Now you will see, that I have deliberately used "business", and not the word "startup". The reason is that start-ups usually fail within some time and also take a lot of investment while facing adversaries. 

On the other hand, businesses thrive.

Yes, businesses do have downtime when they are launched, and they might not have all the fancy investments, but they are ROI-focused and not fancy luxury.

Step 1: Invest time by Solving an Issue

Several people in the world start wrong in deciding their first business idea. The wrong thing is to go ahead with something that comes to your mind. Let me explain how;

Let's say while thinking about a business idea, it came to your mind that you will also create a social networking platform, like Facebook or maybe Twitter.

Now here the conceiving of the idea is not wrong. The initiation was wrong.

Only building a clone of Facebook or Twitter is not a business idea, and people will surely not use it, and it will be a disaster after some time. The issue is that it is not solving any problem, but your own need to start a business.

The process of thinking needs time that you can invest and think about solving a problem that people are facing around the world. 

Now taking this mindset further, if you think that most social networking websites are these days sponsored with advertisements and sponsored content, I will develop a social networking platform with no advertisements, so that people can connect and won't have to see so many ads in between their friends feed, is a more motivating factor to work towards developing a social networking platform.

Another example would be to connect people from a particular industry online using a social networking platform. So, here you are checking a genuine need of people and then developing a platform that can solve their issues - to connect with like-minded people.

Solving a problem does two things;

1. Gives a Motivation to work on your Business

This is one of the important factors when we talk about starting a business. If you don't have a clear vision of what you want to achieve, then it is a bit difficult to connect with people who share your thoughts.

If you are clear that you want to connect with humans in this AI world, then you try and find out things that help you in achieving the same. For example, creating an online forum. Although online forums might be a thing of the past, in this AI-driven world, one wants human ears to hear them and solve their issues.

This will also keep you going for a long time. As we are not talking about simple startups, therefore, we are focusing on the long run, which will have some downtime but will eventually be profitable in the long run.

2. Attracts People Automatically

When you have solved a problem, then people automatically come to you for the solution. This is because everyone wants to move ahead in life and live a life without any issues. Therefore, when you solve a problem, people start coming to you for the solution. This is the time when you can charge for your services or products.

Some one had rightly said - if you solve a $1 problem, you get a dollar, and if you solve a $100,000, you get a hundred thousand dollars.

And this stands true today as well. If you develop a candy and sell it for $1 you will get $1 for each one of that candy, and if you sell a service that is worth several hundred dollars, you receive the same.

I have seen this in my society as well. Some people sell $10 worth of cakes that they bake at home, and some teach all the people in our society how to cook new dishes for $50 per member, obviously, someone who teaches gets more visitors and more money as well.

So, it is up to you if you want to sell something for a dollar or a hundred dollars, both work fine as long as you know your target audience and the money that they can pay.

Step 2: Write a Business Plan

A business plan should be something that outlines your current and future ambitions. A successful business uses this as a resource to organize the way its company is headed. Now the work that you have done in step one, you can use that work to create a document that will have the below items;

1. Name of Your Business: Now this should be very carefully chosen. Ideally, you should choose something that represents what you do, but it makes sense even if the word is not making any sense. "Google" is one such example.
2. Purpose / Why did you create this business?: Now the work that you had about the existence of this business. Write down why you conceived this idea for your business.
3. How do you solve a problem?: Write down how this business solves the problem of your potential clients. For example, you have created a really tasty candy with let's say cucumber, which is healthy and tasty at the same time with no extra calories.
4. Is there a product or service similar to yours in the market?: Even if there is a product or service similar to yours, that is perfectly fine, because you have a benchmark to study your progress. There are a hundred people selling candies, you can also have your share in the market, just hop in and study them. Learn from their mistakes and build your business better in every aspect.
5. How are your competitors doing?: Now this is important to understand. Our competitors can be our teachers as well. If someone is not doing good, what can be the reason or pitfalls that you can avoid, or if someone is doing good in your industry, what are their strengths? Now don't start doing a SWOT analysis. I have never seen successful businesses doing SWOT analysis or else they would never take off.

Having your Business Goals and Ambitions on paper is important because it can also help you make more efficient and strategic decisions. It can help you focus on your goals and strategies. When you are not so motivated, just look at that piece of the document and ponder on the thought "Why did you start in the first place?"

Business Plan Can Help You in Discovering Potential Weaknesses

This can also help you discover any potential weaknesses. For example, I had this weakness of selling things, but when I wrote down my business plan, I knew that I would have to hire someone who could help me sell my products and services.

Business Plan will make it easier to share your ideas and vision to your stakeholders

When you have a business plan, you are more than sure what you want to say. I still remember my first pitch to one of the investing firms, and I had this Business Plan in my hand which I used to confidently describe my vision, which was not the case a few years back when I started my journey and ended up in black hole every time I went without a business plan in my hand.

This is because a Business Plan helps you organize important information about your business, and hence you can share your ideas and visions with other stakeholders in a better way.

Business Plan will help you hire employees that are a perfect fit for your company or business

This is again an important factor as to why you should have a Business Plan handy. When you have a Business Plan, then you know what work you need to do to achieve your business goals, and hence you can hire people that are a good fit for your company or business.

Step 3: Complete all legal formalities

I have seen companies that forgot to register their Trademark and someone else did it before them and now they had to change their logo. It was a big public limited company, but it lost a lot of revenue because it lost its identity that was already established.

Therefore, one should complete all the legal formalities like taxes, trademarks, and getting your business registered.

Following these steps help you create a brand name that no one else can use. And once you have everything completed legally, you can set up an office and create an online business presence as well.

Step 4: Know your finances

Some people might say to take up a loan and all, but it is always better to start a business from scratch even if you don't have any money to invest in the same.

However, this is not practical every single time, so you can go for a loan if you are really sure about the business. But for other tasks that you can manage yourself, just go ahead and do it yourself without hiring someone at least until you can make some money to pay.

If you are thinking about starting a business, then I know you would have thought about your household budget as well. Just try to separate your household budget from your business, because you don't want to mix them up. This is a tip for a longer run.

I have seen owners of businesses not taking out their salaries as per their requirements and investing back everything in the business, which is not good for both the business and the owner of the business.

Step 5: Think of the business as a separate entity

Businesses are not humans and you are not the business. Businesses should be thought of as separate entities and you don't have to be 100% into it just because someone else is doing the same.

Try to understand, that you created a business to make money and then you also need time to enjoy what you have built, so keep your business out of your personal like. It is better to create a business that no one knows. That way you will be more happier.

We will surely be discussing the benefits of being a secret CEO in the coming articles.

Step 6: Create a community

This is one of the steps that most of the people forget when they start a business. Businesses since historical times have been networking events, and each business these days is also a networking arena, so you should create a community of like-minded people around your business goals.

Give back to society by sharing knowledge about the business you are in or sharing insights about how they can be successful. This will help you in the long run.

These were some of the ways by which you can start a business in 2024 or even in the coming years like 2025, 2026, etc. Let me know in the comments below if you feel there is something that we can add to this article and I will try to update the same.

Also, if you are starting a journey in Online Business, please feel free to share the same with us so that more and more people can take motivation and work on their business goals.