The Startup Blog - Week 1...

by Startacus Admin

Lauren is about to start her own business and on a weekly basis is going to share a little of her journey on Startacus...Over to Lauren with week 1's blog post...

Week 1...

Like many entrepreneurs, I always dreamed of starting my own business. A corporate job was a sensible option for me but I longed to escape the meeting room and daily commute for something more exciting. Over the years I have thought about many ideas for a business start-up, and earlier this year I decided to set up my own spa company with a spa product line and day spa operations.

It was several months into researching and writing a business plan when I ended up scrapping my business idea completely. This is where my story takes a turn, and where the beginnings of my start up actually took place. I was at home one day and getting frustrated over a problem that had quietly featured in my life for many years. I wished, just wished, that someone had approached it differently. How much easier that would make things.

That is when it occurred to me. I wasn’t wishing a knight to my rescue. This was a problem I could solve myself. I had a flash of inspiration and I knew what I wanted to do. The spa idea was scrapped, and I began frantically writing down my idea.

I starting looking for competitors, looked at the potential market, and investigated whether other customers faced the same issue I had encountered. The business idea looked viable, and this information formed the basis of my business plan.

Over the next few weeks my business plan took shape as I refined my idea, put together the financials and did further market research. Of course, it was easy to read through my idea and give myself a pat on the back for my inventiveness but I knew that would never swing it in the business world. If this was viable, I had to send this business plan out to people I trusted and people who would challenge me, so that is exactly what I did. I asked those I trusted to give me an honest critique of it. That was a great step. It really pushed my idea and each time my assumptions were challenged it make me work harder to refine my plan and make it more robust.

So what is this grand idea, you ask? Well, I want you to keep reading my diary over the next few weeks so I’m not going to announce it yet. I will save that for a later date. In the meantime, I’m starting work on my prototype and I’m applying for some funding. I’ll talk more about that in my next diary entry. (and if by magic - it appears just here!) 

About the author: Lauren is an entrepreneur and author of www.theglitteringeyesbrigade.com – a blog about her journey in starting her own business

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Published on: 3rd June 2013