of the largest social network Facebook, who created a system for his university - Harvard - but in the end could not finish it, because. there was no time left. Helped in the creation of Chris Hughes, Dustin Moskowitz, plus Eduardo Saverin. The first major investment came from Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal.
Now Facebook is a public company, which first lost a lot in price, and then (in 2013) began to rise in price. Zuckenberg now has a 17% stake, making him the youngest billionaire in history.

Kirk Kerkorian - $16 billion

The now elderly uncle of the age of 96 left school in the 8th grade for the sake of boxing. At that time, he achieved great success and even became the welterweight champion in the Pacific Amateur Boxing Championship. After the Second World War, he left the ring and went to the airfield and began to fly the plane, but in 1944 he ended up in Las Vegas, where he got stuck for 3 years. After losing a lot of money, he nevertheless said goodbye to gambling and bought the airline company Trans International Airlines for 60 thousand dollars. After some time, he was able to sell it for $ 104 million to Transamerica.
And since 1968, he took up Hollywood - he earned at MGM, United Artists, Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox.

Elon Musk - $6.7 billion

Elon Musk is one of those new rich people who capture the market with their brains, hands and business acumen. First big deal at age 12 - wrote a program that I sold for $500 (at that age I only spent pocket money on ice cream and buns). At the age of 25, together with his brother, he created a software company for news companies, and after 4 years he was able to sell it for a price of 307 million. He invested this money in the creation of PayPal, which, in turn, he sold to eBay for $1.5 billion.
Today he is engaged in the Space X space program and has contracts from NASA. Also engaged in the aforementioned Tesla Motors.

Dustin Moskowitz - $5.2 billion

You can also say about this young man, he was at the right time in the right place. Dustin Moskowitz is Mark Zuckenberg's roommate and helped him build Facebook. At the moment, he owns 5% of the shares and this is the basis of his fortune. Facebook is not his main project now - now he is working on the Asana project. This is a web application for efficient project collaboration. Of the interesting things, he rides a bicycle to work and participates in the Giving Pledge project (a philanthropic project from Bill Gates and Warren Buffett). The essence of the project is that half of the members' fortune goes to charity.

Ken Griffin - $4.4 billion

Billions are made not only on computers. Ken Griffin is the owner of Citadel hedge funds. He got his first positive experience of playing on the stock exchange at the age of 18 and has not stopped working since then. He became one of the most famous specialists in his field. After 2008, the funds lost half their price, but are now gradually recovering.

John Arnold - $2.8 billion

Another successful stock player, John Arnold, started at Enron, now deceased. At the age of 27, he earned $1 billion for the company and received his bonus of $8 million. It was this money that he used to invest for himself and leave the annoying company.
In 2012, he surprised the whole world by announcing that he was retiring from trading after 17 years of successful experience. He and his wife now have a $1.4 billion charitable foundation and are also part of the Giving Pledge project we mentioned above.

Oprah Winfrey - $2.5 billion

Oprah Winfrey is a whole layer of American culture. This is the Cinderella of our days, who did not drop her shoe on the stairs, but plowed like a horse and used all the possibilities. The beginning of life is harsh, you can’t say anything: a strict mother, she was first abused at the age of 9, at 14 she gave birth to a child who died in infancy. But when I was in school, I first got a job at a radio station. At the age of 19, she already hosted local news, then daytime talk shows. The next major achievement is to promote a completely unpopular show so as to become a celebrity, and then, with experience and a name, create your own production company.
At 32, Oprah became a millionaire, and her show is the property of the nation. Since 1994, it has become so popular that the check for the year exceeded 9 figures. Oprah Winfrey became the first African American woman to be featured on the Forbes list.
Today, once on the air with Oprah, you can become a celebrity in 1 day. For example, this was done with Robert Kiyosaki in 1997 (of course, we will not belittle the achievements of Robert himself).

Mikey Jagtiani - $2.5 billion

Mikey Jagtiani, a Middle Eastern representative on our list of billionaires, was going to be an accountant, but his studies didn't work out. living in London was too expensive, plus the exams were also not going smoothly. To survive, I had to work as a taxi driver and a cleaner.
At the age of 21, Mikey Jagtian ends up in Bahrain alone with 6 thousand dollars (that's all the family had) and opens a children's goods store with this money. And today it is a retail chain in the list of the most profitable in the Middle East.
A corporation called Landmark includes 280 stores throughout the Middle East and brings Mike Jagtiani up to 650 million in profit per year.

