Starting A Business – Be Really Clear With What Your Business Provides (3/5)

What are you going to provide – what are the goods or service your business is about?

This is the most important decision of all in your business.

Do you know about the product or service you are providing? Do you know more than your potential customers? Or your competition?

If you don’t – this is perhaps not the business for you. Don’t think about opening a bookshop or video shop if you don’t know about books and literature or movies and television.

How will you know what sells and the nuances of different products if you have no personal knowledge of your product?

It seems basic, but I’ve often walked into a shop and felt that they weren’t selling the best items they could for the market they were aiming at. I have felt, I know there are cheaper/better versions of these products just up the street.

It’s important to know what your competitors are selling and if you choose to sell the same or similar – what will your point of difference be. If it’s just price – is that sustainable?

If it’s a service – again, think of the competition, your point of differentiation and the location. Make sure that you have an advantage in one area at least.

When looking at what to provide – what does your area need – is it homewares, clothing, accessories, children’s clothes, sporting goods, a pet store. Why do you think the area needs it?

Have you heard people talking about it? Have you needed it yourself? Do you see a real gap in the market? Are you sure that it is right. There might not be a nursery in your row of shops but there may be a plant shop that is bigger, and cheaper than you could hope to be just a short drive away.

If you know a lot about vinyl records and think that you could see a market in the area and that you have worked out the profits that you need to make to sustain yourself then perhaps you have found the right product.

If you have seen four beauty shops in the area close but think you could do a better job – make sure you really do the research. There may be a very good reason why all the previous shops have closed that hasn’t to do with the quality of the service at all.

Read part four: How to question whether your business will work