How to create a business for your project?

Here are the 5 steps to starting a business .

STEP 1: Find a business idea

It is important not to go headlong! Many people will no doubt tell you that knowing how to start a business is innate, and that some of us have the entrepreneurial spirit, while others do not. In reality, starting a business requires a lot of thought beforehand and is rarely done in the snap of a finger.

Identify opportunities

This involves thinking about its concept (brand name, decoration, differentiating assets, corporate image, product or service categories, etc.). This is an opportunity to express your creativity! Be careful, however, that the concept chosen corresponds to the expectations of the customers you are targeting! So ask yourself the following question: "Does my idea create value for its users"? If you can answer yes to this question, you probably have a good business idea.

To be able to identify business opportunities, you have to be curious, seek inspiration, especially in foreign countries to adapt them to a French clientele.

Also remember to observe the things that complicate your life and try to respond to them by making your daily life easier.

We often think of the savings achieved through a product or service, but also focus on saving time, energy or simply the entertaining aspect of your project.

Whatever happens, the watchword is the same: you must put yourself in your users' shoes to find the idea that will best meet their needs.

If you are lacking inspiration, do not hesitate to consult our guide to finding business creation ideas .

Do a market study

When wondering how to start a business , it is recommended not to go blind. For that, you need to set a course to follow.

The purpose of the market study is to verify the feasibility and viability of your business creation project . This study will allow you to know your competitors, but above all to understand the expectations of your potential customers. You will thus collect and analyze a certain amount of information on a given market.

Should you protect your business idea?

You have a business project and you wonder if you can talk about it around you? Know that talking about a business idea is not a bad thing, on the contrary. To the question “ how to start a small business ? ”, we answer you “by making you as small as possible”. You have to be careful who you talk to about it. It may seem interesting to talk about your project around you, to gather the reactions of your potential customers, but these people must not take advantage of it to steal your idea.

The ideal is to talk about your idea after having completed a few steps (launch of a first collection, development of an MVP, etc.). In order to always be one step ahead of people tempted to use your idea.

Before you start creating your business , it is sometimes necessary to protect your idea. However, an idea cannot be protected by legal mechanisms as such. It is therefore not possible to prevent another person from embarking on the same idea as you.

A business idea is subject to protection only if it is materialized. That is, if the idea has been materialized through a trademark, patent or model. But beware: here again, it is not the idea that is protected, but its materialization as a trademark, patent or model.

Example : consider the idea of ​​a coffee capsule whose use is exclusively suitable for one type of coffee machine. This idea can be protected by filing a patent. But without this material support, the idea would not be subject to any protection.

STEP 2: Validate your business creation project

Wondering how to start a business ? Once you have defined your overall business idea, it is necessary to validate your project. For this, you can write a business model but also test your ideas.

Define your business model

The business model is defined as the core of the business plan. Its objective is to define the concept of your future structure. It will explain how you will develop. In other words, how are you going to make money

This document will mention in particular:

the supply of goods or services offered;

the added value offered to customers;

how the offer reaches customers;

the expected financial return.

To check the feasibility of your business model, you have no choice but to test your idea.

Test your idea

The desired objective is to test your business idea on a sample of people representing the characteristics of your potential customers.

For this, you can consider the “Proof of concept” method which allows you to verify the performance of your idea or concept.

Thus, at the end of your analysis, you will know whether or not you can continue your project. This allows you to quickly confirm your idea, to be able to make the necessary modifications to your project.

You can also consider another method, that of the “Minimum viable product”, used during the launch of a product to check the appreciation on the customers. And in case of negative feedback to consider areas for modification or improvement.

Find your first customers

Defining your clientele is an essential step in the creation of your business , since it will directly condition the success of your structure.

Therefore, in order to be able to identify your target customers, market research should be carried out. This will allow you to know more about your customers:

age;

gender;

the area of ​​the activity ;

their needs ;

their communication channels.

In general, there are different ways to find customers. You can use :

your personal network, that is to say your relations, your family circle or your past experiences;

social networks, this is one of the main channels when you want to develop your communication strategy;

prospecting files, these are directories or prospect databases that you can buy to identify your potential customers.

STEP 3: write a business plan

Once the market study has been carried out, you should not neglect writing a business plan, a key step in creating a business . Developing a business plan is essential to determine the future financial balance of your company between expenses (cost of the equipment necessary for your activity, rent linked to the premises, salaries, etc.) and income (sale of products, services, etc. .).

The objective of this business plan is to take up the different strategies of your company.

This is an essential step, because it allows you to determine the chances of profitability of your business, both in the short term and in the long term. After writing this document, you should know how you want to create your business (what funding, what medium and short-term objectives, etc.).

Presentation of the project and the team

The first thing to do when you have to write a business plan is to present your business creation project as clearly and precisely as possible.

The objective is to reassure the interlocutors on the viability of your structure.

Introducing your team can also be a good practice to demonstrate the seriousness of your business. This presentation reassures investors. Indeed, the success of a project also depends on the team that implements it. It is therefore interesting to demonstrate the skills as well as the complementarity of the team, for the benefit of the success of your project.