Michael Rubin - $2.3 billion

Another representative of today's billionaires is Michael Rubin, CEO of Kynetic. He began his career as an entrepreneur as a child and sold seeds to his neighbors. At the age of 10, he already hired 5 guys to remove snow from neighboring lawns for money. At the age of 14, this future billionaire had already opened the first store, persuading his father to sign a lease. At 23, he was already a director in a company with $50 million in sales.
But he saw his destiny in e-commerce, which was just beginning to develop. He invested about 80 million in his online store, but, despite increasing sales, he could not make this business sustainable. However, eBay came to the rescue, which bought the company from Rubin for 2.4 billion. The price is much higher than the real cost of this project, but eBay was behind in the race with Amazon, so they shelled out this money.
Today, Rubin is engaged in Fanatics clothing stores and websites of various kinds, in which he has already invested 500 million.

Eduardo Saverin - $2.2 billion

Another person who made a fortune on Facebook. Saverin is Zuckenberg's first investor and was the commercial director of the young project. But while Saverin was in New York on practice, Zuckenberg attracted new investors and artificially lowered his equity stake from 34% to 0.03%. Eduardo sued and got his share back up to 5%.
These 5% allowed him to get into the list of billionaires. In addition, the man turned out to be reasonable and, before Facebook filed for an IPO, he renounced US citizenship and became a citizen of Brazil, which allowed him not to pay US taxes. And although he has a Brazilian passport, he lives in Singapore and invests in online projects: an application that scans the barcode of a product and offers it at the lowest price on the Internet or online credit card payments using a webcam.

Sean Parker - $2 billion

Another co-owner of Facebook, Sean Parker, started out as a talented programmer and hacker. Already at the age of 16, he was arrested for hacking the websites of companies that were on the Forbes list. He also had a hand in creating the Napster Internet resource, through which it was possible to exchange music. It was a kind of breakthrough, albeit closed for "some" friction with the law. At 24, he meets Zuckenberg and is the president of Facebook. True, then he is removed, which, however, does not prevent him from keeping 3% of the shares and becoming a billionaire.
Today he is engaged in his startups.

Richard Desmond - $2 billion

The life of Richard Desmond also did not indulge at the beginning: his parents divorced, lived together in a small apartment, left school at the age of 14 to play drums and help his mother earn money.
His first real job was at the Thomson Newspaper, but by the age of 21 he owned two record stores. But the experience of the media also received its continuation - in 1974, Desmond became the publisher of the International Musician and Recording World magazine.

In contact with

You can create a new business at any time. There is no adverse circumstance, period or age. What matters is your attitude and determination.

What thoughts indicate that you are not ready to open a business:

This idea will definitely work, but I need money for promotion.
You need to earn more and quickly to pay off your debts.
There is no strength to endure the tyrant of the boss. I quit immediately and start my own business.
Vaughn has his own firm. Am I worse or dumber?

What thoughts indicate that you are “ripe” for your business:

I am doing very well, and now this product (service) is in demand on the market.
There is not enough capital to start, but I will not borrow - the risk of losing everything is still too high.
Until the business begins to generate a stable income, it is necessary to create an additional source or a reliable reserve.
When I leave work, no one will control and direct me. It is necessary now to become more organized and disciplined.

If your thoughts are in harmony with the first block, you are not ready to create a business. Entrepreneurship requires a sober calculation and a responsible attitude to business. But most of humanity is in the grip of delusions. It is because of this that there are so many bankruptcies among newcomers and so few successful projects. Main myths:

It is impossible to start a business without big money and connections.
Bandits will take everything.
Paying taxes is unprofitable.
I have no entrepreneurial talent.

These fears are probably familiar to you. In reality, all this is easily overcome. All that matters is the right attitude and basic financial literacy.

Iron rules for those who are determined to create a successful business:

Do not take out a business loan if you do not have experience.
- Prepare for failure, try to foresee all options.
- Tune in to win, but think over your actions in case of defeat.
- Do not use funds raised for other important purposes to create a business (NZ for an emergency - case, loan payments, education of children).
- Study the market conditions in as much detail as possible and analyze your resources.
- Chat with experienced and successful entrepreneurs.
- Do not invest in suspicious projects.
- Choose the area in which you are a professional.
- Make plans for your actions, clearly describe each stage.
- There will be failures, but don't give up after the first difficulties.

“7 Essential Steps to Starting a Business”

Every business is unique. But there are basic and common stages for all, which must be passed.

1. Decide on the direction

It is extremely important to remember that customers will only be willing to pay for a quality solution to one of their problems or the satisfaction of some need. So, you need to determine what you can offer them.

In business, consistency is important, this stage should be approached with particular seriousness. Make a list of ten activities that you are best at. Do not analyze whether it is realistic to make money on this, and how much money is needed to organize a business. So far, only your talents or skills. You can probably make this list in five minutes. It is not excluded that the reflections and analysis will take a month. This will be a very important fruitful period, because you are reviewing and analyzing very important things.

