Have you ever thought about having your own business? Whether it's the desire to make a dream come true, or be your own boss, creating a business is a real possibility, but it demands planning.
To create a business from scratch, you need some basic concepts and key tips for those looking to develop a profitable business. Thus, taking advantage of the innovative technologies In the management process, it becomes easier not to make mistakes in this challenge.
What is a business?
The term business can awaken many predefinitions in people's imagination, with some difficulty putting them into words. Think for a second what definition you would give, even if, to get here, you were clear about what you were looking for.
A business can be defined as an activity managed by people in order to raise financial resources for the production of goods or delivery of services.
According to Peter Drucker, an Austrian professor and management consultant, a business is an organization that exists to develop customers. And profit, for him, is just a test of its validity.
To simplify, any economic activity that has the purpose of generating profit can be defined as a business.
Ok, but you want to know what to do to start yours, what is the starting point to put it into practice. Well, the definition you need, then, is a business plan.
What is a business plan?
O business plan it is a document. It describes the business objectives and the step-by-step process for achieving them, with a focus on reducing its particular risks.
This plan allows you to anticipate risks so that they do not happen when the business is in effect.
If you are going to open a business, therefore, you can speculate some needs and goals to be met, such as capital needed to carry out the activities, personnel costs, logistics and others. However, caution is needed as the business plan is not an ordered set of thoughts.
This written document must contain research, market analysis and segment data. In other words: it is a map to guide the company throughout its journey.
Many companies, since their inception, have in their business plan where they want to go and draw up their planning based on that.
But when they arrive, what happens? They draw up a new plan, after all, it is useful not only for new businesses, but also for new investments.
It is worth remembering that the importance of the business plan is to minimize risks, not to eliminate them, after all, each and every company has a level of risk. Still, having planned how to reduce them will make all the difference when guiding partners and executives or justifying financing requests.
What do I need to open a business?
Talking about what is necessary to open a business is like talking about what needs to be included in your business plan and how to execute it, in addition to legal and registration procedures.
There is one complete manual from SEBRAE (Brazilian Support Service for Micro and Small Businesses) on preparing the plan, but we will list some of the most important steps here.
Market analysis
Who are the customers, suppliers? What products and/or services will be provided?
These are the questions that guide market analysis. From there, you define the target audience and how to deliver your product or service in the most effective way. Analyzing the market will bring a global look to all aspects of the market in which you will work.
Marketing plan
If you know where you are going and who your audience is, you need to know how to highlight your product, bringing value to it.
What guides marketing is the question: “what can I do to make my product reach my ideal customer?” This concerns promotion strategies, product quality, points of sale and pricing.
Competitor analysis
A competitor is someone who operates in the same segment as you. Therefore, it is essential to know what others are doing to learn from their successes and mistakes.
Here we can question what makes a customer buy from this competitor and what they lack that they don't yet have. And it is in this gap where you look for your difference.
Operational plan and financial plan
Two important sections for your business plan. At the operational, you describe what your business needs for the entire operation in terms of time, resources, people qualifications, as well as storage and distribution capacity.
Knowing this, it becomes easier to focus on financial plan, where everything that involves money is written on paper or on a computer screen, from costs, investments and working capital.
Finally, we emphasize again that some records are necessary depending on how you will act and generate your CNPJ. The tip is to speak to an accounting professional who can help you with opening the company, as well as indicating which format makes the most sense for your reality (MEI, Simples, SA, among others).
Business models
The last part of leaving the world of ideas and making your business truly come into being is deciding on your operating model. There are many options and, nowadays, new and increasingly dynamic models continue to arrive.
The ideal model for your business depends on the characteristics of the company and there are tools capable of cutting corners and helping you with this important definition.
In this sense, the Business Model Canvas It is a tool that helps in developing a business model. Thus, it is a methodology that provides a broad view and makes the process more intuitive.
