Sara Sophie Osterholzer has developed The Good Business Roadmap, which is a step-by-step guide to supporting first-time social entrepreneurs in getting their business up and running quickly and helping to provide the right foundation for long-term sustainability.

The Good Business Roadmap consists of 10 steps with recommended actions to take under each step. It can be a very helpful guide to be sure to get around all the important issues, when you are going to start a social enterprise for the first time.

The 10 steps are:

1. It all starts with an idea
When you have an idea – it is important to be sure of your purpose and your WHY. Why are you doing it?

2. Set your sights on a destination
Find out where you will go with your business. Create a vision – Where will your business be in 10 year?

3. Map out your journey
Plan your journey, maybe not a 10 year plan but at least make a plan for the first year on the road to reach your vision. Include considerations on the time and the budget you have when you set directions.

4. Do your research
Make sure to know who you customers are and what their needs are. Find out who already tend to their needs.
Make a profile of customers and map your ecosystem (who are offering the same products and services?)

5. Understand the money
Be sure you know the price and cost of your product or services, the costs and how you will fund the launch of your business.
Make a strategy for pricing, create a budget for the first year and set up the tools you need for financial management.

6. Skill up and fill your knowledge gaps
You do not know everything, but you can get help.
Build an advisory board with people with skills that you don´t have, find a coach or a mentor and build a team around you.

7. Make sure you’ve got the right gear
You don´t need to get everything you can get the essentials and invest as yo grow your business.
So basics are Setup a Bank Account, get a domain name and  create a basic website, set up an email account and set up a payment system, create social media accounts and finally legally register your business.

8. Let people know about what you’re up to
It is time to reach out to your existing network reach out to friends and family to let them know your plans and to share your idea and vision on social media.

9. Do a test run
Before you lunch anything it is good to run a test. It is good to know if customers are interested in your product or service. So you might want to make a small prototype test it and get feedback from customers and other important stakeholders.

10. Launch your business
You can launch in many ways, host an event or try to get in the media. But do what you think will give you the best start possible. It is always good to make a launch plan with actions that will give you the most possible success within the first couple of months.

You can find a more detailed explanation of The Good Business Roadmap here

 

 

 

This publication has been prepared within SENBS project No. 2020- 1-EE01-KA204-077999. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.