Everything, the list is ready. Now select the items with activities that you enjoy. Perhaps you did not even think about making money on it, and considered it solely as a hobby. But it is these areas that should be considered as an idea for a business. No one is able to give all the best in an unloved business.

2. We study the market and choose our niche

Having decided on the direction, study the situation in your city. First, find out the number of potential competitors. You can ask friends to visit each or part of the companies as a client. This will give you a clear idea of the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. All data must be recorded on paper and systematized in comparative tables. After a clear analysis, you will be able to enter the market with more attractive conditions for customers.

3. Create a Unique Selling Proposition

It should be short, but as accurately as possible demonstrate your occupation and main advantages. Example: “Translation Bureau. We work quickly, efficiently and at a reasonable price.”

Such an offer can be placed on the Internet, booklets or announcements can be printed and distributed. Be sure to include your company's contact information. When interested customers contact you, you can discuss the terms of cooperation in more detail.

4. Write a business plan

Many consider this most important of the stages a mere formality, necessary only to obtain loans or attract investors. This is a serious misconception. The business plan consists of a description of the starting position, market analysis, prospects and a clear planning of steps to organize and develop the business. Each of the points requires careful analysis and a sober assessment of the factors. Without this, creating a successful business is impossible. This is an instruction and a roadmap for your activity.

A good business plan will help you foresee the main risks and prepare for the obstacles that are sure to arise. It is important to choose the main actions that will have the greatest impact on success, and to concentrate maximum efforts and resources on them. First steps:

Get ready for the first orders.
Advertising. The most accessible and effective at the start are a website or page on the Internet, ads in your area, informing the immediate environment.
Active actions to receive the first orders. Offer preferential terms.
Fulfillment of the first orders in the best possible way. Ask the client for feedback and recommendations.

5. Get to work

Organization preparation can take several months. But having gone “to a low start”, do not delay the process, do not postpone and do not hesitate. You need to act decisively and quickly.

You already have a unique selling proposition. It is enough to attract the first customers. Start advertising your services with a circle of close people. If your services are not in demand among friends, ask them to recommend you and provide contacts of those who need them.

Go online. Do you have funds? Order a decent website from a good company that specializes in this. Do you have the necessary skills? Create a website or page yourself. Advertise yourself on social networks - this is a very powerful and effective resource.

6. First orders. How to manage profit

Needless to say, the first customers should be served at the highest level? This approach is also necessary when working with the 10th, 100th, 500th, 1,000,000th client. But the first ones are the most important. Their assessment of your service, recommendations and reviews will either force you to radically change the approach to doing business, or allow you to grow wings behind your back and confidently go on a triumphant flight. Fulfilling the first orders, you set a certain bar for quality. You can't lower it, you have to raise it.

First profit. It is strictly forbidden to spend it on meeting personal needs. Experienced financiers and entrepreneurs recommend not to withdraw profits from the business at all and use it exclusively for development and payment of current expenses until the payback is reached.

What is meant by development? It all depends on your type of activity. If this is a trade, expand the range. In the service industry, profits are invested in improving service. Are you in production? Purchase of raw materials, equipment, new employees. If you have worked hard to create a business plan, you have a good idea where to invest the first profit of your business.

The concept of development also includes the improvement of skills. Look for every opportunity for personal training and for your employees. Take part in trainings, exhibitions, conferences, buy books. There is no limit to skill level. An additional bonus is new acquaintances with the best representatives of your field of activity. As a rule, they lead to profitable partnerships.

7. Conduct an unbiased analysis of the results and start expanding

Analyze the results and summarize the intermediate results should be constantly. This allows you to find errors and quickly fix them. Focus on evaluating the effectiveness of business practices. Discard without regret what does not bring income and only absorbs resources, pay more attention to effective ones.

If you have already reached a certain level of income, the business is working confidently and stably, it is time to expand.

You can’t stand still, otherwise a younger and bolder or larger competitor will offer customers more interesting conditions, and you will begin to lose profits. Expansion is the hiring of new employees and the introduction of additional services, the organization of new branches and offices, the expansion of the range, the acquisition of innovative equipment and the entry into new markets. Only being in constant motion and development is it possible to get a successful business that will provide a comfortable and comfortable old age for you and a reliable base for your descendants.

Do you think these tips are too simple and trivial? Then why are only 4% of business start-ups successful? Economist research shows that most newcomers do not adhere to the basic business rules necessary for sustainable development and prosperity. As a result, myths about the incredible complexity of starting your own business are spreading around the world.

The model described above does not affect all aspects and nuances of doing business. Each area has its own characteristics, but they are taken into account in the process of drawing up a business plan. This model indicates and describes the most important stages on the way to creation, everything has been tested many times in practice and really works. Failure to complete at least one of the stages is fraught with failure. Use the knowledge of those who have already managed to organize a successful business and create your own.