HOW TO TELL IF A NEW BUSINESS WILL SUCCEED BEFORE YOU START IT.

By Francis Okoye

Many people who are starting a business or who want to start a business, make the mistake of not finding out if such a business has the chances of survival before they start. Many just start a business because other people are doing it, they reason, it must be successful and must work.

They are many factors that determine whether a business that you want to start or do is bound to succeed or not-it is not just because others are doing it. Others that are doing the business may have one business secret or the other that they apply which makes the business succeed, but which you don’t know and have not come close to enough to them to understand them.

Yes! You can tell if any business will succeed before you start it, by applying measures that make sure the business will succeed and by asking the right questions and finding the right answers before you start your business.

Here are some necessary ways you can tell if your new business idea is worth following through.

1.MENTORS:Do you have a business mentor, that is somebody who will mentor you in the business, someone already doing the business and has years of experience in the business,-You can go to such a person for advice, suggestions, contacts and learn from the mentor. It is also advisable to undergo some form of training under such a mentor, even if it involves paying for such. From such training and from answers to questions you ask your mentors-you would be able to tell if the business would survive and succeed when you start it.

2.MARKET SHARE:Your new business would need a market share I.e. those who would be buying from you. If three people have provisions stores in your street, and you also go ahead to open a provision store in the same street, do you think that customers coming would be enough for four of you? Do you think that you can take over the customers of the other three? Your business would succeed ,if there is enough customers for all of you and if the other well established stores do not lower their prices and drive you out of business.

3.UNIQUE PRACTICES: if you must do the type of business others are doing, you must introduce uniqueness to it. You must be able to offer to the customers other products or services which the others doing the same type of business with you cannot offer. For instance, the provisions store mentioned above, if you must open a provisions store, where they are 3 other provision stores on the same street, you can add to your provisions store business ,the selling of food for people to eat, you can add hair plaiting services or sell electrical materials. etc. This will make your business unique and attract extra customers and extra income, even when the provision store is not doing so well.

4.FEASIBILTY STUDY: It is the practice of sensible business persons who want to start a new business, to hire the services of a business expert who will do a feasibility study to determine whether the business idea can be a success or not.

You can also do this on your own, by finding out, how many products you need to sell in a month or year in other to cover the cost of rent, utility bills and your personal up keep? Can you be able to meet such a target? When will you be able to meet such a target? Is the product you are selling seasonal? What will you be doing when the seasons for the boom in sales of the product passes? Will what you would earn be enough for you till you start making a profit? One way to tell if your business would succeed before you start is to do a feasibility study ,and or answer the above questions correctly.

5.BUSINESS PLAN: Many people start a new business or intend to start a new business without a business plan-They have no plans of what they would be doing in the business, how much they expect to earn, in a month, a year and in three years? They don’t know the total cost of starting the business and managing it. They are business experts who can do a business plan of your proposed business for you.-To tell you how important business plans are before giving a loan to a business ,banks require to see your business plan, and if it is okay, with other minor requirements, they grant you the loan.

I recently did a business plan for somebody and the person used it to get a loan of almost N2 million naira from a bank, the business plan showed that the idea would succeed and gave reasons for that, and as a result the loan was easily granted.

Sometimes the business would not always turn out as well as estimated but if the business plan is done right, the business has a good chance of success even with such unexpected factors.

6. PRODUCT NEED? You can tell if the business you want to start offers products that are needed. People’s needs vary according to each person and you need to do a little investigation to know if there is a need for the product. Any thing food business is always needed, as people can’t do without eating. Also health related business is always needed, as people would always have health challenges, whether the economy is good or not! Any business can be needed, especially things that are essential for day to day living. While some persons may like cheap clothes and shoes, others may need expensive and imported fashion items. The important thing is to find a need and meet it.



Keep a date with us next edition as our topic would be “8 GENUINE WAYS TO MAKE DOLLARS ON THE INTERNET” I will offer free consultation,advice,tips,mentoring to those who want to start,manage and run your business.or having problems with their business or raise funding to start their business.Also those who need to start any type of business or looking for a business to start.

email : francisookoye@yahoo.com.

free business consulting service worth N30,000

Call 08038005065.

My website: https://fokoye-associates-business-site

Nice write up, will also try to apply the above points.