Roadmap – From Idea to Start-up Business

A great idea is the seed of a good business, but it can only grow to its full potential if it is cultivated properly. Most great ideas remain dormant because people don’t have the courage, resources, time and/or money to take action. And for those who take action, most are unprepared and thus find themselves spending their valuable time and money on a dream that simply goes off track. 

If you follow certain steps, you can turn your vision for a successful new business into a reality. Here’s a start-up roadmap:

• Figure out the problem you will try to solve – You get excited with your idea and focus on the solution it will provide to your customers. But, you have to first focus on the problem which will be solved by your business. Amazon, for instance, solved how e-commerce was, at one time, expensive and inconvenient. Today, it has more customers (and sales) than its brick-and-mortar competition.
• Analyze your idea thoroughly – Evaluate it through all angles – its timing, potential customers, competitors, execution plan, payoff vs. risk involved etc. A rough business plan is a great way to make sure you've covered all your bases. Assess your idea based on SWOT – your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
• Analyze latest trends - If you are looking at a new product or service, does it meet your clients’ needs in new, creative ways? Will it stand out or get lost in the chaos? Explore your idea to see how you can make it different and/or better from the rest.
• Feedback from friends/peers - Ask friends, business colleagues and other strategic people to assess your new idea. Welcome their feedback.
• Find your exact market – You need to actually figure out where exactly will your solution fit into the market and in the lives of people. You may have to relocate to a different place, if it sounds more promising for your new business.
• Prepare financial model – Create a financial model that focuses on how your product or service is created, marketed, and sold to an individual user. Doing this will give you more insight on how your business will function. Your model should also focus on the target sales to earn a profit.
• Find out sources of capital - Possible sources of funding are self-funding, money from friends and family, credit cards, or loans. Depending on the amount you need, a more helpful source can be angel investors and venture capitalists looking to back your mission for a percentage of profits.
• Create a minimum viable product (MVP) - A principle of the lean start-up  method is to create an MVP to determine demand early on and discover what works and what doesn’t. Take your MVP to potential target customers, listen to feedback, and use insights to develop your original model into a successful product or service that fully caters to your customer’s needs.

If you have a bright business idea, register on TheGongzuo.com and bring the idea to us. We will keep all the confidentiality about your idea and will also suggest to improve and groom your idea on the basis of our expertise and experience.

Small Businesses - Big Challenges

Running a small business is anything but small! Growing businesses face a range of challenges. As a business grows, different problems and opportunities demand different solutions - what worked a year ago might not be the best approach now. The first thing to do is to understand that problems are an everyday part of every business and then face each problem with determination and a proper solution.

Here are some of the biggest challenges that small businesses need to overcome:

•  Finding talented people - The biggest problem is see for small business today is in hiring employees that can truly help your business grow. It's difficult to compete with the larger businesses for the same talent when you have such limited funds. You need to find more creative ways to tap into the talents you need. Give them a sense of 'wanting' to build and grow with you. Research what employees want other than the pay check! You can't compete with money and that's a challenge.
• Cash flow issues - Money problems in their various forms are top of most lists of company woes, and for small businesses the major worries are clients stalling payments, unexpected outgoings, and outstanding bills that won’t wait to be paid. You can take help of apps to automate bill payments etc. Online invoices and reminders is a powerful way to persuade reluctant clients to pay money.
• Finding and retaining customers – Research your existing customers and analyze them based on their characteristics – highest volume of sales, low credits, number of repeat orders, associated costs etc. This will give you a clear idea about where to focus your energies. To understand what customers want, you can ask for feedback from current best clients.
• Staying current - Small business owners can be so busy they forget to keep up with what’s current in their sector. It takes so much time just to keep on top of the work. When you’re scheduling your week, don’t forget to allocate time to track competitors and undertake awareness-raising activities such as reading blog posts.
• Lack of marketing knowledge - When you start your own business, you don’t get a handbook explaining the ins and outs of marketing. While there are plenty of resources to help small businesses learn these skills, it’s hard to find the time to filter out workable marketing tips and techniques. You can hire a marketing company to handle your workflow. If you really don’t have the time to market your business, it’s likely worth the investment to make sure someone else is marketing it for you.
• Lack of direction and planning - This problem prevails because of not creating a thorough and detailed business plan. Many young entrepreneurs are so excited about setting up their very own business that they fail to prepare a proper business plan. It helps in focusing on the goal and mission of the business. It determines the financial situation of the business, the roadmap to follow, market research and analysis of the competition. A business plan is basically an investment to your business.
• Trying to do it alone - Coping with everything alone is also one of the most common mistake new business owners make. They believe that they can manage everything and don’t need any advice or help form anyone. Initially, they do seem to be successful in this strategy as the cost is low since they handle everything. However, as the work starts growing gradually, the workload takes a toll on the new entrepreneur. Hiring two to three employees is more beneficial for a start-up business. It is better to pay a small amount to your workers than lose double the amount in the future.

