There are many different phases and stages of a business. If you can’t figure out how to work through all of them, of then there isn’t much chance of you having a completely independent entity that exists over time. That’s why you need to look at each of those phases individually even while you are doing your initial planning.

There is the startup phase. There is the period where you have to figure out how to keep your business going. Once established, you have to become more competitive. Also, it’s essential that you remember that you always need to flex with the times rather than being too static about how you approach different business challenges.

Starting Up

When you’re trying to start your own business, there are many significant hurdles that you have to jump over. You have to create a business plan. You have to figure out if your idea is feasible in the context of your geography (even if it’s virtual geography). You have to decide if there’s a way that you can get enough money to get off the ground. And, you have to make sure that you’ll survive even if the business is a complete failure.

Keeping Going

Once you get past the starting up phase, then you have to figure out how to keep your business going. Many times that means you have to know how to scale your business up quickly. As an example, if you sell T-shirts, what happens when you get an order for 10 T-shirts versus when you get an order for 1000? If you don’t know how to produce a large number of your products quickly, a big order can mean that your business goes bankrupt and fails instead of it moving up that next tier of success.

Becoming More Competitive

After becoming established, the next phase in your business is how you are going to become more competitive in your niche. Do you try to narrow your audience down? Do you figure out how to lower your prices? Do you figure out how to make your rates higher while improving the quality of your product? Answering those questions will move you to a naturally productive point.

Flexing With the Times

During all of these phases, it’s vital that you don’t lose sight of the necessity to be flexible. If some piece of technology changes your industry, then you need to change along with it. It people’s shopping habits change, you need to adjust your business model to go along with them. Being stubborn about your business plan is never going to put you in a stable place. Consistency is admirable, but flexibility is what will allow your business to flourish in the long run.