Should You Start a Business in 2021?
And If Yes, Then What Do You Need to Start A Business?
By Lenka Davis
In this article
Surge in New Businesses
Why Now
Impact of Covid-19
Women in Business
What You Need To Get Started
Do Your Research
Find Your Partners
Surge in New Businesses
Whatever you want to call it, there is a great awareness happening to people about what kind of job they want to have now. This has led to what is being called “The Great Resignation”, employees are not waiting for the pandemic to be over and are quitting their jobs. The number of people starting businesses is surging:
Even though there are more new businesses started those that are holding on are re-strategizing resulting in less competition. “This leaves a huge gap in the market and many opportunities for startups to thrive.”
Why Now
The number one reason that people are motivated to open their own businesses is they are ready to be their own boss (29%).
The second reason is that they are dissatisfied with corporate USA (17%).
Even though a majority of men own small businesses (men own 66%) there is huge growth, 114% growth, in women owned businesses (women own 31%), yet they tend not to get outside funding. Venture funding is beginning to diversify and to focus on women and minority owned businesses.
“Women-owned businesses have skyrocketed by 114% over the past 20 years; however, the revenue share of women-owned businesses has fallen .02% in that same period.”
Impact of Covid-19
So how has Covid-19 changed the landscape of small businesses? Most small businesses are expecting to survive (78%) and the most common impact was the loss of revenue.
Their biggest future investing plans are going to be on Digital Marketing (23%) and Traditional Marketing (12%), along with an increase in staff and remodeling their business (20% each).
Check out the data on The Impact of Covid-19:
Women in Business
For women in business, the Top 5 Small Business Industries include 12% of Business Services and 51% are by Gen X. The chart, from Guidant Financial’s Women in Business - 2021 Trends, below shows the biggest challenge for these businesses is Marketing/Advertising. (24%)
Also mentioned in the study they asked women where they plan to invest. “[Women] They also have big plans to invest. In a question where respondents could select as many options as applied to them, 83% said they plan to invest in digital and/or traditional marketing.
What You Need To Get Started
Do Your Research
If it is not obvious to you what you want to be doing everyday and what type of business you could run, and there are plenty of very talented people in this situation, here is a book I recommend: Designing Your Life, by Dave Evans and Bill Burnett (Amazon.com).
It’s super helpful if you have had some internship or work experience since you can draw on what you have learned for the exercises. Take your time and work through the accompanying workbook.
You can watch Dave Evans give a summary of his book on his TED Talk. There are actually several instances of different talks that Dave Evans has done that are found on YouTube.
Also, research your business idea. Your number one goal is to get out of the building or office and talk to customers. Talk to as many as you can but at least 25 and up to 100 customers. Keep track of these conversations so you can refer to them as you build your product.
Start a list of your potential customers so when you are ready to launch your product you have potential customers to launch it to. If you are not able to create a list then find groups either online or that meet in person where your customers tend to be.
When you are talking to your customers, think about the following types of questions you will want answers to. These are from Steve Blank, the author of The Startup Owner’s Manual. You are looking for those customers that will be Early Adopters and Evangelists or as Steve named them Earlyvangelists. He describes them in his article about how to decide what your minimum features set should be.
Earlyvangelists can be identified by these characteristics:
Has a problem
They have a problem.
Is aware of having a problem
They understand they have a problem.
Has been actively looking for a solution
They are actively searching for a solution and has a timetable for finding it.
Has put together a solution out of piece parts
The problem is painful enough that they have cobbled together an interim solution.
Has or can acquire a budget
They have, or can quickly acquire, dollars to purchase the product to solve their problem.
steveblank.com
Find Your Partners
If your strength is building the product then align yourself with business tools and people that will set up all the parts you need to run the business. Find accountants, legal professionals and sales and marketing experts to help you build a good legal, financial and marketing foundation.
If your strength is the market or business side of your business and you are looking for a technical or sales co-founder or team member there are a few places to look. Be ready to describe what skills and traits you will need in your co-founder team member. This very complete article, from the Founders Institute, How to Find a Technical Founder, goes over the type of co-founder you might need to add to your team, how and where to find one including what questions to ask them.
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Fun Fact
Who was the first woman to own a business in America and what type of business did she run? In 1789, Mary Katherine Goddard became the first woman in America to open a bookstore and spent the remaining years of her life running the shop in Baltimore. But not before she ran the family printing business that managed the project of printing the first copy of the Declaration of Independence that included the signers’ names.
Her Business: Journalist, Printer and Publisher
First women to own a business: Mary Katherine Goddard (1738-1816)
Lenka Davis is a Managing Partner at Fly to Soar. She has worked in marketing, managing projects and building tools in the high-tech industry for Fortune 100 companies and also ran her own business. Follow Lenka and the Fly to Soar Team on Instagram @flytosoarcompany
References
White Men are now the Minority, Forbes.com
73 Remarkable Small Business Statistics to Know, SEMRush.com
Why 2021 is the right time to start your new business, Forbes.com