How to Start a Business in 10 Steps Without Experience

Reasons to start a business:

Before mentioning the reasons why you should start a business, let’s first evaluate the reasons not to do so:

• It is, without a doubt, a more difficult path than working for someone else.
• It requires taking quite a few risks, more than the common person is willing to take.
• Requires initial capital to get started; among other extra variables, which could be considered excuses that reflect the fear of trying.

After looking at these difficulties innate to the world of entrepreneurship, I think there are still great possibilities to try and take the risk. So here are some compelling reasons that will convince you to make this important decision.

Have autonomy over your life :

What greater pleasure than being able to control a resource as valuable as time? When starting your business, you decide your routine, your work times, rest, and productivity without anyone imposing or limiting it.

Higher risks, higher rewards :

There is no doubt that, on many occasions, you will have to make difficult decisions. Being in charge of a business demands these kinds of requirements.

However, the one who takes most of the profits from your good actions is you, and there is no greater satisfaction than that of earning in proportion to what is given, unlike a job, where this does not always happen.

You contribute to your community :

One of the biggest mentality changes that having your own business generates is understanding that the feeling of giving, of contributing, is one of the most rewarding, and undoubted sources of happiness.

Seeing how you improve the situation of people, both the lives of your workers and your impact with different foundations is something unique that will fill you with emotion.

Develop yourself as a person :

When you take a risk and decide to learn how to start a business, inevitable changes in your mentality occur.

Being in charge of a successful company implies that you have to acquire new knowledge and skills; You will have to develop your emotional intelligence, and you will learn to negotiate, among others that will make you a complete person in every sense.

Pride to create something of your own :

Knowing how to start a business and run it is, in many ways, like having a child of your own. Very few things will fill you more with pride than watching your business grow and develop.

How to start a business successfully:

Once the reasons why you should start a business have been made clear, it is time for us to start looking carefully at the steps to start a business from scratch, without experience, and by your life goals.

It is no secret that starting a business is not an easy task, however, this does not mean that it is impossible to achieve it; and even less today, when we have so many tools and information at hand to carry out our dream of life: to be successful entrepreneurs.

What will you find in this guide to starting your business?

I think it is important to clarify what you are going to find in this article, in this way, you land your expectations a bit and focus on those important aspects of the business.

With this article, you will learn the following: 

• Find your business idea according to your skills,
• Carry out a market study,
• Define your business model,
• Estimate costs and calculate a budget simply,
• Form your work team and,
• Create a business according to your lifestyle.

Additionally, I want you to take into account the links that are found throughout this article, as they are necessary complements for your learning of how to start a successful business.

Let us begin.

1. Discover or define your skills: 

Most young entrepreneurs are not entirely clear about what they want to do, even when they want to learn how to start a business, they have doubts about which business to start.

So if this is your case, and you are not sure what you want to do, the first step you should take is to identify your own skills.

Ask yourself, what are you good at? Or what do you stand out for? The answers to these questions will help you define a path to follow at least in the first instance, which is very important when defining what business you are going to set up.

The objective of this first point is to discard those business ideas that are not aligned with your values, and principles and that require certain skills that you are not interested in developing.

Here’s an example: Imagine that you want to learn how to start a fast-food business, but the kitchen has never caught your attention, you don’t know how to cook and you’re not interested in learning either, do you think you’ll end up becoming passionate about this gastronomic venture? Most likely not.

2. How to choose your business idea:

Before sharing with you a method that helps you define your business idea, I would like to tell you a little story:

A few years ago I had no idea what to do in my life, as I tell in the ebook From Zero to Blog, I wanted to do something different with my days beyond looking for a stable job, however, I did not know which way was that I should take.

Around those days, I signed up for an entrepreneurship course, and one of the tasks assigned to me was to create a blog …

That day, I remember, was when many of my questions found their answer, that day I knew that my path, without knowing what the result would be like, was to create that blog and give my best.

From that day on I have worked to build and improve Entrepreneurship Stories, it has been a work of much learning, lessons, and satisfaction, it has been years in which I have been building my passion, a business, and a life project.

Why am I telling you this? Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, states that “you don’t choose your passions, they choose you.”

