When starting your own business, you must do an intense job of thinking and defining your business model: from basic definitions of your objectives and even developing marketing strategies, competitor analysis and setting everything ready for your organisation. Read this guide that helps you define your business’s key steps and start a venture in Australia or anywhere in the world!
Starting your own business is a dream of many and a great challenge. Much is said about how difficult it is to achieve it, how frustrating the process can be, and how many hours of work you must put into it. And that is all true! But we invite you not to take the challenge and fulfil your dream, nothing more satisfying than doing what you want to do!
What do I want to achieve with this business?
This is a deep and complex question but fundamental for the development of your own business. You must think about what you want to achieve with your venture. Is it to sell? Generating a change? Relating more directly to people and offering a service? Improve people’s lives? Encourage more environmentally friendly consumption?
These are the kind of questions you need to answer. You can either write them down, think about them or ideally talk with someone else about it. We highly recommend always having a second opinion! But the most important thing is that you are honest with yourself and with your goals.
Basic business definitions
Surely you have seen in more than one website the definition of Mission, Vision and Values, that is to say, define what I want to achieve with my business, how I want to achieve it and in what way I want to do it. For example, the Patagonia company defines them:
•Mission: Create the best product, not cause unnecessary damage, and use it to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental problem.
•Vision: Make Patagonia an entirely responsible company.
•Values: Simplicity, utility, minimalism and connection with nature.
If you want to go deeper into this and see other examples, we invite you to review 17 inspiring examples of mission, vision and company values from the Hubspot blog.
Define my Marketing strategy
After defining your mission, vision and values, you can work on your Marketing Mix or the 7Ps to define your strategy. These P’s are:
•Product or service: define precisely what are your products or services that you are going to offer.
•Place: you must define where you will sell this product, physical or digital space.
•Price: what is your price, and your pricing strategy, that is, what elements will influence defining your products’ value.
•Promotion: define how and where you will promote your product or service, social media, and platforms to advertise your business.
•People: define which and how your work team will be structured, will you leave alone? Someone else is going to work with you?
•Physical Evidence: is related to all the material and concrete elements that your business will have, from a store to packaging, branding, logo, etc.
•Process: in this last stage of the marketing mix, you must define what the process of selling your product or service is like, the step by step to make a sale.
Target audiences
We must spend time defining our target audience, that is, who we want to consume us; for this, we must think about everything, especially in these four aspects:
•Geographic: Where they live, in what city, country or neighbourhood.
•Demographic: Sex, ages, socioeconomic situation and social groups to which it belongs.
•Behavioural: define what their habitual behaviours are, how they consume, their lifestyle, how they inform themselves and what platforms or social networks they commonly use.
•Physiographic: what are the topics of interest, what are their feelings, most relevant issues or elements that activate you emotionally.
A widespread element that is usually done is to create a fictional character that represents your ideal consumer. Name it, find a photo of him/her, make a story that helps you define your perfect consumer to think like them.
Competitors
You have to survey your competition, see who they are, what they do, differentiate them from you and analyze each element of them. See which digital platforms they use, how they use them, what tone of voice they use, their prices, promotions, etc.
It is important not to become obsessed with the competition and not be influenced by them in how you do things. There is no single correct formula, and what others do is not a law, but it is essential to see how the industry you belong to works and moves.
SWOP Analysis
It is a fundamental exercise to think and analyze your business from both internal and external elements. This exercise should ideally be done once a year or whenever you feel that you are losing your way or do not know how to continue.
•Strengths: It is internal; you have to think about what your strengths are, the unique and most substantial elements that differentiate you from the rest.
•Weaknesses: It is internal; you have to think about what elements are your weaknesses, your low points that can affect you, the lack of specific resources, little experience, limited equipment, etc.
•Opportunities: It is external, and it is related to everything that is happening outside of your business and how your product or service appears as an answer or solution. It is essential to see what opportunities you can take advantage of.
•Threats: It is external; what elements are an obstacle for your business? What is happening outside of me that could potentially create problems or obstacles to moving forward.
We hope this guide helps you think about and define your business. It is a long road, challenging at times, but it is a beautiful road, full of growth and opportunities. Keep in mind that you are not alone; many of us undertake and gladly share our experiences with others, help answer surveys or whatever so that we are more of us who seek to fulfil our dreams.
If you want to know other Latin entrepreneurs in Australia, open this LINK where you will find a complete guide to Latin Entrepreneurs in Australia, including various areas such as gastronomy, fashion and beauty, sports, services and much more.
There are many interesting books and papers on the internet if you want to know more about entrepreneurship. You can also find in Australia, and undoubtedly in other countries, a wide variety of entrepreneurship courses that will give you essential tools to advance your business. Check out our blog post on why you should study entrepreneurship in Australia.
Some courses to take into account are those offered by Laneway, an entrepreneurship College located in Sydney and Melbourne, with a powerful focus on innovation and Design Thinking, which will help you when it comes to entrepreneurship. At the same time, in their classes, you can work on your own enterprise as a case study. This Diploma of Entrepreneur and Innovation has a duration of 52 weeks and a value of 500 AUD per month.
Another excellent option is the Academy of Entrepreneur College, located in Sydney. Thire mission is to give students the most powerful entrepreneurial skills and network to turn any idea into a successful business that creates impact. They offer a Diploma and Advance Diploma in Business with a focus on entrepreneurship and new businesses. The Advanced Diploma has a duration of 52 weeks and a value of 350 AUD per month.
In Lexis English, with more than five campuses around Australia, you can also find a Certificate IV in Entrepreneur and New Small Business, where you will learn everything you need to start your own business. The course lasts 57 weeks and costs 450 AUD per month. If you want more information or a detailed quote, you can enter each of the schools’ websites or write to us directly.
Don’t forget that our advice is free and that we are here to help you! Write to us here or send us an email to info@puravidastudy.com.au
Florencia Calderon
Chilean Journalist who loves sports, travel, healthy living and cooking.