5 important checklists to consider as a startup when running a business

&NewLine;<p>Startups and business owners &lpar;SME entrepreneurs&rpar; make the error of starting businesses without putting in enough work to see the project rise from ground up or having a financial close &lpar;investor interest&rpar;&period; Every business needs a solid framework that is able to see the project from conceptualization&comma; all the way to development and then finally operationalization and acceleration&period; Below is a quick checklist for businesses owners&semi;&nbsp&semi;those who are yet to start and those who have started&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Having a periodic business operation audit is equal to having periodic medical checks as a test could possibly reveal an&nbsp&semi;ailment&comma; which&nbsp&semi;in the long term could hurt and ultimately kill the business&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Business plan<&sol;strong>&colon; This is the blueprint of the business&period; Just as an architecture and structural design is to building a house&comma; so is a business plan to starting any business&period; A business plan is a comprehensive document that details the WHAT&comma; WHY&comma; HOW your business is going to run&period; An accurate written business plan includes your&nbsp&semi;<strong>market analysis<&sol;strong>&nbsp&semi;that shows you how ready&comma; available and willing the targeted market is&comma; a&nbsp&semi;<strong>competitor’s analysis<&sol;strong><strong>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong>that gives a thorough overview of other players in the industry who might give you competition&period; This helps you create a Unique Selling Point &lpar;USP&rpar;&nbsp&semi;that distinguishes you from your competitors&comma; a&nbsp&semi;<strong>sales strategy<&sol;strong>&comma; and an&nbsp&semi;<strong>HR analysis<&sol;strong>&comma; amongst many others&period; Having a business plan is the first step to starting a business<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Business proposal<&sol;strong><strong>&colon;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong>Be it running a B2B or B2C&comma; having initial capital or having plans to go investor hunting&comma; there is need for one to have a business proposal&period; This document contains a summary of the business plan and highlights the benefits of the services&sol;goods to the clients&sol;customer&period; A business proposal also highlights the financial returns of the business&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Business profile<&sol;strong><strong>&colon;<&sol;strong>&nbsp&semi;This is a confidence booster for your business&period; Think of it as a CV for your company or business&period; Most clients and customers&sol;consumers would like to see whom a product or service is coming from&comma; who they have serviced before&comma; how long they have been in business and the name&sol;face behind the business&period; This mostly is important when it comes to service provision but also&comma; with sales of goods&comma; customers&sol;consumers are interested in reviews of the products from past users&comma; the originality and durability of the goods they are presented&nbsp&semi;with&period; A business profile should be crafted artistically as it is bound to attract or repel potential clients and customers<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Financial modelling<&sol;strong><strong>&colon;<&sol;strong><strong>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong>Where is the money coming from&quest; Where will be money be going to&quest; Whom are we paying what&quest; How much tax goes out of our revenue&quest; How much is our operational expenditure&quest; How do we maximize on profit and cut down on our cost of operation&sol;production whiles maintaining our standards&quest; Financial modelling is paramount to accessing the health of a business<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Financial forecasting<&sol;strong><strong>&colon;<&sol;strong><strong>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong>We all go into businesses to grow and maximize profit&period; At the very early stages&comma; you are supposed to be able to identify ways of growing revenue over the years &lpar;5years is standard&rpar;&period; This is done during the business planning stage but translated into figures at the forecasting stage&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Once the aforementioned steps are completed and there is clear evidence of business growth and profit maximization over the stated period&comma; confidence is boosted and the business owners&comma; investors and customers will be comfortable enough to engage in their respected stages along the business value chain&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Running a business is not a joke&period; The right thing needs be done lest peoples monies and toil goes to waste&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Written by &colon; EBENEZER MENSA <&sol;p>&NewLine;