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Starting a business is an experience full of surprises, uncharted paths, new encounters, successes and failures. The term "lifestyle entrepreneur" sums up pretty well the somewhat crazy, not-quite-planned days that make up daily life in a small business.

Personally, I started my business in 2009, and it has gone through many different phases since then. At the beginning, I knew nothing about entrepreneurship. There are no entrepreneurs in my immediate family, and only a few in my extended family. Worse still, my great-grandfather owned a heating oil company and went bankrupt. My grandfather also went bankrupt late in life, after investing in a convenience store... Let's just say that whenever I talked about starting a business, my family tried to talk me out of it!

So I embarked on this adventure with only a few pieces of advice in my pocket. I naively believed that by buying an ad in a newspaper, contracts would start pouring in and the business would be up and running and viable. Well, not quite...

So I rolled up my sleeves and found people to help me. I created a service offering and tools to support me (including AssisTime!), and I persevered.

After talking with AssisTime users, I realized that entrepreneurship, trendy as it may be, still doesn't really come with a user manual. And entrepreneur Facebook groups tend to ask the same questions over and over. So I thought I could help entrepreneurs and freelancers start their businesses by sharing what I've learned from my research and experience in this blog series, Starting a Business. Feel free to write to me with your questions, and I'll answer them in future articles!

That wraps up the introduction! Now let's get to the main topic:

Why start a business?

Do you have a brilliant idea for a new product or service? Did you just leave your job? Do you have a passion you want to share with the world?

There are probably as many good reasons to start a business as there are entrepreneurs! However, I believe there are always at least two things worth looking at more closely when you're thinking of taking the plunge: can my business be profitable, and who will my customers be?

Can my business be profitable?

This economic question is fundamental, given that 80% of businesses close within 5 years.

At this stage, it's a good idea to think about how much your product or service costs you to produce and how much you expect to sell it for.

What will your fixed costs be? Office costs, computers, tools, professional fees (accountants, lawyers), employee or subcontracting costs, advertising, electricity, website, bank fees, etc.

With all these revenues and expenses in mind, now calculate the sales volume your business will need to be profitable.

It is possible to get financial assistance when starting a business, but some sectors, such as IT, are less popular with lending institutions. If you need financing, you'll need a business plan. A future article will cover this topic.

Personally, I think it's better to start small to test the market and keep financial risk to a minimum. Start with just a few products, start part-time, start from your home or your garage. In my case, I started my business part-time from home, because I couldn't afford to quit my job. This gradual launch helped me get to know the business world, better define my service offering and better understand my clientele.

Who will my customers be?

This is another very important question: who are you going to sell your products and services to?

The most common mistake is overestimating the target market. For example: I'm going to sell in Quebec, which has a population of 8,000,000. If just 1% of Quebecers buy my product, I'll have 80,000 customers. Yes, I know, it's a rather crude example, but judging by some of the projections I've seen from entrepreneurs, it's not that far off!

It's better to start with a more targeted market, even if it's smaller, and see how people respond to your offering. There are specialists in this field, such as marketing strategists, who can help you define your typical customer, or persona.

And don't forget that you have to reach your customers! How will they hear about your service offering? Your product catalogue?

There are of course several options, but they are becoming more and more difficult and/or expensive to implement: social media ads, newsletters, search engine optimization for your website, networking, etc.

Personally, apart from the newspaper ad that came to nothing, I didn't put much emphasis on advertising at first. Since my clients are businesses and freelancers, I tried to meet them at networking events. Once I had a few clients, word of mouth brought in more demand and let me adapt my service offering to my new clients' needs.

I think the lesson here is to go and meet your potential clients face to face, as much as is possible these days... and ask them about their needs. You'll gain valuable insight into your typical clients and be able to adapt your service offering. And who knows, you might even sign your first contracts!

Feel free to send me your questions. I'll be happy to answer them in future articles!

Simon Lacasse, Eng.
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