Lesson 1: Before You Start
Find your potential customers
For most people starting new small businesses, finding their customers is the most difficult part. That's because they are focused on what they want to do and not on what people need. From the previous section, you have a good idea about what you want to do. You now have to forget about that completely and instead put yourself in the place of your potential customers.
The first question you have to answer is, "Who can I access initially as a potential customer?" It's no good making expensive jewelery if you're going to have trouble approaching people who have the money to buy it. Look around you. Where do you live? Who do you know? Who can you easily approach? What group can you access more easily than anyone else?
What you're looking for are customers who can get your business started. Once you have a going business, you can expand your customer base and find your ideal customers. To get started though, you're not going to launch a big marketing campaign which will find you customers at the other end of the country so you're going to have to settle for those which you can easily access.
Typical groups are neighbours, friends and friends-of-friends, business contacts, relatives and their friends, members of clubs and other groups where you are a member and generally residents of your town or your part of your city. Remember, you're a small business so you don't need thousands of customers to get started.
Make a list of the groups you have identified and put a number from 1 to 5 beside them indicating how large they are, 5 being the largest. Put a second number indicating how accessible they are for you, 5 being the most accessible. Accessible means how easy it is to get their names, addresses, phone numbers and how receptive you think they would be if you approached them. Multiply the two numbers to get a "group number" for each group.
Now take out the list of things which you can do which you wrote out in the previous section. Imagine you're a member of the first group on your list. As a member of that group, would you:
1. Need to have any of these things done? 2. Be willing to pay for any of these things? 3. Have the money to pay a reasonable amount?
If the answer is ,"Yes" to all three, write the number of group 1 on the group list beside the item on the things which you can do list. Then imagine you're a member of the second group on the group list and repeat. You'll end up with several more numbers on the list of things which you can do list. For each item on that list, add the numbers beside it and put the total at the end.
Looking at the totals you'll get an indication of what kind of small business would be best for you. The highest numbers result from items which you enjoy doing, which you do well and which will be easy to sell to lots of people. What else would you want to get your small business started? For more on identifying the needs of your potential customers, try our recommended book, " Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting an Online Business." While it deals specifically with on-line Internet businesses, the second chapter is relevant to any small business.
