Here at FirstStep.me we get loads of questions of how to start a sustainable business, so much so we started our own book series called “The Fun Side of Being Serious” authored by Yashivan Govender with Shaun Ryan. However we put together some quick fire tips to creating a sustainable business:
 
How to start your own business:
 
1. First you need an idea.
2. The trick to monetizing that idea, advertising, products, services…most of the time depends on sales!  
3. Convert that concept into a plan, basically how the company will operate, what your predictions for the business will be and how much time will be needed to get the business to fully take off.
4. A trial run, as soon as you can put your concept into practice, this will give you a basic idea of how your business can operate in an open market. If it fails on a small scale at least you can work forward to building on that.
5. Take the leap and launch your business.

Financing your business: getting capital for your business is a huge challenge!
 
One of the biggest problems in business is people wanting to start a business without factoring themselves into the business. Meaning: how much it would cost to support themselves over and above the actual business.  
Firstly the key would be to remove oneself from the equation and then start evaluating what it takes to run the company on its own. Remember you can live off bread and water but your company cannot so your needs comes second! (Some successful people have done it on less!)
 
1. Borrow seed capital from an investor/family member/friend. Hopefully you won’t have to give up equity for this form of financing.
2. Bank finance: speak to your bank about options to fund your business.
3. Sales: start selling or generating the seed capital by doing sales in the business. It is the best and smartest way to finance a company.
4. Use your own money, if you have savings, the investment from your own wallet will make you work harder to make sure your company succeeds. Add sales to that and you have a solid recipe to kick start your business.
 
Setting up the admin of the business:
 
Speak to your bank about the details and options of setting or registering your business along with relevant banking accounts for it. It very simple and it’s their job to advise you in order to get and retain your business. Don't forget to get proper legal and accounting advice, so align yourself with a suitable accountant and lawyer.
 
Perspective:
 
No matter what you are doing as a business, if running a newspaper, a website, a clothing label, it is all the same because you need to treat your company as a business like any other. The underlying fact is that your company runs off sales in order for it to tick!
 
Misconceptions:
 
1. “You don’t need a business plan!”- Of course you need to plan or some form of strategy for your business. Don’t enter a market blindly, rather be equipped for the challenge than be unprepared.
2. “You don’t need to know what your business does”- If you don’t know what your business does how can you sell it!  
3. “You can make? a million overnight, in days, weeks, months or in a year”- Money takes a lot of hard work and effort to make, if you are lucky to make a million quickly then that’s awesome, if not it will come - just be patient!
 
Tips:
 
1. “Wear a gum guard”, business is a tough and lonely place, people will cut you down and no one will give you credit when you deserve it sometimes. You just have to toughen up and keep your chin up with the concept of having skin as “thick as elephant hide”.
2. If you fail in business it’s okay, you can start again and focus on a new project. It happens.
3. Try and start when you are young, when you have a family or assets to service, managing a business can be difficult. The less you have the better (less risk).
4. Think global, think big, with the rise of the Internet the planet is now your business market and the world’s population is your client/user/customer base.
 
Starting your own business is a great adventure and challenge, it has a lot of pros and cons however if you can create something sustainable and awesome then you have become successful!
 
Get a copy the FirstStep.me book the Fun Side of Being Serious on Amazon.