I think that in this matter of defining a profitable business idea, you should be alert to those things that interest you, and if something moves you inside, be willing to allow yourself to try it since you will never know what the result will be like…

The challenge of defining what business to undertake:

This is perhaps the point that generates the most difficulty among entrepreneurs. Surely you are thinking about how to start a business, what idea to develop, or how to make money doing what you are passionate about.

However, you cannot identify something that may interest you. You simply want to follow your passions, but you also don’t have the slightest idea of ​​what yours can be.

And yes, you may have some interests, but it scares you since starting a business around one of them ends up ending your liking for it.

The toads in entrepreneurship:

So what should you do? Simple: You will have to kiss a lot of toads before you can find your prince or that business idea reigns.

In this analogy, toads are all those interests that you can develop in your spare time, and your prince will be the job or business you love, independence from the corporate world, and financial freedom.

You must be willing to start something different from your job or your current situation. You must be willing to fail, make mistakes, learn from them, and more importantly, try different options that help you narrow your interests and build the right one.

In short, the objective of this first stage is to help you find what you are passionate about, and what you love to do.

Even if you have a shaky start full of doubts (something that will surely happen), the simple fact of starting a business from your job will allow you to practice and develop an imperfect business idea full of difficulties…

Something essential for when it comes time to commit to something that you love.

Method to define your imperfect business idea:

The first thing you have to do is forget about finding your perfect business idea because it will not happen in your first experience as an entrepreneur, or it will surely change over time.

After you are clear about this, here is a 20-minute exercise that will help you find which business to put according to your interests:

Write 5 things that interest you right now:

Take out a sheet of paper, open the notes application on your cell phone, or a new document in Word. Write five things that interest you right now; write the first five that appear in your mind and please, do not be generic.

Instead of writing food, be specific with the type of food such as “chocolate ice cream,” “hamburger,” or “pizza.”

These things do not have to have interested you all your life, it may be that they caught your attention or you have been researching about them recently.

Are you trying to be a vegetarian? Eat healthily? Write it down, do you think it is only a stage in your life? Believe it or not, this will help you with your search for what business to start.

Build a table:

Draw five columns; In the first one you are going to write your five interests and the rest will be used to qualify each one of them.

This is why in the first row you will have four metrics: a.) Related ideas, b.) Business ideas, c.) Platforms and d.) Degree of interest.

A.) Related Ideas:

Brainstorm each interest and creatively imagine ideas related to each of your interests.

If one of your interests is “sushi”; You could think of 5 related ideas such as: how to prepare sushi, what is its origin, how to make sushi perfect, what are the ideal equipment to prepare it, the flavors and combinations, the nutritional information, which is the best for you and how to put a price on it.

Write down each of the ideas that come to your mind every time you think of your interest.

b.) Business Ideas:

In this second column, you should think about how to monetize or generate income from this interest.

How are you going to make money?

Using the example of sushi; It could be writing an ebook about the best sushi restaurants in the world, creating a sushi blog and advertising it, selling sushi, or teaching people how to make it.

During this exercise, you should consider two things: 

1. Your target market: in the example of sushi; restaurant owners, culinary students, and gastronomic travelers.

2. Potential income from this market: culinary students probably won’t be able to pay you for your services, and restaurant owners will, but they hardly will.

The most important thing at this stage of the exercise is to be as realistic as possible since including fictional characters or optimistic considerations will not help you much.

Remember, the idea is to come up with a realistic answer to your question of how to start a business based on your lifestyle.

c.) Platforms:

In this column, you are going to write about each of the platforms in which you think your interest can fit. Remember something, in case you already forgot:

What you are going to do, you will start today… so this doesn’t have to be perfect.

In the sushi example, when considering platform ideas for your interest, something that would be very far from reality would be to open a restaurant; however, considering the option of a blog is much more successful.

If you like to write, consider an ebook, if you like to talk about a specific topic, how about a podcast in Spanish ?… If you don’t like writing, you may be interested in a YouTube channel.

Regardless of what you choose, start today and reach out to your audience, build one, and offer them something of value.

d.) Degree of interest:

On a scale of 1 to 5, how interested are you in each of your choices?

One means that it catches your attention, and five that you breathe, live, investigate, read, and take everything that comes your way that is related to this topic.

