Defining What Your Business Will Become...

You've determined that you're fit and well suited to run your business.  Now it comes time to define what exactly your business will be doing.  For those who already have selected an industry or trade and know what they will start off with (this more than likely will change over time) this decision has already been made.  But for those who haven't defined themselves yet, many options may open up with a little bit of searching.

First make a two-column list of what fields you are knowledgeable in and what fields you would enjoy working in.  Circle the items that show up on both lists and then do away with the 'enjoyment' column.  Businesses that are enjoyable to the owner are far more likely to succeed and pursuing those options are important.  However, business areas in which the owner lacks expertise have far too great a chance of failure to warrant taking the risk.  If torn between making a choice between the two, an area of expertise would greatly outweigh one of enjoyment.

Looking over your list you now should weed your options down to 2-3 opportunities you can look into.  Factors in this selection process should include your level of expertise, the enjoyment as previously determined, market saturation, online/offline profit potential, what your future goals are, and any other issues that come to mind.  Once you have your options defined it's time to identify a potential in the market.

Begin by searching through your competition.  For online companies this process can easily be done through search engines and site directories (DMOZ, Yahoo, etc.)  Pay particular attention to companies that would be representative of what you can expect from your own venture.  Focus on the website technologies presented by the various organizations and on any similarities/differences you see from site to site.  A good comparison can be made by viewing a range of companies who's success level and yearly revenue vary.  This can give you an idea of how long it will take to grow and what your potential is.  Be sure to read through any customer reviews left for the sites you are looking into through an unbiased third-party.  Customer reviews can be a very telling and truthful introduction into an industry (knowing who you will be dealing with is very helpful) and obtaining such information is easy to acquire.  Two of the better review sites for the computer hardware industry can be found at www.resellerratings.com and www.bizrate.com.

Another good site to look at is www.archive.org.  There you will find a feature called the 'Wayback Machine'.  This functionality allows you to view a site's history (literally a snapshot of what the site looked like) over a range of many years.  By viewing the past history of a site you can understand the development processes the company went through to get to where they are now.  This will help you get a jump on your formative plans and focus you on the correct path to where you want to be.

Offline companies can do similar competitor searches by visiting stores local to them or locations outside of their target area.  Visiting a store and talking to its employees may offer the best insight into what business ownership will be like for you.  Make sure to look around at the policies and layout of the stores you visit to give you a better feel for what you will be doing in the future.  Talking to the managers or owner may also give you information that can help you get started.

After a thorough analysis of what's out there, it's time to begin planning your company.  Having seen a variety of attributes available to shoppers already, it would be best to provide something that is new or missing.  Being new on the internet is difficult as competition is fierce and companies are continually pressured to develop bigger and better things.  But nothing ensures success more than providing something no other company can.