At some point or another, most people think of starting a business. Even if it’s something you’ve never done before, you could be considering it. Starting your first business could take quite a bit of time and effort. As a first-time entrepreneur, however, you could even feel anxious about it.

That doesn’t mean it’s not something you can do. You’ll just need to follow the right steps and jump through a few hoops. While it still takes time and work, it’s not impossible. Plenty of people have done it before, so why can’t you?

It’s worth diving into three steps you’ll need to go through when starting your first business.

Starting Your First Business: 3 Vital Steps

1. Make Sure Your Product Is Viable

Do you know what a minimum valuable product (MVP) is? It’s what tells you whether or not your product has a chance of succeeding on the market. While in-depth market research is essential to figuring this out, you’ll also need to know how to build an MVP.

With how important this step is, you shouldn’t overlook it. Simply releasing a product onto the market and hoping for the best mightn’t cut it. While you could get lucky, you’ll be in a better position once you’ve actually made something you’re sure people will buy.

2. Have A Business Plan

Everyone needs a foundation for their company. When you’re starting your first business, put the time and effort into creating this foundation with a business plan. It’s a comprehensive document outlining everything about your business, from its mission and values to how it plans on generating revenue.

The more time and effort you put into this, the better. It’ll even be an essential part of getting any external funding if you need it. See it as a roadmap to your company’s success. While it might change and evolve over time, it’ll be more useful than you’d think.

3. Get Registered

Every business needs to jump through quite a few legal hoops when they’re starting off. One of the first ones to hop through is properly registering your company. When you’re doing this, you’ll need to already know what your business name is and what kind of structure it’ll have.

You could also need to have a business bank account when you’re doing this, too. At a minimum, registering with the federal government is essential. You might need to register with your local government, too. This isn’t too complicated, and usually just involves filling out and filing a lot of paperwork.

Starting Your First Business: Wrapping Up

As interesting as starting your first business is, it takes a lot of work and effort. That’s something you’ll need to be prepared for, but you’ll have to put the time and effort into the right areas.

Putting together a business plan, properly registering your business, and actually making sure your product is viable are all essential parts of this. There’s no reason to skip them, as they’ll help more than you’d think.