The more you are interested in it, the more likely you will become passionate about it, and you will believe in what you are going to do.

After this exercise, you will surely have a winner. You will have found your answer to what business I can set up.

It starts today. Don’t wait for tomorrow, the next month, next year. It starts after closing this article and sharing it.

3. Focus on your product or service:

Once you have defined your business idea, it is time to start working on the development of your product or service.

At this point, you will have to define the name it will have, its corporate or graphic identity, what your sales strategy will be like, which promotion and marketing channels are best suited to its requirements or particularities, and more.

For this, you can use the Canvas Model which will help you identify the key and strategic points of the business. If you have no idea how to develop this point, these types of tools will help you a lot.

Execution, the key to entrepreneurship:

If you think about it, entrepreneurship is something you learn by doing, so if you have doubts about how to start a business, the day to day and execution of your idea will teach you and show you the areas that you must master to carry out your project.

It is important to mention at this point that the most important thing in a business is execution. It is to start immediately. It does not matter if, in the beginning, you start with work from home, what matters is to start. To define a name, and a logo and start looking for clients.

Why am I telling you this? Because the reality is that many people assume that they are executing their business idea while spending months designing a good logo, a web page that they find beautiful, and doing a lot of things that are not relevant at first, but that turns out to be great. way of postponing the real decisions that are needed in an enterprise.

So stop wasting time, and ask yourself what is important. For example, start selling your product or service, look for profitability as soon as possible, and close agreements with suppliers for your business, among other key points. So you learn how to start a business.

4. Thoroughly analyze the market:

Once you are clear about your skills, your interests, your business idea, and the pillars of your venture, it is time to thoroughly study the market you are going to enter.

In simpler words, you need to know if there are users or clients interested in buying the product that you will develop, or in hiring the service that you will offer since otherwise, your business idea will not have a place in the market.

This happens a lot with innovative businesses, remember that it is not only about having an idea that had never been thought of before but about being clear if that idea solves a problem for the people who are your potential customers.

I give you an example, if you are thinking of starting a dog care business in your home, it would be good to find out how many neighbors have these pets, and how willing they would be to hire you as a dog sitter.

The importance of a market study:

How do obtain this information? For this, you can interview them personally, through email, or through the social networks that you have available.

For your neighbors, take the time to go out in your neighborhood, walk, meet them, and chat with them.

If after carrying out your little market research you determine that the majority are not willing to put their dogs under your care, then the best thing is that you do not go ahead with your project, and consider other possibilities to carry your project forward.

No one said entrepreneurship was easy, so you will have to face many challenges before finding the product or service that your target market is willing to pay for.

Now, regardless of whether you have a small business, use the tools and methodologies that you have at hand. By this, I mean the market study, which gives you extremely valuable information regardless of the size of your venture.

5. Work on your business plan:

How to start a business requires that you learn, master, and apply certain methodologies that will give north to your entrepreneurship.

As I explained in the previous point with the market study, a business plan is another tool to which you must dedicate time and resources.

What is a business plan and what is it for?

In essence, it is a plan that describes the business you want to set up, together with all the activities and operations that you must execute to carry it out.

It is a formal document that includes the analysis of the external market, the evaluation of your direct and indirect competitors, the objectives you want to achieve with your venture, as well as its associated costs and income.

It does not matter that your initial idea is to start a small business or have a job from home, you must develop your business plan because this will be your work guide and will save you unnecessary annoyances or mistakes from an entrepreneur.

It is also important that you know that it can become the best cover letter for your project when you decide to scale it and attract investors, so you better prepare it in advance and carefully.

The business plan is also known as a business plan and it must include the ideological structure of your business (name, mission, vision, values, competencies, etc.), as well as its mechanical, financial, environmental, and financial structure. human Resources.

How to prepare it correctly? Here we explain step by step how to make a business plan, which includes an example that serves as the basis for developing yours.

6. Determine your business model:

The business model has to do with the segmentation of your potential customers, the creation of the value proposition of your venture, its possible sources of income, and course the distribution and dissemination channels that you will use to make yourself known. among the masses.

Within your business model, you must include the cost structure of your business, the preparation of a budget, and the estimation of resources that you will need when starting your business.

