4 Key Factors to Consider When Starting a Business

With 2023 just around the corner you might be feeling the urge to start a new chapter in your life. For some that’s finally kicking bad habits (smoking, drinking, junk food, etc), for others it's all about adding new positive elements into their lives (being more mindful, practicing patience, going to the gym). 

And this change seeking energy also seems to absorb the homo economicus mind and motivates many to start a new business. 

But how can you harness this tiny spark and turn it into a successful business?

Here are 4 factors to consider when starting a business.

Business Idea

The very first thing you need is a business idea. A good one would not only add value to the market right from the get go, but it would also leverage your abilities and interests. A good business idea for an engineer would be a terrible one for a deep sea diver. 

Starting Capital

Once you have your business idea fleshed out, you now need to think about how you are going to pay for your company to actually start operating. Ideally you would get a healthy combination of your own funds and external debt, which can come as a loan from friends and family or a proper bank loan. 

Location

Location, location, location. This is one of the most well known business maxims, and it is a crucial decision for you to make about your incipient business on a tight budget. 

The good thing is that you have plenty of options that can help you get some prime commercial real estate without the rigidity of long leases, while not reducing your options to unprofessional settings such as your home, coffee shops, libraries, etc, where you aren’t able to present your business in the best light. 

The best choice for starting a business is to set up a virtual office. This provides your company with a prime business address, and helps you test out if your product or service fits the market you want to enter. 

For example you can work from home to reduce costs and book a meeting room in a well known office building to meet with clients whenever you need to. And in between meetings you can simply use a desk at a coworking space for a few hours. And when you really need to focus you can easily rent a private office for the day. 

Support

Finally you need to think about your personnel needs. After all, trying to do everything alone is a sure way to getting burned out quickly and it is not at all sustainable in the long run. At the same time, employees are usually the most expensive cost of any operation. And anybody you hire would need a place to work in, and the equipment they need to do their jobs. 

A great way to balance this is to hire a virtual live receptionist. With a live receptionist service you get your own business phone number, a professional answering all incoming calls as well as screening each one and forwarding them to the right people, and a boost in your company’s professional image through their customer service skills. 

And as your business grows you can add more features to your plan such as order processing, appointment scheduling, outbound calling, and administrative tasks. 

Of course this is just a very basic guide on how to start a business, but if you find clarity in each of these factors you will be almost ready to move from theory to practice. 

About Andrés Sanjose

Andrés Sanjose is a writer and editor based in Guatemala. He previously lived in Berlin for 10 years where he witnessed the birth and amazing evolution of the Virtual Office phenomenon, while working as a freelancer in the german capital. He is very interested in what the future holds for this exciting industry and loves to write about it.