When someone wants to start their own business, the first step is the idea. The next step is often “Now what?”
The Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Third Thursday session set out to answer that question.
Called “From Concept to Conquest,” it brought together three experts. Michael Newton with Make Start Ups at theClubhou.se, Andrew Garnett from the Greater Aiken Chapter of SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), and Shelby Carl, representing the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (UGA SBDC) each shared their expertise.
As his organization’s name suggests, Newton took the first phase, the concept. He said the concept phase is about exploration and the individual’s mindset. He cautioned against focusing on the methodology in the early days.
“When you’re starting a business, it’s about exploring, you have an idea, and you want to explore and see if that idea is valid,” he explained. “When you’re in the discovery phase, you have to ask a lot of questions. Why am I doing this? Why do I think this is a good idea? Who is this for? Is there a potential market? For what is it going to cost me to develop this idea into reality? How can I make a profit from this idea? If your business is not funding your lifestyle, is it really a business? Or is it more of a time drain or an expensive hobby?”
Newton said once those questions are answered, the entrepreneur-hopeful must then do research on the product and whether it, or something similar, is already available. Once the decision is made to move forward, a new set of priorities appears.
“You got to have a mission, you got to have some mentors, you have to have a daily action plan. You don’t have to have a million processes, you just need to have like three or four key processes that you have in your business when you start your day,” said Newton. “Every business owner should have a personal development plan. What are your strengths, and how you’re the most effective.”
Carl said her office helps business owners figure out who best to speak with at UGA SBDC. She said with funding from UGA and the Small Business Administration (SBA), the center uses two different sets of metrics.
“A lot of people see us and they hear about us and think, ‘Oh, free consulting, business consulting services.’ Yes and no,” she said. We have to work with businesses that show growth and impact, we’re about numbers. So, we help with everything from HR, marketing, financials, and a lot of the stuff that theClubhou.se listed. We touch base on those things as well, but a little bit of a difference. Our goal is to kind of educate people as they come through.
Carl said a vital step for budding entrepreneurs is to create a business plan.
“Get your business plan started, have some numbers. Don’t send us a business plan that’s just your executive summary with no financial ideas. Because you’re going to get referred to SCORE, because you need a lot more work to do before you like to come to us. That’s why I love SCORE,” she said.
Garnett told attendees SCORE does not write the business plan, but provides information and advice on how to do so.
“When you start to formulate your idea of what you want to do to go into business, you don’t have a formal structure of how to do that, then we would be there,” he said. “You have to initiate a call to the SCORE organization and you’ll be lined up with a mentor,” he explained. “All of your interactions with SCORE are one-on-one. It’s confidential. We don’t speak to anyone else about the things that we talk to you about. And all our services are on a volunteer basis. And so, there is no money involved.”
Like SBDC, Garnett said SCORE offers classes on all types of businesses, including how to begin a non-profit organization.
Information on what each of the three separate organizations offers is available on their websites.
https://georgiasbdc.org/augusta-office/
https://www.score.org/greateraiken