Company financing strategy

How to start a business without thinking about its financing? It's impossible. The business plan is fundamental in your financing strategy, and in particular when you wish to take out a business loan. Indeed, the banking establishments will base themselves on the relevance of this plan to grant you or not a loan.

This business plan aims to balance the needs essential to the creation of your business and the resources available to you.

Tax strategy

Within your business plan, it may also be interesting to mention the choice of your tax system and to justify it in relation to your type of activity.

Indeed, not all tax regimes are appropriate for your project. To demonstrate the full viability and seriousness of your project, it may seem appropriate to inform and explain your choices in terms of taxation.

Marketing strategy

From a marketing point of view, your strategy will be based on two main axes, namely an acquisition strategy and a communication strategy.

For example : you wonder how to create a telecom company , and for that you ask yourself the question of how to make it known. You must therefore necessarily determine the communication channels you want to use for your marketing strategy.

Acquisition strategy

This strategy is defined as the set of actions that aim to ensure a certain visibility with your audience.

This strategy can be carried out via different levers, such as digital marketing (paid or free referencing on search engines, for example) or traditional marketing (advertising, trade shows, telephone prospecting, etc.).

The goal is not only to attract a large number of customers, but above all a large number of qualified customers.

The communication strategy

The communication strategy is considered as the process making it possible to coordinate the various actions to achieve the objectives that have been set.

Conducting a communication strategy allows you to have an overview and therefore optimize your budget in terms of communication.

All these details can thus be integrated into your business plan to demonstrate the sustainability of your project.

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STEP 4: finance your business creation project

If your business plan seems convincing, it's time to find out how you are going to proceed with the creation of your business and in particular to study the different types of financing for business creation !

Several options are available to you :

You have enough equity to start your business without external financing.

You do not have enough personal capital to start your business. In this case, you must think about financing solutions.

Financing your business with equity

When you decide to create a business, you can opt for internal financing, that is to say finance your project from your own means.

In this case, you will use your company's equity, in particular by using your cash flow. To find out how, creating a family business can be a good idea to gather equity from your family members and thus finance your project in its infancy.

This process has the advantage of not diluting the capital, nor incurring a debt that has to be repaid. However, there is a disadvantage and not the least, that of having the necessary cash.

Financing your business with a loan

This method of financing is very common for companies. A credit institution will grant a loan to a company so that it can finance its activity. In return, you will have to repay this loan according to a schedule and subject to the payment of interest.

This method allows partners or shareholders to obtain funds without having to dilute their share in the capital. That said, there is a major drawback, since banks and credit institutions are more and more cautious in terms of granting a loan.

In addition, when you apply for a loan, you agree to repay it, but also to repay the interest on this sum.

Do not hesitate to contact your bank to find out how they can help you set up your business.

Finance your business by raising funds

This is yet another way to finance its structure. This mode involves the entry into the share capital of new investors. In return, these investors will receive shares or shares of the company.

This mechanism has the double advantage of extending the number of partners in the company, but also of accelerating the growth of your structure.

That said, it is not always easy to find investors to convince them to enter the capital.

Benefit from business start-up assistance

How to get a grant to start your business? In reality, there are several ways to get help when you want to bring your business creation project to fruition. When you want to embark on a professional project, know that there are many aids for the creation of a business .

These can take the form of tax and social relief or maintenance of certain allowances.

Help for job seekers

For job seekers receiving return to work allowances (ARE). You can benefit from maintaining them when you decide to launch your business creation .

As a job seeker, you can also benefit from aid for the takeover or creation of a business (ARCE). This aid also targets unemployed people receiving ARE.

It results in a payment of 45% of the amount of compensation that you should receive over the next 24 months.

This payment is made in two instalments:

a first payment at the start of your activity;

a second, six months later.

The various tax and social reliefs

As a business creator , certain schemes allow you to pay less social security contributions and/or tax.

Thus, the aid for business creators and buyers (ACRE), allows you to be totally or partially exempt from your social security contributions, the first year of your exercise. The amount of this exemption depends on the level of your income. .

You can also benefit from the status of young innovative company (JEI), if, as an SME, you incur research and development expenses. As such, you can benefit from:

a total exemption from income tax for the first year;

a 50% exemption the second year;

exemption from territorial economic contribution and property tax for a maximum of 7 years.

STEP 5: choose your legal structure

How to start a business? Once you have your financing plan established, you need to think about the legal status of your business . This step is also of great importance for setting up a business . Indeed, it entails a certain number of practical consequences: formalities of creation, flexibility of management of the company on a daily basis, tax and social regimes, etc.

If you want to open a business , but are unsure about the legal structure to choose, we invite you to test our simulator for free to help you choose the ideal legal form for your project.

The main legal statuses of a company

When you want to create a structure , you will first have to choose between a sole proprietorship and a commercial company. It is not the same thing.

The choice is made according to your project, but especially the number of people who wish to embark on the entrepreneurial adventure.

Sole proprietorships

The sole proprietorship allows those who wish to start on their own, to create their business and start their activity with peace of mind. By choosing the sole proprietorship, you can decide to opt for the simplified micro-enterprise regime. We explain the differences to you.