Making a success of your startup

You have probably heard of the three P's in marketing, pricing, packaging and promotion? Well here's another one that you will need to think about if you a considering starting a business, the three D's. Determination, dedication and doggedness.

It is also essential of course to have a product or service that you can sell in sufficiently large quantities at sufficiently high a price and profit margin so that you can at least meet your overheads and make a living in those difficult early months and years. So do your research and make sure that you know where your sales will come from, know how much you can charge and be competitive in your market remembering that it is so much harder to convince customers as a new business. Make sure that you know how much your overheads and cost of sales will really be.

One frequent mistake by new businesses is to over estimate sales revenues for the first two to three years. This can result in a business that may otherwise have been successful running out of money before the higher levels of sales revenues finally come through. So be conservative in your sales and revenue forecasts and make sure that you have sufficient funds in place to keep the business afloat whilst you really make things happen.

During the early years you will face endless problems, some anticipated and some not, so you must really believe in what you are doing. It's not enough for it to be your dream, you must truly believe that it is a dream that you can make a reality. Time off will be at a premium so you must enjoy what you do and stick at it week in week out. Enjoy the successes and don't get discouraged when things don't work. That's where the three D's come in.

Getting the marketing right is of course one of the key aspects in the success of any new business. Marketing budgets are inevitably limited for a new business so it is vital that you make every penny count, that you get the correct help from marketing professionals who are going to care about your business as much as you do. When it comes to marketing don't make false economies by cutting corners, make sure that you get it right first time, you may not get a second chance.

Above all else though in times of trouble don't forget the three D's.