5 steps to kick start building your business whilst still in a day job

If you were born an entrepreneur but you are working a 9 to 5 job, there’s a good chance you are unhappy and you have a head full of brilliant ideas that you would like to turn into a business. But how do you know if your idea will resonate with your target market? The best option for you is to start figuring this out whilst keeping your job until you are crystal clear that your idea has a chance of succeeding. In this blog, we will give you 5 steps to kick start building your business whilst still in a day job:

1. Clarify WHY do you want to start your business

Your why is your most important driver for starting your business. It’s what will keep you going when things will get tough. Different people have different reasons for starting their business. This can be financial or location independence, time freedom, being your own boss or doing what you truly love. Make sure this motivation is super clear in your head before starting out as this is what will keep you focused and committed to your dream.

2. Understand WHO are your people

Be clear about who your business would benefit from. Understanding the audience that you are serving is crucial in order to build a successful business. To give yourself the best chance at succeeding is to serve people similar to you, people who you interact with on a daily basis, people whose problems are familiar to you, problems that you might be experiencing yourself. It is not impossible to serve an audience that is not familiar to you, but it will make it harder for you to get to know and understand them. It will also be more challenging for you to create a business proposition that will be useful and will appeal to them.

3. Figure out HOW you will help them

Your how is related to how you will serve your target audience. How can you help them achieve what they are looking to achieve? And how is your product different from what’s already out there? Your how is your business proposition which is a solution to your audience’s problems. The more unique your how and the more it solves your audience’s problems, the more chances you will have at succeeding with your venture.

4. Create your business VISION

Think about the future. Imagine yourself running your business a year on from today. If you were to leave your job today, what would you like to have achieved? Describe it and write it down. Be specific and detailed. Describe your daily routine, your activities, how you interact with clients, who are your clients, how many clients do you have and what is your monthly income? Are you running your business by yourself or do you have a partner? What about staff, are you employing anyone? Once you’ve created your vision, start thinking about what do you have to do to get there.

5. Decide how will you FUND it

Funding is usually the biggest obstacle entrepreneurs face when starting up. This is also what stops many of them from leaving their secure 9 to 5 and taking the leap. Luckily, start-up funding is not as difficult as it used to be in the past. You no longer have to apply for a bank loan or risk losing your house. Crowdfunding has played a big part in this progression. Crowdfunding is one of the largest and most popular funding routes for start-ups right now. Here at IdeaSquares, we’ve successfully completed 3 crowdfunding rounds ourselves and helped numerous startups to reach their crowdfunding goals. We’ve got a start to finish toolset to support your application success. We provide automated tools and support so you can:

• Choose the best crowdfunding platform for your goals

• Test your ‘crowdfunding readiness’

• Understand the effort involved in crowdfunding

• Create a strong video script

• Prepare your crowd for your upcoming crowdfunding campaign

• Pre-launch your equity-crowdfunding campaign

• Track how engaged your ‘crowd’ really are

• Perfect your crowdfunding pitch

• Plan and prepare for a quick and successful crowdfunding campaign