Working on the puzzle: How to “build” your Business?
“The way to get started is to stop talking and begin doing.”
You've been thinking about that great business idea for a while. You believe it has potential. You're really eager to make it happen. But… you don’t know where to start. Believe me, you’re not alone. Many entrepreneurs have been there. As long as the idea is just that—an idea—it’s not a business or a venture, no matter how good it is. That’s why I want to dedicate today’s article to helping you piece together the puzzle of your business so you can bring all the parts together and take those first steps.
For that idea you have to become a reality, you need to connect many different areas. You have to do this harmoniously, under a unified concept and at the same time, so you can be ready to start operations. You shouldn’t begin while missing any piece, because your puzzle will be incomplete.
The 6 key pieces of the puzzle
The puzzle you need to complete to bring your business to life consists of 6 key pieces, which you need to fit together correctly:
Strategic piece: Contains your business model and value proposition
Financial piece: Explains the economic feasibility of your business
Legal piece: Allows your business to officially exist in the market
Image piece: Gives your business a face and personality
Operations piece: Allows you to have the product or service ready to sell
Marketing and sales piece: The piece that helps you promote and deliver your product or service to your customers
Many times, we need help to correctly assemble our puzzle. Each of these pieces has an expert who can assist you if needed.
The Strategic Piece
This piece starts with your business idea. Once you have your idea, you must develop it and turn it into a business model.
Defining your business model means understanding how you’ll operate and what you’ll do. Will you be a manufacturer? A distributor? An importer? A physical store? An online store? These are just some examples of your options. Each model has different implications for your venture.
In addition to defining your business model, you need to establish what value proposition you’ll be offering your customers. What is the ultimate benefit that will make them prefer your products or services and differentiate you from your competition?
An important part of placing this piece properly requires gathering enough information about your market. For that, it’s useful to conduct market and consumer research. This doesn’t necessarily mean formal research (though that would be ideal). Even if you don’t have the resources for a formal study, you must gather as much information as possible from secondary sources, visit places where you can find competitors, clients, suppliers, and talk to all of them, both informally and formally. Collect, organize, and analyze all the information you can get.
The final step of this strategic piece, or the document that confirms it’s correctly placed to start assembling your business puzzle, is the Business Plan. You should have a clear, written document that outlines all the strategic thinking behind your business idea.
You can download a template and tutorial here to work on your Essential Business Plan. It’s a model I’ve specially designed to suit the needs of micro and small entrepreneurs.
If you need help with this piece, consult a business consultant.
The Financial Piece
This piece includes all the quantifiable elements that will let you demonstrate that your business idea is financially viable and capable of generating profit.
Every venture, no matter how small, requires an investment. It may not always involve large sums of money, but you’ll likely need to invest in equipment, materials, licenses, services, infrastructure, products—whatever resources are required to get started.
When we invest money in a new business, we expect that investment to yield a higher return than we would get from another type of financial investment. If, for example, we can get a 5% annual return by leaving that money in the bank, but our business projections show a 10% annual return, we’re inclined to believe that investing in the business is more profitable. Of course, this is a very simple explanation—we also have to consider the levels of risk in each option—but it gives you the general idea. If, on the other hand, our financial projections suggest only a 4% return, we might be more tempted to leave that money in the bank or restructure the business model to improve the margin.
This financial piece includes creating a budget, calculating your product or service prices, projecting expected sales, and estimating how long it will take to recover your investment.
If you need help with this piece, consult a financial or accounting advisor.
The Legal Piece
When you place this legal piece in your puzzle, it means your business legally exists, separate from you and your partners. It implies formalizing your company as a legal entity.
To do that, you first need to define the legal structure that suits you, register the business name, complete the relevant commercial registrations, and register your business with the appropriate tax authorities so you can pay the necessary taxes.
The specifics of this process vary by country, so I won’t go into the details here. You should look into the requirements and steps for the country where you live or plan to start your business. But in any case, this is a necessary step for your business to exist.
If you need help with this piece, consult a lawyer.
The Image Piece
This piece gives your business a face and personality.
Some aspects of this should already appear in your business plan, such as the name, and your definition of values, mission, and vision.
Beyond that, you need to develop your visual identity. This involves creating a logo, defining your brand’s color palette, and designing your brand and corporate image.
If you need help with this piece, consult a communication and image expert or a designer.
The Operations Piece
This is a fundamental piece of your puzzle. It means defining all the processes required for the products or services you want to offer to actually exist.
To define this piece, you need to know what investments you’ll need in equipment, systems, materials, and any other type of resources.
You also have to design your production processes and assign responsibilities for each step. Who will handle each part of the process? Will you do everything yourself? Will you hire employees? Will you subcontract to other companies or providers?
It’s very important to make sure this piece doesn’t fall out of place. That means not only designing the processes but also creating checklists for all quality control measures you must regularly perform to ensure your processes are properly executed. Otherwise, this piece could become loose at any moment, leaving your puzzle incomplete.
If you need help with this piece, consult someone who is an expert in the specific business sector you plan to enter.
The Marketing and Sales Piece
You’ve already designed your product/service, chosen a name, and developed an image. Now you need to define how you’ll get that product or service to your customers.
First, you must ensure your brand, product, or service becomes known. No matter how good it is, if potential customers don’t know it exists, they’ll never buy it. Define which advertising and promotional channels you’ll use—those that are most effective in getting your message to your consumers.
Additionally, you need to ensure that once your consumer knows you exist, they can actually make a purchase. That means establishing the right distribution channels where potential customers can find and purchase your products or services.
This also involves working on your website and developing the necessary social media and communications strategies.
If you need help with this piece, consult a marketing or sales expert.
There isn’t necessarily a set order for assembling your business puzzle. Generally, the strategic piece comes first, but the other pieces can be worked on in parallel. Some will be ready before others, but to truly say your business is up and running—and to proudly show off your completed puzzle—you need to make sure no piece is missing and that all of them fit perfectly together.