There is a lot of talk about supporting young and not so start-up entrepreneurs, we have all heard about various federal programs to promote the organization. At the same time, many people are very skeptical about such projects.
What can a young man who decides to open his own business really count on? Let's try to figure it out.
What kind of help can a start-up entrepreneur get?
Several options and directions of support are possible. Let's start with the most attractive and tempting - with grants and subsidies.
Financial assistance, loans and gratuitous grants are the most desired type of assistance. In fact, there are two main ways to get money, they are relevant for the whole of Russia.
60 thousand to start a business
A fairly well-known program to support small businesses, or rather, the transformation from the unemployed to. They give out not 60 thousand rubles, but 58,800 - this is the annual amount of unemployment benefits. This program is absolutely working (no wonder - the amount is small, and this money is paid by law to the unemployed anyway).
To get this money to start your own business, you need to go through a series of steps. To some, they may seem tedious and superfluous, but in such a situation there are pluses: namely, additional knowledge on the organization of the case.
What needs to be done to get 60 thousand for a business?
Here are the main steps:
1. Registration at the local employment center as unemployed, confirmation of this status (in some cases, you have to go to interviews repeatedly to demonstrate that you are looking for a job).
2. Submission of an application for participation in the program of self-employment of the population. Further stages are already carried out under the supervision of employees of the employment center.
3. (Not in all regions) After the application, you undergo a short training - the basics of doing business, as well as psychological testing that reveals a propensity for self-employment, private entrepreneurship.
4. Consideration of a business plan by a special commission. In the case of a satisfactory assessment, the grant can be considered received.
5. Registration of IP, standard procedures.
6. After receiving a certificate of registration (usually within a month), money is transferred to the bank account - the same 60 thousand (more precisely - 58800) rubles.
7. At the end of the quarter, you must provide a report on the use of the money received.
Is it worth applying for such "lifting"? It depends on whether you are ready to go through all bureaucratic procedures for the sake of this money (of course, you need to register as an emergency in any case) and whether you consider the proposed training useful.
Grants from regional authorities
In many regions, a business project competition is also regularly held, the winners of the competition have the opportunity to receive free grant the size is already more serious - about 300 - 500 thousand rubles. The competition in such competitions is usually very high, but with a serious approach, it is quite possible to become one of the winners, especially if you make efforts for high-quality design and presentation of the project, and also take into account that projects that have the maximum chance of winning:
- socially significant;
- involve the use of grant funds for the acquisition of liquid assets (machines, equipment, vehicles);
- create additional jobs.
Non-financial support
In addition to the actual money for the development of the business, state structures allow you to use their other services. So, many business incubators have already been created that can offer beginners, for example, the following:
- lease of premises for offices at a reduced price;
- analysis and evaluation of projects;
- advice on taxation and the choice of legal form.
Moreover, getting help in such a business incubator is usually quite simple - few people know about them, and therefore such structures usually work with “underload”.
Thus, it is quite realistic for a novice businessman to receive certain services and funds from the state. Although, of course, the volume of such support can never be compared with full-fledged loans from banks. On the other hand, the support of the incubator can become an additional argument when the bank considers whether or not to issue a loan to you.
11 Commandments for a New Entrepreneur
readiness
Readiness for business... This is such a state... When you understand that you want it or when you decide that you want to work for yourself and only for yourself. When you will not plow days and nights for some uncle .. When you are ready to devote yourself to this business ... When you are ready to face problems. When you live an idea, when you breathe it, then you are ready...
Confidence
Idea confidence. in your future business. What you want to open must be successful. It cannot be otherwise. When you definitely say to all concerned, all employees, friends - YES, I will do it. YES, I will definitely do it. And only then take the idea. If you're not ready to talk, if you're not sure, don't even try. If in your brain there is a fixed idea, accompanied by the words - I want or it seems to me that I will do it - this is not the case. When you burn with an idea, when you are confident in it, then take it.
Enterprise
You must be "not an employee". You must be a businessman. You have to organize the business. You have to lead people. You must be seen as an entrepreneur. Feel it in conversation and in deeds. You must see the ideas, you must take everything you need... You must be ideological. You must be enterprising. Remember this.
Responsibility
Business needs money. You must realize that this is a huge risk. You should not take money without realizing that this is a huge responsibility! Many people around me committed suicide because of debt. This breaks up marriages. From this, friends are lost, loved ones turn away. If you take money, you must give it back. Please understand that this is a huge responsibility and that these are huge risks! Do not borrow if you are not 100% sure of repayment. Is it dangerous.
Awareness
You must know your area. Must understand what it is and how it works. It's great if the company's field of activity is your favorite. You understand this. You know the loopholes... Imagine a grandmother who wants to be engaged not in clothing production, but in web design. Not so simple.