The key for small business owners is to recognise these challenges and take counter measures accordingly. Cutting overheads in every way may seem like the only right thing to do, but “attack” is also the best form of defence. Small business owners should constantly look for opportunities and take their advantage in timely manner.

Women in IT Industry

Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yahoo, Microsoft and Apple - all are billion-dollar success stories. Thanks to their revolutionary technologies and must-have products. But these tech giants have one more thing in common - a shortfall of female employees.

The big names of Silicon Valley have begun releasing diversity figures that reveal men outnumber women two to one. If we consider purely technical roles in these companies women population is only 10 to 20 per cent of the workforce, whereas it is 57 per cent for all other professional roles in the US.

• Why there aren’t more women in technology?
• There aren’t enough women in the US choosing tech careers. According to a research, only one third female teens responded that STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) would be their first career choice.
• Women's decisions to have children make them less desirable to tech companies filling demanding roles. 
• Women do not consider IT as their choice of career because of hostile male culture.
• Lack of clear career path 

Organizations’ initiatives to attract women

Attracting and retaining women in IT is something several companies and organizations are working toward.  Google offers several scholarships for women in computing and technology. “Google Prize” is a financial award specifically for outstanding female computer science students. The prize is intended to encourage women to enter and remain in the field of computer science.

By inspiring the younger generation of females at high-school age, Microsoft have been showing the lighter side of IT and how women can make a difference to a very male-dominated workplace.

Many IT companies are hiring remote employees and offering flexible schedule to help them maintain work-life balance. This especially proves to be appealing to women who are often juggling career, children and home responsibilities.

Why do companies want gender diversity?

Diversity makes the team stronger. By bringing together different points of view, different personalities and life experiences, organizations build better teams. Studies show that teams with more women perform better. Woman-friendly workplaces are nice places for everyone to work. A diverse collection of skills and experiences (e.g. languages, cultural understanding) allows a company to provide service to customers on a global basis.

With the increased public awareness of the lack of gender diversity in technology field, companies will experience more pressure to disclose their statistics and be accountable for reaching diversity objectives. It is time for organizations to address their cultural bias and create initiatives to attract and retain women.

As more and more tech businesses are taking initiative to hire female employees, obviously, women have a better chance to get hired by a reputed IT company. Register on TheGongzuo.com and post your resume today!

Tips For Moms Returning To Workforce

Re-entering the IT workforce after taking time off to stay at home with kids can be difficult and emotionally challenging process for women. Many females worry about their technical skills still being relevant and if they will still fit in and adapt to a workplace environment all while juggling their new added responsibilities at home. 

Experts say transitioning back into work life can be a smooth shift with the right attitude and mind set. According to the survey conducted, 95% of female professionals said that the unique skills involved with raising children are portable to the workplace, increase confidence and energy, and enhance the ability to motivate others, tolerate ambiguity and apply past experiences in new ways.

Here are the tips for returning mothers:

• When you send IT job applications to prospective employers, do not explain the gap in your career in cover letter. Instead, you can mention it in your resume. Brush up your interview techniques.
• Be clear on your objectives and priorities. Do not hesitate to ask for flexibility or a part-time schedule, but should make the request before a final round of interviews. 
• If you are returning to a previous employer, mention your past success that highlights why you are a valuable asset. 
• Stay in touch with your employer, co-workers and prior managers during your opt-out time and follow what’s happening in IT field.
• Be honest about why you’re returning to work and what you want to get from your return. Whether it is money or career accomplishments - your motivations will guide your job search, so it’s incredibly important to know them ahead of time. 
• Before sending out applications, research through IT job search engines, such as TheGongzuo to get an idea about which technologies are in demand.
• Talk regularly with other moms who have gone back to work about their experiences and challenges.
• Consider options such as telecommuting, part-time, flexible schedule or freelancing while returning to the job market to achieve a good work-life balance.

To restart your IT career, register at TheGongzuo.com and go through the list of IT jobs. Job postings for different technical roles such as data analyst, PMO, program managers etc. are listed out on our website. Find out which role suits you best that will take your career to the next level.