Are you on the verge of quitting your paid employment or you are just tired of roaming the street for unavailable employment opportunity? are you trying to start your own small business after graduating from school or you about changing your business?

if you answer YES to any of the questions above, please do not make the decision yet, unless you know how the game is played in the real business world. It may be too dangerous for you to quit your job or gamble with the capital you struggled to raise if you don't understand the rules of the game.



Now,let me share few DO s and DONT s of small and medium scale businesses with you. I am offering you golden rules of starting and running your own business, but I would be fulfilled if you could also share it with other people.



DO s

1) Plan before starting a business. Write a business plan. Outline what the business is about,how you will manage the business,how you will source for fund,how to share profit,expansion,selling out the business, etc.


2) Have a clear and achievable dream. Be sure of why you are starting the business,your goals and how you will make them.


3) Know your customers. Have a specific audience target,not trying to satisfy the public. Who are the set of people your product or service will satisfy most? The students, youth, elderly, workers,self-employed, unemployed, senior citizen, government worker, professionals, middle class,high-class, low-end earners, etc. Target your audience and design a means to reach them.



4) Register your business with the corporate affairs commission and other regulatory bodies in your area of business.

5) B[b]rand your business.[/b] The name,image, colour, slogan plays a major role in attracting your potential customers. Brand your business name that will attract people,call their attention and explains the nature of your business. Like
Plates&Spoons Kitchen or Mama’s dish for a restaurant name,the name explains what the business is all about.

6) Network your business. Register to your local chamber of commerce,association and other trade organization. This will give you the opportunity to meet and share experience with other people in your area of business.

7) Open a separate account for your business preferably savings account ( No bank charges) but as the business grows, you may open other account such as Current account (Cheque account) because of its added service,but you will be paying for bank charges using this type of account.

Keep proper record: stock, income, expenses, profit, taxes, salaries etc. Financial document of your business is the result of how your business is doing. It is just like when you were in primary school, you collect report card after the end of a term and end of session. This card details the subjects you took and your grades. In business,your financial document is your report card,it details how your business is doing, it will give you sign whether you are on the right track or failing.

9) Encourage your employee. Give them bonuses, rewards, awards for excellent
performances; and they will do better.

10) Operate on an open door policy. Let there be free flow of communication and information within your organization and employee; give them the opportunity to partake in the decision making.

11) Advertise your business. Let your business be known to people by making adverts and commercials through print & electronic media,word of mouth, classifieds, etc. If you cannot afford the TV/Radio advert,online is the cheapest way of advertising your business through Social media network(Facebook,Twitter,blogs,forums, etc). You are wearing an advertised cloth, you are reading this post through an advertised gadgets, so what stops you from advertising what you have and want to give to people?

12) Promote your business. Advertise promotional offers and discount to your customers. Promotional offers, loyalty reward, discount sales, etc are kind of promotion that will increase your customer base and encourage your loyal existing customers to keep faith with you.

DONT s

20) Don’t start big! You may kill the dream of staring the business if you have the mindset of entering the industry with a bang. If you have too much to start with,you may not achieve much.


21) Don’t start business you have little or no interest in. You will give up easily if the expected profit is not coming soon. Passion and interest prevail when money is not coming yet. Leave it to passion, persistence and skills. Money will catch up with man. Money has four legs, man has two legs.


22) Don’t start business when you have a capital consuming projects at hand. Temptation may make you borrow from your business capital to those projects,and you may not be able to refund it back to the business pocket.


23) Don’t start the printing of the business stationery, business cards and souvenir until you at least register the business name. You can register your business name or company with Corporate Affairs Commission or any other government bodies that regulates Business and Corporate matters in your country.


24) Don’t get too much loan ( If you must get one) but I suggest you avoid loan in starting a new business, you may take loan when the business is thriving and you want to expand your business. On the other hand, obtaining loan to start new business sets standard for new business owners on how to handle their finances responsibly.

In a nutshell, loan obtained must not formulate 100% of your start-up capital, you should raise some fund by yourself and get little loan to make the start-up capital. In my opinion, starting your own raised capital is the best.

Federal and State Governments do offer grants, loans and other financial support through different programme and initiatives to encourage entrepreneurship spirit. Find out in your local & State Government in your Country for these benefits.

25) Don’t invest all your start-up capital at a go. Earmark certain percentage to test run, do not assume your business will be successful from the start.


26) Don’t start new business when you are newly married and vice versa. If you want your business to succeed and you want you matrimony to last forever, please take this advice. Matrimony and Business are two factors that need a lot of attention at the early stage, and if the attention needed is not given, you may lose one of them and sometimes both. Do not start enter both marriage and business at the same time.

27) Don’t hire who you can’t fire. Do not hire on compassionate ground. That is why some Entrepreneurs won’t employ friends and relatives,unless they are reliable. Keep business away from friendship,if your friend is not able to deliver or he is not reliable,fire him. That is why you are the Boss!


28) Don’t spend the capital set aside for taxes, salary of employee and running of the business on any other thing.


29) Don’t have intimate affair with any of your employee. You may drag yourself into pool of troubles.


30) Don’t feel you can do it all alone. You cannot be perfect in all areas. Accountants, Business lawyers, Consultants are better in their area of discipline. It will save you a lot of worries and stress. They are out there to offer professional services.


31) Don’t be rigid. Give your employee the chance to open door policy. They may have brilliant suggestion or advice you least expect from them.

I want to believe you gain little or more knowledge of starting and running your own small business in this post,and it would be more useful if you also share the resource with other people. I welcome comments,observation and criticism from all members of the house,you may also check my new webpage http://www.mybroadstreet.com/40-business-essential-dos-and-donts/ where I will be posting more about Entrepreneurship,Start-ups,Leadership,Investment,Biz news+events,etc. you may also drop comments for me there
I wish the very best as you embark on the journey of unlocking your potentials.
ciao!

Thanks. Great tips.

Bestlyf: Thanks. Great tips.

Thanks for your comment,it encourages me to do more. I will be posting more business tips soon.

Nice post my man.may God bless u

Niz bro......thanks

Lawmann: Nice post my man.may God bless u

Thanks. In the coming week,I will be posting about Investment and Finance. I will also be posting about business you could actually do without shop or office and yet you will make good earning.

fukn: Niz bro......thanks

Thanks. You may get more tips on my website and please do drop a comment for me there. Ciao.

My Oga at the top, I see you oh.

Hmmm

GREAT!

2s£xy:
My Oga at the top, I see you oh.

Hmmm

GREAT!

Boss! Thanks. It's interesting.

Please oh, give dat guy dat project make him do sharply na...


Make him fit maintain things biko nu

newacca:
Boss! Thanks. It's interesting.

Great one, Thanks so much. We are expecting more

hommes: Great one, Thanks so much. We are expecting more

Yes brother. Another one is here https://www.nairaland.com/1369602/making-money-when-no-longer