Business plan
No matter how it seems to you that everything is so simple, understandable and wonderful - you must write a business plan or something like it ... A short strategy. If you do not have a business plan, open a business - you will make a big mistake. If you don't have a plan of action, don't do it. You must know your clients. must see big picture. How stupid it would not look - write. That's better.
Friends
Do not take friends to your state. You will realize your mistake as soon as you do this. Friends will not fit into jobs the way hired workers do. Friends won't make it. Friends will want more than the rest. Friends can pressure you. Friends will drag your firm down. You can't fire them out of a sense of duty. If you hire a friend, you will make a big mistake. The old true saying: "if you want to lose a friend, give him a loan." So here. Don't take friends. You can cooperate with them, but do not take them on the staff.
Honesty
If you are a good partner, you can rely on. You do everything on time, you don't let anyone down, you don't leave anyone. Partners will stay with you. They will pay back, rather, the same. Don't throw! You said - you did. Keep your words! And people will be attracted to you. But all the same, do not forget that in business everyone is “thrown” and “bred” ... Caution never interferes.
Thrift
Don't spend all your money. If a company brings in amazing income, don't get used to it. It can be just some kind of luck, temporary success, or just a goofy client. If you have a firm, you need better clothes. Entertainment is more expensive. The car is tougher. You will be chasing after it. In this pursuit, you will forget about business. And if it brings even less, you will consider that life is over. And remember - "it's easier to earn than to save."
Saving
This is not what they teach you in universities! representation sosem not that! They impose on us the opinion that a company is when there is corporate culture when everything is euro-renovated, white walls, new furniture and cool equipment! All wrong! Save! No fancy equipment needed! Everything is minimal! Why offices for workers? Cellars, Pentium1, ordinary students working for pennies. Here are the realities of business. There will be no cool company. Everywhere you need to save! Everything is minimal!
Distance
You can't be friends with your own employees. Keep your distance. Don't let them get close to you. You are in charge. You are the boss, you are the director. For example, you can not switch to "you". In my opinion, this will elevate you, and employees will feel more and more responsible.
I hope you read these tips and see the picture of the business world more fully. If you have only one desire, it is not a business. Take advice. Take it seriously.
To collect practical advice aspiring entrepreneurs, we interviewed businessmen in the professional community on Facebook. The result was a list of 10 items.
1. Take your time to quit your job
Your own business seems like a tempting prospect when you push the subway on your way to the office. Working for yourself allows you to calmly wake up when you want, go on sick leave and pick up children from school on time.
But when you quit, it will not become calmer:
- To be in time, you have to wake up early
- Going on sick leave means losing income
- Picking up children from school in the middle of the working day will still be inconvenient
And all this against the backdrop of unstable earnings.
In order not to regret your choice, prepare the ground before you leave the office. The most comfortable option is to start selling a product or service in your spare time. And quit only when you accumulate the primary pool of clients and get the first serious money.
If you can't balance your work and business, include your time and salary in your business plan. This makes it easier to understand whether it is advisable to do your own thing or whether it is better to remain an employee.
2. Write a business plan
There are two types of arguments against a business plan:
- Why waste time when everything is so unpredictable in this country
- But Steve Jobs\Henry Ford\Roman Abramovich succeeded without business plans
But still, it is worth calculating the basic business scenarios and the market volume. This will help to structure thoughts and get rid of doubts - or vice versa, to doubt the viability of the idea. Other things being equal, good planning won't stop you from becoming the next Steve Jobs.
3. Work on the product and marketing
“Which is more important: the product or its marketing?” is a question that causes stabbing in the marketing community. Some say that if you know how to sell, the client will gladly buy even a copy of the head of Jason Statham in 1:6 scale. Others believe that if you make a really cool product, everyone will know about it without marketing and advertising.
The truth is in the middle. A bad product with good promotion can show impressive initial sales, but it will be difficult to retain buyers. Such a business will not last long, especially if the market is small.
Most likely, no one will know about a great product without marketing. Yes, sometimes entrepreneurs have succeeded only at the expense of quality. Salvatore Ferragamo built an empire from a 2x2m shoe store with no marketing department. But that was at the beginning of the 20th century. Now, in order to break through to the consumer through the information noise, much more effort is needed.
So develop marketing, product, sales - and do not enter into pointless arguments about what is more important.
4. Pay taxes
Many businessmen believe that it is difficult, expensive and pointless to work "in the white".
“Are you going to pay repairmen through a legal entity?!” - the real phrase of a regional entrepreneur who suspected the tenant of paying taxes.
