How to Set Practical Goals for your Startup Business

It’s easier to think about starting a business and even mapping out ideas to market them. Even finding an ideal market and the target audience therein is no big deal. The real deal lies in making your startup a thriving success.

Developing a run-of-the-mill product or providing any mundane service won’t help you achieve this goal. For a startup to succeed your product or service should be cutting edge. It should stand out from other competitive products. In short, it needs to be different. You cannot simply jump into the startup ecosystem just like that with any regular product in hand.    

Take the case of Airbnb, for instance. It was a unique concept that inspired tens of thousands to share their living spaces with tourists and, in turn, make money in the process. Even the ride-sharing app Uber brought about a complete turnaround in the traveling business by driving people around for less. If you are looking to develop an app like Airbnb or Uber, check the app development cost by referring to the research report on the Key Factors Affecting Mobile App Development Time.    

All these startup successes are inspiring people to take the plunge. But then, what they don’t realize is that setting up a startup is no cakewalk. It’s not easy to emulate the success of heavy hitters. 

Here, I walk you through a couple of strategies that’ll help your startup firm up on its fundamentals and walk on the path of success in the coming years. 

# Conjure a Unique Log-line  
Simply describe in one line what makes your business stand apart from the rest. And then write and rewrite this sentence until it clearly defines your business’s USP.  It may sound trivial, but then it will give you a clear-cut idea as to how to position your start-up, right from day one, for optimum success. You can even seek help of some of the best branding agencies to position your start-up suitably right from the beginning.          

# Figure out your Domain Inside-out

The more knowledge you have about your domain, the more advantage you will have. And, you could do this using several ways, via Google searches, speaking to people already working in your domain, talking to experts, reading books by people from your industry, visiting relevant news sites and more. 

In case, you are looking for a second opinion, take help of government departments and your local SBDC.   

# Nail Down the Pricing

Of course, you need to have a price in mind, before you float your beloved product in the market. Giving out vague prices will only make people dump your product or service. In fact, customers can grow suspicious of you if you give flaky prices. 

So, be specific and spell out the right numbers. In case, you are not too sure whether the prices you are quoting are correct or not, you can experiment with three numbers.

First, think of the lowest possible price you should charge for your product or service. Then think of a price keeping your experience in mind. Finally, find what your competitors are charging and accordingly work on a ballpark figure for your product and service.

So, all in all, you have three figures to kick-start the sales of your products. Start with the low or middle figures, which you can easily flex as your label grows.  

# Prepare a Not-to-do Checklist

There are 24 hours in a day. That’s enough and more time to dwell on your goals and execute them. But then, for most of us, 24 hours don’t suffice. We get dragged into unwarranted things, and then don’t find time to perform crucial tasks that fall under our must-do list.    

So, if you want to make room for the must-do list in your life, you need to learn to say no to things that are not related to your business goal. Exceptions include looking after your kids or helping out old parents. Otherwise, learn to say no to things that make you deviate from your goals.

# Don’t Bite More than you can Chew

You’ve stuffed your plate with a wide variety of things. Now, the question is, will you be able to eat all of them?

Likewise, you may decide on some big, hairy, audacious goals. Like, writing blogs every darn day of the week. But then, when it comes to the actual execution of those goals, you may not have enough time on your hands. This is where you need to think practically and come up with doable goals and not adrenaline-pumped goals. So, forget about those big, bold, brasher goals and come up with practical goals that you don’t have to lose sleep over.

Any more ideas you could think of that could make a difference before setting up your startup? Go on and add them to the comment box. 

Author Bio: This is Jennifer Warren, a Content Crafter for GoodFirms – a review and research platform for mobile app development, web development companies and more. The company publishes research reports on a time to time basis, the latest one is on PPC  Management Research.