You Have a Business Idea – What’s Next?

Do you have a business idea and so much to do to get it up and running, that you feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start?

If so, you're not alone. Thousands of new business owners feel like this and that's why it's vital to put down on paper what you need to do.

First things first - Yes it takes time, yes it takes determination, yes it takes initiative, and yes, it takes blood, sweat and tears. 

Take a big piece of paper and then write down everything that comes into your head that you'll need to do to set up your business. Don't worry if it sounds silly - just get it down. You might want to carry this piece of paper round with you for a couple of days just in case you think of anything else you need to do.

·         Identify your business idea. You need to arm yourself with knowledge of all phases of your business.

·         Research your industry to better understand your product and its potential market.

·         Identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist for your new venture

While some business ideas turn into reality and flourish beyond the entrepreneur’s wildest dreams, others do not. What makes a successful business start up? Entrepreneurs take different paths to nurture their ideas and transform them into successful businesses.

Creating a strong business plan is your next step. Keep in mind that this plan is an invaluable tool to market your business and is often required when presenting your business to funders.

1. Define Products and Services

Every business relies on selling something. That something can be product or service.

·         What product or service you will offer?

• What are the features of that product or service?
• What are the benefits for potential users of that product or service?
• What will be additional services offered by that product or service?

2. Define the Market

You already have an idea, and you already have defined the product or service that will be offered to the market. Define a market that will be served with these products or services.

• In which market you will offer that products and services (city, region, country, continent …)?
• What will be the consumers of these products or services?
• What are the features of those consumers that will consume your products or services (sex, age, income, ethnicity …)?

3. Define Main Competitors

It is necessary precisely to define the main competitors who are already on the market that you previously defined. Here are some questions that you as an entrepreneur must answer:

• What are the 5 largest market players in the industry in which your business idea is categorized?
• What, where and how that 5 major market players offer their products and services?
• What are the features of their products or services?
• What are the benefits that they provide to the market with their products or services?
• What is the resistance of the market about entry of new competitors and how difficult it can be accomplished?

4. Define Resources

Define the necessary resources if you want your idea to become a reality.

·         How many human resources will be needed?

• What kind of intellectual capital you will need for your business?
• How much a financial resource is needed?
• Where you will find that financial resources?
• What material resources will be needed?
• Where you will find that material resources?
• What information resources will be needed?
• What will be the sources of that information resource?

After this What’s Next?

Always there will be something next because you are an entrepreneur that starts or expands business. Once you define these elements simply start again from scratch and adjust the product or service and market. This is because after the definition and understanding of competitors and needed resources you will have additional facts, which must be included in your offers to the market.

Do you have a Business Idea? Leave your comments!

Non-Verbal Communication - Body Language

Body language is a powerful concept which successful people tend to understand well.

It is a form of mental and physical ability of human non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. 

Humans send and interpret such signals almost entirely subconsciously. Research has suggested that between 60% and 70% of all meaning is derived from nonverbal behavior.

Now, you may take or leave that kind of statistic, as it clearly cannot be true in all cases. And furthermore, it cannot include the written word. If it did, authors would not sell books, and we would never sign contracts!

Why we use them?

Humans move their bodies when communicating because, as research has shown^, it helps "ease the mental effort when communication is difficult."

Physical expressions reveal many things about the person using them. For example, gestures can emphasize a point or relay a message, posture can reveal boredom or great interest, and touch can convey encouragement or caution.

Body Language is therefore very relevant to management and leadership, and to all aspects of work and business where communications can be seen and physically observed among people.

Why is body language important?

People are constantly throwing off a storm of signals. Micro expressions, hand gestures, and posture register almost immediately, a silent orchestra that can have long-lasting repercussions.

The way you listen, look, move, and react tells the other person whether or not you care, if you are being truthful, and how well you are listening. When your nonverbal signals match up with the words you are saying, they increase trust, clarity, and rapport. When they don’t, they generate tension, mistrust, and confusion.

When we meet someone for the first time body language is especially crucial. We form our opinions of someone we meet for the first time in just a few seconds.

Remember - while you are interpreting (consciously or unconsciously) the body language of other people, so other people are constantly interpreting yours. So, understanding body language enables better self-awareness and self-control too.

Body Language in different Cultures

 

People from different cultures can interpretate body language in different ways.

In many Asian and Arab cultures showing the soles of the feet is insulting and rude . Similarly pointing the foot or feet at anyone is rude.

In Arab culture the left hand is commonly considered unclean due to associations with toilet functions, and should therefore not be offered or used for touching or eating. When in doubt in Arab environments, using the right hand for everything is a safer idea. The thumbs-up gesture is rude as well. Handshaking tends to be more frequent and less firm - on meeting and departing, even several times in the same day.

In Japan the male bow is still commonly used, when the depth of the bow increases with the amount of respect shown, and is therefore a signal of relative status between two people. Business cards should be exchanged at the first possible opportunity. The card received should be held in both hands and examined carefully, and then stored, preferably in a wallet, on the upper half of the body. Holding a person's identity in one hand is casual/disrespectful. The trouser pocket is a rude place.

Something as simple to us as nodding a head up and down for “yes” would seem to cause no problem in most of the world, until you learn that the same gesture means “no” in Bulgaria.

With all these small gestures meaning different things, it’s no wonder that nonverbal communication can become a roadblock to business relationships. Having an open mind and realizing that cultures are different and so is body language is the best way to overcome these conflicting cultural mores. A little knowledge of other cultures can also help.

5 USEFUL TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR BODY LANGUAGE!

• If you want to communicate better in all areas of your life, it’s important to become more sensitive to body language and other nonverbal cues, so you can be more in tune with the thoughts and feelings of others. You also need to be aware of the signals you’re sending off, so you can be sure that the messages you’re sending are what you really want to communicate.
• Try to identify your Body Language problems. Pick one of them and work on it. How? Close your eyes and visualize how you would stand and sit to feel confident, open and relaxed or whatever you want to communicate. See yourself move like that version of yourself. Then try it out. Once you have that under control, try another. Rome wasn't built in a day.
• You might also want observe friends, role models, movie stars or other people you think has good body language. Observe what they do and you don’t. Take bits and pieces you like from different people. Try using what you can learn from them.
• Some of these tips might seem like you are faking something. But fake it til you make it is a useful way to learn something new. And remember, feelings work backwards too. If you smile a bit more you will feel happier. If you sit up straight you will feel more energetic and in control. If you slow down your movements you’ll feel calmer. Your feelings will actually reinforce your new behaviours and feelings of weirdness will dissipate.
• Ideally, your goal is to project confidence without arrogance, competence without defensiveness, friendliness without familiarity, reliability without rigidity and co-operativeness within healthy boundaries.