Companies pay for the services of contractors in an envelope, give out “gray” salaries. All the same, they work like that - and nothing.
Now imagine that such a company fires an employee. After that, he sends an application to the Federal Tax Service about "gray" salaries and other violations directly from home. Then the entrepreneur will face fines of hundreds of thousands of rubles, forced labor or prison.
It's better to be honest right away. It is more difficult, but to help novice entrepreneurs there are:
- Benefits for small businesses (see Federal Law No. 477-FZ of December 29, 2014, Letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia No. 03-15-05 / 32582 of May 26, 2017, No. 03-07-03 / 52967 of October 21, 2014, dated 08/30/2017 N 03-07-08 / 55656, regional sites to support entrepreneurs)
- Services for bookkeeping: Kontur, "My business", "Sky"
- outsourced accountants
5. Don't work with friends and family
At first, it seems like a great idea to start a business with a friend (brother, matchmaker) who has the right competencies. This is someone you've known for a long time. You can rely on him.
But keep in mind that within our culture it is difficult to distinguish between work and personal. An American can threaten an employee with dismissal, and an hour later sit with him in a pub and ask about the health of children. But the Russians find it hard to lead tough negotiations and share the profits with a loved one. Either you spoil the relationship, or the business suffers.
If you are not ready to fight with a friend over a deadline, personal and business relationship better to share.
6. Plan everything
It is necessary to plan things - and this is not in doubt. There will be time - you can unwind and relax.
Only time for entertainment may not remain: when you start a business, things will increase. The result of working without rest is burnout and long rehabilitation.
In the planner, you need to include not only business affairs, but also entertainment. Treat it as part of your workflow.
7. Test the product on a real audience
Telling everyone you know about a new project is a good idea. But this is not a complete test. Friends may praise a product, but that doesn't mean they'll pay for it.
To "feel" the audience, conduct interviews with strangers from the desired segment. Where to look for them:
- professional forums. Look for active participants and knock on them in a personal. If the rules of the form allow, create a topic with an invitation to test.
- Reddit. It is a social news site with a huge audience. Find the topic you need and write messages to the most friendly participants in the discussion.
- Social network. Join highly specialized communities and invite members to try the service.
Just write to a potential buyer about the project and the desire to consult. Offer a gift or a review of his product in return. Many people are happy to express their opinion to an interested interlocutor. And you will get honest feedback and understand the needs of the audience.
8. Save
Starting businessmen are afraid that if they start saving and bargaining with suppliers, no one will cooperate with them.
In fact, when you start cutting costs, nothing bad will happen. Save the most. If you suddenly remove an important expense item, employees will report this.
The best thing about saving in business was Robert Phifer in his book Costs Down, Sales Up. He writes that little things like L'Occitane soap in the office or expensive pens will ruin you faster than you think. And with contractors and suppliers you need to regularly bargain.
9. Befriend customers
There is an opinion that not all clients are equally useful.
“Think of the customer well. The question is why? Why do I need an idiot who spoils my nervous system. I'd rather work with those who bow before me, ”quote from a discussion of an article about customer relationships.
A few months after the launch of the project, the entrepreneur understands which clients are beneficial to him. But at the start, a selective approach to the audience is dangerous. Potential buyers easily find replacements for intractable companies. And if you think customers are idiots, like the commentator above, you will not only lose sales, but also your reputation.
Communicate and be considerate to everyone potential buyer. Sometimes dating leads to success.
10. Take care of your health and family
For a novice entrepreneur, the main thing is his business. All energy goes to partners, clients, contractors. And health, family and the whole world will wait.
But if you ignore some area of life, it "sags". A business can take off or close, and you can continue to live with yourself and your family. So prioritize so as not to lose the main thing.
conclusions
- Before you quit your job, collect the initial pool of clients and get your first money.
- Do not joke with the tax, work "in the white."
- Product and marketing are equally important. Develop both.
- Don't work with friends and family and filter their recommendations for your project.
- Plan everything: business development in general, work and personal time.
- Do not cut off unnecessary clients at the initial stage. You still do not know how the business will develop and who will benefit from your proposal.
- Remember about rest, health and family.
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 the errors, and then I will issue step by step plan the way 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: you buy the most modern equipment, the most functional site is being created, the office is being renovated, 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 coffee shop, before making expensive renovations, try to start selling in the space you have. minimum 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 A: 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. Every 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 massage parlor and lead your business to success. Not because I don't have enough money, but because I don't understand this business Nothing.
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. Assess the competition, identify positive and negative sides 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, 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 weed out effective tools advertising, so as not to waste 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 are selling household appliances, you can simultaneously open a repair service and provide paid services for repair. 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 net profit your business is above zero, not including 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
