Make money require skills, but that does not mean you cannot develop them in the process. After all, the skills you learn in the process will make the process easier in the future.
Build a business is a team job.
There is six steps that will guide you raise money.
Every project is different, some steps may be more complicated than others depending on what do you have to deal with.
Networking
The most important resource is people.
Students and specially college students soon or later recognize the importance of networking, I am sure you have hear the following quote "is not about what you know, is about who you know"
in base of my own experience with the Entrepreneurial Club at Spartanburg Methodist college together with my internship experience I will add to that quote "is not about what you know, is about who you know who know you"
Realistic Sence
Any entrepreneur must have as a rule that no all ideas are good, if they are not in the right enviroment.
All ideas are good with the right environment.
You don't sell ice cream in the north pole, it does not matter if the price of ice is low if no one wants to buy it, you want to sell ice cream at the desert as long you solve the cooling problems.
Problem solving will make the difference between a successful project and one that is not.
Is it Going to Work?
Do you have a positive outlook about your project so far?
Projects must have a realistic and a critic point of view, you love your project, i get it, i would do it as well, but some criticism is a good tool to identify weak points that can become a bigger problem.
Uses your resources! as we mentioned before networking is vital for your professional development and for the benefit of your project, friends, family, or could be a mentor, people who you know will be honest and realistic with their feedback.
Peers!
Peers, your peers are the people who help you in any way to ensure the overall success of the project.
Leaders are needed, to keep order and to take decisions, but if you are the leader don't act as the leader.
People talk, on my experience in my internship there was always a good work environment but always there is a distance between the boss or manager and the employees. is natural, if you would like to read more about this in a big scale you can read this article, remember that the skills that you learn now will stay with you forever.
You and your peers are team, in a scale where you all know each other and can be friends that is a real good positions, so take advantage for the well development of your project and for future projects.
Competition
Competition can be a threat, but also can be a source of information that you can use in your favor.
Competition may be one of the problems that you have to face deal with, if you have a good project so far you may have already identify who your competence is what they are doing different from your that could work or not for your.
from our experience, our project involved food, we sold Chick Fill A sandwiches in our campus, our obvious competition were our cafeteria that offers a meal for a considerable price, our product was better but the price was our disadvantage, we had a OK turnover and ROI.
This space is ideal for writing a detailed description of your business and the types of services that you provide. Talk about your team and your areas of expertise.
Customer Service
Customer service is a vital part of any business, a happy customer is a loyal customer, prepare yourself for the customer.
Refounds, complains about the service or you product, these are just some examples about what a customer can come up with, therefore you must be ready to solve their concerns.
These does not mean you need to solve their lives, after all you need to look out for your project success, so you need to analyze your opportunity cost.
Build brand loyalty can be difficult but that is the best investment any business for profit or non for profit can invest in, a refund may cost your project resources as money or time, but if that investment will build a loyal customer that is more valuable.
