Think About Your Future Success: 7 Steps to Start Planning Your Startup Today

If you have an idea for a new business, there is no need to wait to begin planning. You don't need to wait until you finish your degree. You don't need to wait until you have saved a certain amount of money. You most certainly do not have to wait until you have reached a certain age or stage of life. The time to start planning your startup and taking actions towards making your vision a reality is today. Circumstances may limit your ability to act, but you can still do something to make forward progress towards your goal. When it comes to planning, there is absolutely nothing standing in your way. If you are ready to begin building a solid plan that you can put into action when it is time to launch your startup, here are x steps that you should follow.

1. Solidify Your Idea

It isn't that your initial startup idea is a bad one. It's just that your initial idea is not fully formed. It could be too broad, or it could be too specific. Spend time working on defining a very specific vision for your startup. What product are you going to sell? What services are your going to offer? Ask yourself the following questions:

• Will my business be completely unique?
• How will my business be different from other companies in this niche?
• Are my products or services unique?
• Are my delivery methods unique?

Your goal is to define exactly what it is you will be offering to the public and how you are different from other businesses.

2. Define Your Customer Profile

You never have to limit who you do business with. That doesn't mean that you cannot benefit from defining an ideal customer persona. A customer persona is a representation of the person   who is most likely to use your services or buy your products. This is not as easy as it seems. Many people assume that once they decide on the demographics of their ideal customer that they have created their customer persona. It is actually more complex than that. In order to understand your ideal customer, you must understand all or at least some of the following:

• Their values
• Their hobbies
• What motivates them
• How they connect with others
• What they do for entertainment
• How they earn money

It is important to be this specific when creating your customer profile because you must think beyond who might be interested in your services. You have to think in terms of which customers will form an attachment with your brand, and what you will need to do to foster that attraction.

3. Start Working on Your Business Plan

If you want investors, peers, and banks to support your startup idea financially, you have to start working on your business plan. Writing a business plan forces you to deal with the specifics of making your startup work. As you write your business plan, you will be asked to define the purpose of your business, the equipment and staffing that you will need, your projected income, and what might be a hindrance to your success.

4. Find Your Future Business Partners

Who in your life shares your vision. Who has the skills, talents, and passion to add value to your startup and get things going? Please keep in mind that this person may not be a friend, and they   may not be somebody that you get a long with. It simply must be somebody with whom you can form a productive business partnership.

5. Define Your Home Team

This is different than your future partners. Your home team is the people in your life who believe in you, and who want you to succeed. They are the members of your tribe who support you and your vision. They are your source of mental and emotional support. However, in addition to being your touchstone, they are also your reality check. They are the people who will ask you the difficult questions.

6. Who is Your Mentor

As you plan your startup, you will eventually nave to figure out who your mentor is. This could be an instructor or somebody who simply shows an interest, talent, and a willingness to confront you, if  you if you are not on the right track. This should be somebody with an interest and expertise in that can hep you succeed.

7. Plan to Have Fun and Have Fun Planning

Part of the appeal of planning and launching your startup is visualizing the fun that you will have as you put together a great team and get things off the ground. Enjoy this, but always work   towards your goals as well.