How to Research Your Industry
In business, knowledge is power.
The more you know about your business, the industry in which it is operating, your market and the outside forces affecting your business, the more you can plan and strategise.
Specifically, when you are starting a new business, one of the most important things you need to know is information about your industry. In my online training course “How To Start Your Own Business,” I dig deeper into the need to research your industry in preparation for startup.
Why do you need to research your industry? You know what you’re doing right? You’ve probably been working in your industry most of your working life, why can’t you just hang out your business sign and open the store?
Well, you know motorcars too. Assuming you drive, you’ve probably been driving all your adult life. So why don’t you just go out and buy the first car you see? Why do you choose makes, research different models across makes to see what suits you better? Researching your industry opens up information about your industry you might not otherwise know.
The problem is for most of us, we are subject-matter experts. That means that we know what we do and much of how we do it, but we may not know details about our industry that could be crucial to running your own business in it. You might know where to source supplies, for example, but do you know if there are any specific import restrictions?
The next question is where do you start? This can put off a lot of otherwise intelligent people! Mr Google does not solve everything!
Watch this week’s video to see where you can find the most useful information about your industry.
So, there are some ideas about how to find out more about your industry.
Remember though that the objective of the research is to gain enough information about the potential for your business, and what to look out for in terms of threats and opportunities. The objective is not to write an extensive research paper for scientific analysis! Dig deep so you understand what you are getting into, but don’t go for perfect.
The basic information to gather is:
- What’s the size of your industry in terms of markets and competition?
- Are there niches that are unexploited?
- What’s the demand for the product?
- Where is your competition within the industry?
- What are the barriers to entry?
- What capital might you need to enter successfully?
If you want to know more about how to start your own business, I have on online course available for you to learn all about it. For just $97 the online course provides $8,000 worth of value by distilling one on one knowledge into a concise 5 module course that takes you from making sure you are prepared to run a business, to planning and structures and finding the right advisors. You can learn more about it here.
But that’s not the end of the story! If you want to get these valuable business tips and ideas to provide leadership, create strategy, and grow your business delivered directly to your inbox every week, please click here to register your email. Rest easy! I value our relationship and your trust and I will never sell or provide your information to spammers!
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