"From where to start?" The 5 things to do when you have a new business idea

End of 2014: I am finally opening The Strat Bar blog, and I think the best subject I want to talk about at the end of this year is "From where to start" when you have a business idea. Indeed, if you had some projects or ideas during 2014 and didn't move on making them more concrete yet, 2015 is the time to make the changes.

I am lucky to have a lot of entrepreneurs in my direct network: parents, friends, professional network and also a great boyfriend that is encouraging me in the entrepreneurship direction. This environment is nurturing my motivation to build a business (to not say many). What is hard when you want to be an entrepreneur is to start somewhere. You have some ideas and you don't know what do to with them. It usually finishes in your head, and nothing happens. 

That's a shame! Stop wasting your time planning your life on something you don't like!  If at a point of time in your life you feel like you are ready to begin entrepreneurship and if you have an idea that you believe will work then you need to do something! It is wrong to think that you need a lot of money to start an entrepreneurship project(s). 

I will have the opportunity to share with you the way I am trying to sort all my own ideas. I don't invent any specific theory, I am mainly applying "Effectuation" and "Lean" which you will need to be familiar with (if it's not already the case). Those are the two methods you need to know if you don't have a lot of money and wants to progress in your project. I will explain you how I used those two philosophies so far to progress in my own projects, what are the challenges I faced and how it helps me. 

So here are for me the first 5 things you need to start to assess:

First thing: First of all, start with an idea that really "excites" you. Entrepreneurship requires a lot of energy, motivation and courage. You will have to defend your idea in front of the world. If you don't strongly believe in it, don't waste your time and go on to the next idea! You may not know where to start and you may not have any idea about how you are going to implement it but your "survival instincts" will guide you in the first move if you are convinced that it is going to work!

Second thing: Check if something similar already exists. If you have competitors, It does not mean you have to give up . It just means that you will need to find a way to be different or better. Do not spend time to make a deep analysis of the market. Just make sure you have a flavour of your competitors and think about the way you can disrupt the market!

Third thing: Draft (very breifly) the business you want to build and the tools you need to create a minimal viable product. This minimal viable product (also called MVP) is a sort of proof of concept that you will build to proove that your idea has a market. It is a way to avoid a lot of wasted time in building something that may not work at all. It is the best way to find your first customers. On my point of view, the best way to start this is a webpage which is possible in most businesses. It is indeed the cheapest showcase you can create. Even if you are not an engineer, there are some simple ways to create a very simple but very nice landing page with sites like WIX. You just need a page to tell what is your idea and invite people to leave their email if they are interested in your business. 

Forth thing: When you have build your first MVP, then talk about it with your entourage. Some bloggers will tell you that it is not necessary good to talk about this with your close network because they may not be objective and be too nice with you. But if you have a network of friends with multiple competences, it is a bit a shame to not benefit with their experience! 

Some people may be very negative. It MUST not discourage you. Take their opinion and find some solutions to the problems that they address. It may help you to create the product that will work.

Fifth thing: You can do it at the same time you do your MVP: Create the community around your idea. It is the best way to create link with your future customers. The more they know about you and the earlier they start to talk/interact with you, the more they will be motivated to buy your product. We will talk about digital strategy and community management in more details later. 

You can do those 5 things while you are also working full time in another job. To be fair and honest it will require significant time BUT it is a good way to test your idea and also to test yourself. It will give you a flavour of what you will have to do if you are starting to work full time on your project.

Also discover the All Made In France project adventure. I am trying to give you all the steps and details of this venture here. One of them describes the first landing page / presentation of the platform.

To finish this article, I would like to share with you this video. If you are looking for motivation, it is definitely the video you need:

For people that successfully build their own business, what are for you the 5 things you think we need to start with?