I invite you to review a little of these specific topics:

The costs of your venture:

I think I have been quite emphatic in the fact that, regardless of the size of your business, whether it is run from your home or in an office in the best sector of your city, it is important to apply those practices that increase the viability of your venture.

This happens with cost estimation, it is important to know, estimate and project the costs of your new business idea. When you do, you will have a clear financial picture; You will know how much capital you require to start and you will know the costs associated with your operation.

Many entrepreneurs conclude that this is not important, so they are not interested in learning how to keep the accounts of their business. Serious mistake since you will be depriving yourself of valuable information.

When you are judicious with the financial part of your business you will know:

• The costs associated with your production work
• The costs of promoting your services
• The return on investment of your investments
• Sales, collection cycles, and outstanding debts.

As your business grows, you should hire experts in the matter, to start you can review some basic accounting books, attend non-financial finance courses, or advise you in such a way that you can make sound decisions in this important area of your entrepreneurship.

Define a budget for your business:

Knowing how to start a business involves creating a budget, knowing its items, and knowing how to make decisions based on it.

A budget allows you to know how much money you need to carry out your projects, it tells you the money you have available, how much is invested, and what your financial commitments are.

Concerning financial commitments, it is normal, when you are starting a business, that debts become an easily accessible source of financing to start your business idea.

However, as Paul Jarvis suggests in his book Company of One, you must seek profitability as soon as possible, from the first moment, and this implies getting out of debt and being sustainable without the need for external capital.

In the beginning, the income will not be recurring as you build your customer base. This is why by avoiding debt, you avoid the pressure of having to pay interest, which can lead you to make hasty decisions due to a lack of liquidity.

The legal figure of your business: 

Yes, how to start a business also has to do with legal, administrative, and legal aspects. At least if you want to get it right.

I am not going to deny that this point can overwhelm you a bit, especially because you are working on your own, because you do not know about the subject, or even because you think that this is not important.

Here the fundamental thing is that you are well-advised and that you consult which is the best figure that fits your business model, your idea, and your projections.

For this, you can consult with specialists, who will advise you on the type of regime or company (anonymous, cooperative, a civil society, among others) that is best for you according to the regulations and laws of your country.

You may be thinking that at the start you do not need this, and less if what you want to develop is a business from home. However, you must be clear that if this idea does escalate, you will undoubtedly need to give it a legal form to avoid legal setbacks.

Being prepared for growth is one of the secrets to creating successful businesses.

Investors in your business model:

At this point in the guide, you must have defined what business you are going to set up, you have a budget, a model, and a plan for your company. Ask yourself, do you need investors?

Before going out to attract investors, or obtain loans for your business, ask yourself if there is the possibility of starting with your own resources, even if they are scarce, but that they give you the freedom to run your business according to your criteria.

If after making an objective and judicious evaluation, you conclude that you do need it, experts recommend that you offer a partnership to people who believe in your initiative, and who are willing to work hard with you to achieve the business objectives that you have set for yourself. tracing.

Here the key concept is smart capital, that is, attracting money from people who, more than money, will contribute knowledge, contacts, and suppliers to which you do not have access.

If you follow this advice, you will likely develop a win-win relationship with your partners, and consequently, your entrepreneurship will escalate to unimaginable levels.

7. Start your business legally: 

Once you have defined how to start a business, what will be the figure that will represent it, and what will be your action plan, it is time to put in order the commercial, legal, and tax procedures before the competent entities.

These differ from one country to another but are generally known as the Chamber of Commerce, the Commercial Registry, etc.

Each of these organizations will require you to record a series of precautions depending on the nature of your undertaking, but in general terms, they include patents, approval permits, or a registration in the Mercantile Registry.

However, new technologies allow you to start a business from home just by accessing the online portals of these institutions and following a few steps.

However, if you do not feel prepared to carry out this process yourself, it is recommended that you delegate these responsibilities to a legal or accounting advisor who has experience in the matter.

Important note: Although, indeed, this point is not a requirement if you want to start from home, or something in your free time, it is something that you must take into account in your business since at some point you will have to do it and this it involves money, time and knowledge.

8. Build a good team: 

In the beginning, you may be the only employee of your company, but as it grows and diversifies, you will find yourself having to add allies in your path.

This means that you will need people to help you develop production, promotion, sales, or collection tasks so that your business continues to grow.

