Every entrepreneur wants to know ways to make their start-ups a profit making venture. Tips are, of course, welcome. Inception of a firm may or may not be easy enough, but it's not that easy to make it a money making machine. Business gurus suggest that birthing a venture requires a lot of planning, pain, market analysis, study about limitations and more. In short, a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and threat) analysis before jumping into the well is a must. 

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Mehernosh Tata, Head at Edelweiss SME Lending told Zee Business Online in an exclusive statement, that "To succeed in business today, you need to be flexible and painstaking at planning and organizational skills. Many people start a business thinking that it will be easy to follow their passion only to realise it requires more effort than they initially thought. Starting a business of your own needs dedication, hard work and above all perseverance." 

He said that the old saying that small businesses make up the backbone of the global economy isn’t overblown. Today, there are more than 125 million micro, small, and medium-sized businesses worldwide making a mark of their own.

Young people today are starting their own businesses even younger than the generations before them, and there are no limits on what they can create or the kinds of ideas that can spark multi-million-dollar organizations. But to start such a venture, there are some things we need to take care of. These are:

1. Define Your Small Business with USP

Having a Unique Sale Proposition (USP) of your business is a must. It gives your business a class and identity in the market. It might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people go into business having a broad idea of the product or service they are going to work on.

"Avoid the unnecessary pitfalls of becoming a jack-of-all-trades (and master of none) by being very clear about what exactly your product or service is really going to be," suggests Tata.

2. Identify Your Target Audience

Market segmentation is another aspect that new entrepreneurs usually avoid. While you’re defining your niche, don’t forget to decide what kind of audience you’re trying to cater to. This may take a little bit of extra research but narrowing down your target audience in the beginning could help save you a lot of time and energy in the long run. 

3. Be a solution

Rather than starting your idea with what to sell, think about what the product or service will solve. It’s a lot easier to gain a solid customer base when your business is fixing a problem. Your startup should fill a hole in a certain market or niche.

4. Get Organized, avoid entropy

To be successful in business or anywhere, you need to be organized. Organization will help you complete tasks and stay on top of things. A good way to do this is to create a to-do list each day and as you complete each item, check it off your list. This will ensure that you're not forgetting anything and you're completing all the tasks that are essential to the survival of your business.

5. Keep Detailed Records

Avoiding proper filing of records by new entrepreneurs is a common phenomenon. "It is very important to have detailed records when you start a new venture. By keeping detailed records, you'll know where the business stands financially and what potential challenges you could be facing. Just knowing this gives you time to create strategies to overcome those challenges," said Tata.

6. Stay Focused, Be Patient

The old saying, "Rome was not built in a day," is very apt in today’s time as well. Just because you open a business doesn't mean you're going to immediately start making money. It takes time to let people know who you are, so stay focused on achieving your short-term goals. Perseverance and grit are important as nearly all Unicorn start-ups have had their near death moments but continued and thrived. 

7. Be Frugal

During the initial phase of your business, ensure that fixed expenses are kept to the minimum e.g. rent on place, salary, overheads etc. Start with your business even from home or small office and once income starts getting generated, look at other things. 

9. Be Obsessed with quality

The only thing which will bring you repeat clients or new names is when you maintain consistency and quality of your product or service delivery. Do not compromise on the same as it will help you significantly in the long run to gain a loyal and better set of customers. 

10. Empower Yourself

No matter what your vision is today, there’s no limit to what you can create or the kind of brand you can establish if you’re willing to put in the work. Remember that and don’t let anyone make you feel anything else.

"Find what motivates you, make it the single most, passionate, driving force of your life, and don’t let anything get in your way!" concluded Tata.