Think about your revenue model

When you go into business, it’s all about making money. Even Non-Profit businesses need to find a way on how to make money in order to 1) Pay the costs of activities for the front-end and operations to deliver to their customers 2) Allocate enough funds towards either the donation cause, or fund staff and activities that are directed towards that cause.

Revenue models are tricky, and need to be done in tandem with your cost models (ie, the management of cash flows in/out). With the advent of the internet, there are new models out there, but here are a few models you can consider:

• Subscription
• Installments
• In-App purchases and Upsells
• Once-offs

Once you’ve figured out what revenue model best works for the costings and operational model of your business, then you can start working on an actual ‘Price’. However, a price cannot just be made up. Ask your ideal customer a price range for what they are willing to pay for your product, and how they prefer to pay.

Think about your product-customer fit

I’ve floated around a while online, and I smirk every time I see the ‘Murphy’s Law’ poster grace the screen. It’s a helpful reminder too for us – just because we can make that product, doesn’t mean that people are going to need it, want it, or that what we have adds any value to their lives. One more twist: Customers may not always tell you what they want or need.

That’s where it helps to follow your customer around as if you were on a safari. While COVID does limit some of that activity, you can always follow friends or family or colleagues you may have and watch them live their lives with minimal interference. Another approach you can take is also asking around on Reddit, Facebook groups, and on Quora. These platforms are special in that there are people actively looking for answers to their problems, and with the suggestions

Think about the resources you need

Whether you are a a service or product-based business, you still need to calculate and estimate the amount of resources you’ll need. To start, map out a workflow of all your regular operations. From there, you need to consider what you require to get the tasks done and delivered to your customers. Another angle to consider is what amount of resources needed to make it through the first year (plus 40%+ margin of error for unexpected costs).