Small business – big chores?
In countries with developed economies, their business is profitable
and an honorable occupation. The long-standing traditions of family-owned firms, well-established laws of business ethics and state support provide a solid foundation for the prosperity of even the smallest companies. Russia (like other countries of the former USSR) has its own characteristics in this regard. The period of formation of capitalist relations is much less favorable for individual entrepreneurs. The infographics below show the main trends in the development of small business in Russia over the past 3 years.
The profitability of business is affected not only by the position of the state, because otherwise there would be no dynamically developing companies. Often, beginning Russian businessmen simply do not have the basic knowledge for conducting effective entrepreneurial activity. The main mistakes of such entrepreneurs are usually:
wrong choice of niche;
calculation errors;
lack of strategy;
incompetence of staff.
That is why it is important not only to determine what small business you can do, but also to assess the prospects and complexity of implementing this idea.
Success factors
A competent analysis of future entrepreneurial activity will help to ensure a worthy embodiment of the concept. To determine what small business is best to do, you need to understand what affects the success of the project. Depending on the field of activity, the requirements for a good company and its products may vary. However, the basic criteria for productive work are:
availability of necessary funding;
originality and relevance of the idea;
a sufficient level of professional training for the staff;
correct assessment of the competitive environment;
competent announcement of their activities;
taking into account territorial features when doing business (religious beliefs of consumers, the size of the city, etc.);
ability to draw up a good business plan and develop an effective promotion strategy;
decent quality products and a high level of service;
necessary degree of enthusiasm for the project for the future businessman.
Analysis of the current situation for compliance with basic criteria will help a novice entrepreneur objectively assess their capabilities.
Preparation
The question of where to start a small business is one of the most pressing. However, there is no single correct answer. For different areas of activity often need different approaches to the selection of personnel, facilities, ways of promoting their products. A simplified standard start process is presented in the diagram.
Search for a business idea
Often, the success of one’s own business directly depends on the prospects of the initial plan. Therefore, those who are just thinking about what small business is profitable to engage in are often recommended to choose classic ideas for implementation. This significantly reduces the risk of investing money in a knowingly unprofitable enterprise, and also increases the likelihood of a positive decision on the loan (if necessary, borrowing). The most popular types of commercial activities include:
sale of essential goods;
trade in consumer goods;
service industry (language schools, beauty salons, real estate agencies, travel companies, cleaning companies, etc.);
transportation;
car service (car wash, tire fitting, service station, etc.).
However, sometimes some more non-standard ideas bring success:
exotic business projects (hairdressers and hotels for pets, shops of funny gifts, etc.);
highly specialized business (mobile coffee houses, parquet care companies, etc.).
Demand definition
When there are several ideas to start your own business, Wordstat from the Yandex search engine can help decide what small business it is worth starting. This service allows you to find out the interest of the target audience in a particular product or service and to reveal the prospects of its niche. The algorithm for working with Wordstat is quite simple. To determine the demand you need:
for each idea, select the most common goods or services for a particular niche;
select several keywords to search for these products and services on the Internet;
go to the wordstat.yandex.ru website and enter each of the keywords in turn into the search bar;
calculate the total number of queries for each of the niches;
weed out the least promising areas (for example, those in which the number of requests is less than 150 times a month).
Rent price
Rent price
Often, small business involves a rental, what you can do even immediately after receiving all the necessary certificates and licenses. The process of finding the right premises can be quite long, so it is advisable to immediately formulate your requirements for real estate. The rental price depends on many factors:
cities;
location of the premises in relation to the city center;
area;
repair;
the presence of a separate entrance;
type of commercial property;
long-term contractual relations, etc.
The estimated cost of renting commercial property on the basis of the offers of the site “From Hand to Hand” is reflected in the table below. For the analysis, cities of different importance were selected, as well as real estate objects of different types and sizes.
Tempting prospects
Everyone who wants to know how to open a small business is right:
independently plan your time;
do what you love;
have unlimited opportunities for professional growth;
not depend on management decisions;
to make a profit proportional to one’s own efforts (i.e., to be financially independent).
However, any business is a rather big risk. Not every entrepreneur who decided to open his own company could become a successful businessman. Therefore, it is very important that such a decision is not spontaneous, but deliberate and reasoned.