Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Depending upon which business you’re in, one of the first decisions you’ll have to make is what model you will choose. It’s a critical consideration as it will dictate how you carry out your operations going forward. The following contributed post is thus entitled, How To Choose The Business Model That Suits You Best.
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One of the first things you’ll decide when you’re starting your business is the business model that you’ll use. The business model is simply the way in which you’ll deliver your services or products.
For example, you could choose a more customized and one-to-one service based model that’s often used by people like coaches and consultants, or even by companies like praxent.com – or you could go for something that’s more hands-off such as a subscription based model like that of Dollar Shave Club, or even something like Affiliate Marketing.
The point is, when it comes to choosing your business model, there’s really no right or wrong way to go about it – it’s just about finding what fits with your overall business vision, your goals, and your current lifestyle.
So, in this post we’re going to share with you how to choose the business model that suits you best.
Think about your solution:
The solution is basically the thing you offer, so your product or service, and ultimately this is going to determine a large part of your business model. So, for example, if you’re looking to sell custom t-shirts online, then you’re obviously going to be looking at an e-commerce model. Now, this doesn’t mean you need to be constantly designing all day long and splitting your focus between designing and then getting online to sell – there are things you can utilize online such as dropshipping and building a team or just developing systems and processes to help sell your products online.
Of course, you’re not going to be fully restricted to an e-commerce model – well, not in the traditional sense, anyway. If that’s not really what you want to be doing, but you really want to get your t-shirts out there, then you don’t have to it just because that’s how it’s always been done. You could go for a subscription-based model. Plenty of fashion companies offer this, so subscriptions aren’t just for digital products or services – in fact, some of the most successful subscription businesses, such as Dollar Shave Club are offering physical products.
Think about your customer:
The next step is to think about your customer – who they are and how they like to shop. Of course, your decisions shouldn’t be based fully on this, but it’s important to consider them in the process somewhat. If you know your ideal customer well, and you should do by this point if you’ve taken the time to do your research, then it’s important to think about the way they like to experience their purchasing – for example, do they want a one-to-one experience, or do they want downloadable materials and products that they can use in their own time?
Think about the lifestyle you want:
This part is very important when coming up with your business model and is actually the part that many people overlook when they’ve considered the parts above. Remember you started your business so that you don’t feel like you’re working in a job, so you get the luxury of designing your business model to suit the kind of lifestyle you want. If you don’t want to have your schedule dictated to by private client calls, then perhaps a one-to-one business model isn’t going to be the best for you.