Keeping in mind this easy vision of what your business will be like, you can choose between some of the models below, among many others:
- Franchising: The franchise model is the system by which the franchisor grants an interested person the right to use the brand or patent, associated with the right to distribute products or services.
- Signature: A model that has been growing a lot, especially with streaming platforms, is when a company grants a product to the user upon payment of a periodic fee which, in most cases, is monthly. It is worth remembering that despite the “boom” with digital technology, this model has been around for a long time, such as newspapers and magazines.
- Marketplace: when small retailers rent physical or virtual space from a large retailer. The price paid by the former for “hosting” is a percentage of sales.
- Collaborative economy: model that has become a rage in the contemporary world. Companies like iFood act as a connection between the economic interests of different groups. In this case, the situation is the restaurant owner who needs drivers and a platform to optimize his deliveries.
How to innovate in your business
The manual of objective steps that a person needs to open a business were set out above. Now touch on what leaves the objective and enters the world of creation and innovation.
After all, what is theoretical can be pursued by anyone who is interested and willing to open a new business. However, what differentiates individuals in an increasingly competitive world is the ability to do things differently, to innovate.
And it's difficult, isn't it? With an immense amount of content being created all the time, what has not yet been said, generated, produced, or put into practice?
It can, however, be said that even with so much competitiveness and production, there is always room for new ideas and revolutionary proposals. They are capable of shaking up the market and making the consumer thinking: “this is what I needed!”.
Innovation work depends on study and analysis of references. It is very common among marketing professionals saying that nothing is created from beyond.
Indeed, from absolute zero it is very unlikely that it will be possible to come up with an innovative and effective idea. However, using easily accessible tools and professional references in your area of interest, the path tends to become more visible.
O Keyword Planner, from Google, is a very useful tool for checking an idea, as well as its viability. Free, it shows the volume of searches related to a keyword.
You can understand, through the tool, if your topic of interest has a low search volume, therefore, it does not arouse interest. Or even if you have too much interest, in the saturation phase.
Digital business: how to adapt
Not surprisingly, many of the suggestions for analyzing business pre-opening are posted in the online network environment. Because if, at some point, the digitalization of the market was scary, now it is solid, a trend that grows with the pandemic and should become increasingly established.
Read too: Digitalization of restaurants: How to use technology to benefit your business
It is important to know how to position your business in the digital environment, even if your physical point of sale is your priority.
Knowing how to transition between physical and digital to meet the demands of different types of consumers is very beneficial, because digital is a growing trend, faster and more accessible in many cases. However, at the same time, many consumers may prefer the physical environment.
Communicating with potential audiences is an asset that the network has made easier and more practical. Valuable feedback, which is the return that consumers give to your product or service, is more agile.
With this in mind, you just need to know how to communicate in the digital environment based on your field of activity. In the food sector, for example, bringing images of snacks and positive feedback make all the difference.
This sector, in fact, adapts very well to crises and is always a safe bet, as recorded by the Brazilian Food Industry Association (ABIA), with a growth in this industry of 12.8% in 2020.
Rain or shine, cold or hot, there's always a snack that adapts to the moment, right?
Of course, there are still several other sectors that can and should be pursued with potential for growth. The important thing is to plan and know how to position yourself.
How iFood has supported partner businesses
It is in this context of innovation and business growth in the digital sphere that companies like iFood were born, nurturing real connections and with the desire to help more and more businesses grow.
The program Boss Perks seeks to offer exclusive discounts and facilities for restaurants registered on the application. The advantages include discounts on crucial services such as gas, electricity and internet, as well as courses for business expansion on topics such as clean energy, digital marketing and architecture.
Vantagens do Chef includes the more than 270,000 restaurants already registered and is growing, scaling the pilot project started in March 2021 in the regions of Rio de Janeiro and Campinas.
This program is just one of the actions that iFood carried out based on the belief that investment in intelligence and interpretation of partners' needs makes a difference.
And iFood also has a message aimed at those who want to open a restaurant. Do you want to know how to optimize costs and achieve financial sustainability in this sector? Click here and find out more.
