The entrepreneurship journey is different for each business vertical and one has to tread their path. ‘Chose your own adventure’ is the saying that goes with entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurial traits get shaped by human activities and the critical factors that drive business development are human behavior and environment. If an entrepreneur looks for characteristics’ surroundings, the chances of success increase as everyone over there belong to the same ecosystem.
However, everyone passes through the same phases of entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurial process consists of a set of stages and events that follow one another.
Get to know the phases of entrepreneurship here.
Different phases of entrepreneurship
If you are thinking to enter the entrepreneurship world, know these things to make informed decisions.
The Idea
The entrepreneurship generally begins when you wonder why a certain thing, say a product or a service is not this way. It should have been like this, it could improve with these changes, how to generate income, etc. These questions in the mind help to identify the opportunities in the market and meet the demands.
Though many have several ideas, only a few who construct a strong business strategy framework will move forward to the next phase of entrepreneurship. Most of them quit at any point as they drive dries out.
So, the next phase for non-quitters is business planning and decision making.
Business planning
The critical step is to start the project, stay active and motivated. It is this phase, where you officially become an entrepreneur because you decided to launch a business. This phase consists of making strategic decisions, collecting resources, making financial plans and arranging for it, and executing the plans.
You should have a bigger picture of your plans at this stage. It is recommended to launch the business as a side hustle and not quitting the job to start a business. You can always quit your job when the time comes. Think like a business strategist, regroup and ensure that your plans are aligned right.
Survival and growth of the business
This is the phase where you have launched your business and looking for new strategies to survive in the industry. You may also look for investors who can fund or choose to stay independent, if feasible. Though staying independent gives, you all the power to control, it may lead you to a tricky financial situation. So, it is crucial to be cautious.
You should stay persistent with business strategy and goals. As you invest resources and begin operating, you can see the first steps of your organization. It is exciting to take on the first customers. Take their initial and valuable feedbacks and improve. Word of mouth should become one of the assets for your organization.
You will be excited to see yourself transforming into CEO, expanding team, delegating tasks, managing the operational processes, and, etc. You may be having a steady cash flow. At this stage, hire people with complementary skills and wear many hats as the owner.
Long-term footing
Careful planning and scalability help you get a long-term footing in the business. When your business is growing, ensure that you have the right infrastructure and internal processes to support the business. Be prepared to handle orders, distribution, and stressed staff.
On the contrary, a stage may come when your business partner may walk out, the team becomes incapable of fixing the problems owing to overload, or the business just fails.
There is no single rule for all businesses. Be informed and researched before taking the entrepreneurship. Know what and why you are doing.
The endnote
Make your entrepreneurial journey unique. Embrace the phases with your ideas and at your pace to define your success.