At this point, you must be careful when selecting people who make up your work team(this topic would need a complete article), since doing it lightly, or without having a clear basis, could take unnecessary risks that affect your business.

9. Work on the constant growth of your business:

An entrepreneur will never have the last point or the last stage since if you want to become a successful entrepreneur you will have to be constantly growing, learning, and innovating.

What does this mean? Do not settle for initial sales, a few incomes, or your current position. Ask yourself questions of the following type:

• How can you grow your customer base?
• How to reach your customers in new ways?
• What new products can you create?
• How to improve your customer service?
• How to innovate in your sales channel?
• How to improve your relationship with suppliers?

The business and growth opportunities are truly inexhaustible. You just have to use your creativity and expertise to achieve the goals you set for yourself starting from the point that I will show you below, and that is to define the life you want to lead.

Life is not about having businesses that completely absorb you, or worse, creating an enterprise that in the long term does not fill you, stresses you out and you do not want to. To avoid this, pay attention to the last point in this guide.

10. How to start a business according to your life project:

Although this should be one of the first points of this guide, I will leave it last with the intention that, before you start and start, you ask yourself if what you have defined up to this point fits your life project.

Before asking yourself how to do a market study, how to create a budget or a business plan, ask yourself:

How would you like to live when you start your business?

I ask you this because today we are driven by anxiety and a desire to succeed that tempts us to do whatever it takes to make money and supposedly “succeed.”

And to be honest, this guide not only wants to take you to this goal, but I am also interested in the way (the means) by which you reach this end. That is, it is not only what you achieve, but how you achieve it.

Starting from this, I want to leave you a series of recommendations that will allow you to learn how to start a business according to your lifestyle :

Establish your vision:

Your vision, or life purpose, is the map that guides the path you must follow since if you do not have one, you will be going in circles through life. When you write your vision, visualize yourself within it. Believe and feel your future to the point that if you close your eyes you can smell it.

If you are wondering how you are going to know what you are going to want in 10 years, remember that your vision is a living document that will change as you change.

The important thing here will be to let him guide you each day.

Build goals for your life:

We all have a habit of setting goals only when it comes to business. But what about your life? Shouldn’t these be the primary goals?

Contributes:

Giving back is the only way to add value to the world. When we give, this multiplies us. It is a guarantee that you generate more prosperity when you give something selflessly. You can call it karma, or a phenomenon of cause and effect.

When you think about your business, keep in mind those things in society or your environment that you feel deserve to change. Find a way to help with your entrepreneurship, either by supporting foundations, offering employment to people in vulnerable conditions, or contributing part of your profits to some movement, among others.

Find the balance:

How start a business requires long hours of work, mental demands, and a great emotional commitment, among other situations inherent in the life of the entrepreneur.

Try to balance these situations with healthy habits, relaxing with friends, and connecting with family, and the people you love.

Strive to find that balance, there will be times when the pressure of a delivery deadline or an already acquired commitment will take hold of you and will make you stay out of your comfort zone for longer than expected.

So, find some time to rest after this great effort to recharge for the next push.

If you are playing life high, there will always be something even greater waiting for you, so the balance does not necessarily imply slowing down life but being in contact when necessary with what recharges your energy.

Fun should be part of your days:

Don’t forget to play. Commit yourself and your team that regardless of business, industry, or responsibility, there is an element of fun in everything they do.

Live with gratitude:

Gratitude and love are the keys to success. Let your family, friends, and employees know how much you appreciate what they do as often as possible. Your love is your wealth, do not accumulate it.

When you practice gratitude, you develop an abundance mindset that attracts new growth opportunities into your life.

Please start today:

I believe that with all the information that you have acquired in this guide regarding how to start a business you have what it takes to go out and make that dream that you have been putting off for so long a reality.

The certainty that if you follow all the recommendations and steps that you have just read, you will have what it takes not only to start a business but to do it successfully.

No matter how many entrepreneurship courses you take, or how many bibliographies you consume, in the end, there is no better teacher in this matter than the lessons and learnings that execution leaves you on a day-to-day basis.

However, the decision is yours. Decide if you want to start all those dreams and ideas that you have in your head, remember that you are only one decision away from changing your life forever.