If you want to start your small business right and reduce your chances of failing, you’re in luck. All across the country, there are experts who have seen firsthand what business owners often do wrong—and right—and can help you avoid similar mistakes.
Experts from the nation’s 63 Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) are more than happy to share their advice for starting and growing a business successfully. They work with entrepreneurs every day, providing free and low-cost consulting. Collectively, SBDCs help a new business launch every 31 minutes, and provide more than 1.3 million hours of consulting services to entrepreneurs annually.
To get you started, we’ve asked some of these advisors to share their best tips for new businesses.
Startup basics
“Know your customer,” advises Lee Lambert, director of the Alameda County SBDC in Oakland, California. “To succeed as an entrepreneur, you must know your customer and what they want; it’s the key to success. Spend time doing some grassroots marketing, and go out to talk to your customers before you start the business, and continuously solicit their feedback after that,” he suggests. “Doing this will help you build stronger, longer-lasting customer relationships.”
While you are doing your research, make sure you analyze the competition, says Tamela Darnell, management consultant for the Kentucky Small Business Development Center. “Many entrepreneurs think they don’t have any competitors and that is not the case,” she says. “You have direct and indirect competitors.”
Some business owners will launch with a distinct vision of their unique niche, but for others the path to success may not be so clear. If you’re in the latter group, remain open-minded and cast a wider net, suggests Enrique Romero, regional director of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin SBDC. “You will eventually find your niche market by working through as many customers as possible, and find a certain customer base that will stick.”
Do your homework before you launch, recommends Robert Bahn, lead business consultant with the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center. He sometimes sees clients who think that they can launch a business as long as they have enough money to cover rent and opening costs. “Then they wonder where are all the customers?” he says. Whether it’s market research or information on how to prepare for and get business financing, there are plenty of resources available to help you prepare before you start your business.
What if your problem is that you have too many good ideas? Beware of spreading yourself too thin, says Marelena Sandy, program manager for the Illinois SBDC at College of DuPage. “Trying to make all of your business ideas effectively work at one time is simply not attainable,” she says. She recommends you use a feasibility checklist to figure out which one works best for you. “What’s the market like? Your competitors? Do you have experience?” These are just some of the questions you need to ask. “Make one idea successfully work, and then decide whether you want to take on another venture,” she recommends.