The operations of your business are the tactics and processes you implement to run your business.
Operations in a startup begin with the composition of a business plan. A new venture without a business plan is like a car without an engine; it exists but cannot get anywhere. In fact, researching and drafting the new venture's business plan is probably the most important and necessary business practice you will ever undertake. Business plans are usually written to obtain financing for a new venture. However, the business document and planning process provides a much more important function. This document will be your road map for getting your venture started. The findings of your research contained in your business plan can tell you from the beginning with pretty good certainty if your new business has a real chance of being successful financially and sustainable in the long run.
Traditional sections contained in a business plan:
After you have completed drafting your new venture's business plan, it may be time to establish the legal entity of your business. Check with your local government office to get directed to the rules, regulations, and processes you need to follow to properly establish your business's legal entity.
Some universal company establishments are:
If you can get the resources from family and friends to pay for an attorney to help you establish your business legal entity, you may lessen some of the risks associated with starting a new venture. The type of business entity you form will more than likely impact how you pay taxes on your products and services and file your country's income tax filing. The definitions for the different forms of company establishments vary from country to country. You will want to check with the portion of your government that grants company established entities for clarification
With a draft business plan in hand and your legal company business entity established, it's time to fully map out the operations/processes you plan to utilize to implement your business plan. It's highly recommended that you make a Gantt chart to stay organized with each business activity's correct sequence and timing.
You can use Microsoft Excel and setup columns that list:
It is highly recommended that you post your new venture's Operations Gantt Chart on a wall in a visible location so that as many people as possible have access to this information. This will allow others to make updates and understand what you are working on when they are considering interrupting you during the day.
Keep an open mind as you implement your operational plans for the startup. Remain flexible to continuous updates. Remember, a startup is an evolving operational process that will need fine-tuning along the way.
Source: OpenStax This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.