Looking for Edge Opportunities
When you’re starting up a small business you need whatever advantage you can get to survive and thrive. Exploiting and taking advantage of any edge your business possesses, is how great businesses are made. And, having a business plan will help you find that edge. Moreover, having a business plan forces an entrepreneur to plan for unforeseen slips.
How to Start Small Business
** At the bottom of this post, we’ve added updates to this article. Be sure to check out new thoughts on a slightly older blog.
You’re here at Brandings because you’re starting a business; great! We also know that most entrepreneurs consider their business as their baby.
Keeping this in mind, we have a question for you, do you want your baby to be unhealthy and weak? Or would you rather have your baby healthy and wildly successful?
No one really needs to answer that question, we all want our babies to be hugely successful. The real question is how to make sure that happens and how to do it.
Finding an edge, is like finding the keys to unlocking your financial success. Additionally, that edge may simply be finding a better way of doing things. Regardless if you’ve been in the field for 30 years or just starting out, you need to be constantly looking at streamlining, simplifying and making things more efficient.
One key to finding ways to streamline your business is to look at it from the outside. An “outsiders’ perspective” may open you up to ideas you couldn’t see before. Sometimes, we get so involved in what we’re doing, it hard to see it another way. And, just because it’s always been done one way, doesn’t mean it has to be.
Starting a Business? Look For Edge Opportunities!
If you are thinking seriously about starting a business, you likely already know that the most important first step is good planning. Everything about your business idea should be researched, considered, and modified as needed.
As you are working through these details, give your venture a leg up by finding and capitalizing on edge opportunities. This can be a method or process that gives your business a serious advantage over the competition.
Developing a significant edge over your competitors is often the difference between getting by and wild success. The sooner you identify yours, the quicker your business will be in the black.
A huge portion of your startup planning revolves around digging in to your industry and competition. Successful entrepreneurs know their field inside and out. This includes the details of the competition’s operations, the markets they target, and accepted industry principles.
You are looking for any area that can be rethought and retooled to improve costs or efficiency. Keep this idea in mind through every detail of your operations planning. Even the most commonly accepted practices should be considered opportunities to do things better.
Of course, different is not always better, so be sure any changes actually spur a measurable, tangible benefit over the way things have always been done.
Even if you have significant experience in the industry, don’t assume you know everything. Talk to knowledgeable network contacts about their perspective. You might be surprised where good edge ideas come from.
Very often, the guy on the line in a factory or on the sales floor can identify efficiency or cost-control issues. These issues are consistently overlooked by managers and above.
In either case, the key is to break down each task within the operations procedures and clarify both what exactly is done. Than consider why it is done, and what it provides to your customer.
Look for unnecessarily repetitive tasks. Some repetition may be necessary for accountability purposes. Conversely, if several different employees are touching the same item before it gets out the door, there may be a process issue. Evaluate the bureaucracy of the paper trail typical in the industry. Very often those triplicate forms can be just as effective in duplicate or, better yet, singular form.
Use the available technology to tighten your operations. One landscaper hired an IT professional to design a basic mapping and estimate program. That allowed them to produce immediate, accurate price quotes and close sales far faster than the industry average.
If you are new to the industry, it can sometimes be easier to identify potential edge opportunities. This is because the standard practices are not quite so ingrained as with those who have worked with them for years.
In every business, there are legitimate ways to use the awesome high-tech tools available. These can be used to improve efficiency, improve customer service, and generally streamline processes. Developing proprietary software or machinery is great, too. However, simply utilizing smart phones, GPS, software programs, and the world wide web can make all the difference.
As you identify potential edge opportunities, think big. A small edge over the competition is good. However a edge that cuts expenses by 30% or improves efficiency by 50% is better.
Watch for assertions like the “conventional method” or “this is how it’s always done.” Those are often red flags for major edge opportunities. Get together with other experts in the field and brainstorm against convention.
Sometimes the most ridiculous ideas have a kernel of potential. Finding your edge is an essential aspect of business planning. Keep that in mind as you work through every detail of your business plan.
- About the Author-K. MacKillop, a serial entrepreneur with a J.D. from Duke University, is founder of LaunchX and blogs about starting a business. The LaunchX System takes you through a complete planning process when starting a business. This includes identifying and capitalizing on edge opportunities. Visit LaunchX.com to learn more about our complete kits for starting a business. Article Source: EzineArticles Expert K. MacKillop
An Update on Starting a Business
Update – Time and again, we advocate planning in our blog. Our team believes that planning is the most important thing you can do when launching a startup business. Business planning and a Business Plan are impossible to separate from success.
The above article expresses the need for finding your small business’s edge. Moreover, the author stresses the need for finding whatever your business is doing better and doing it. However, if your business can’t perform better than your competitor perhaps, start thinking about the next thing. It’s likely that your competition is also looking at you and will figure out how to do things better and drive you out of business.
Planning helps you find that edge and compete in your marketplace. And, simply put, that “something” you do better shouldn’t necessary mean price. For example, getting your product to the consumer faster or fresher can be a key strategy for startups. Another example could be your high quality, customer service or targeting an under served market.
The Brandings Team can’t tell you what your edge is, that’s specific to every entrepreneur and their business!