Start a Business guide
I Want to Start a Business But Don't Know Where to Begin
A step-by-step guide on how to begin the process of starting a business, focusing on identifying your advantages and testing demand.
Published 2 October 2026
The short answer
The best place to begin starting a business is by identifying your own 'unfair advantages'—your specific skills, industry contacts, and market knowledge—rather than looking for a generic 'gap in the market'. Success follows a structured path of identifying a high-stakes problem you are uniquely placed to solve, followed by low-cost validation to secure your first paying customer before investing in administrative setup or branding.
- Start with your assets: your specific skills, industry network, and deep experience
- Identify a high-stakes problem for a specific customer group with a budget
- Prioritise commercial evidence (sales) over administrative or brand setup
- Keep initial validation costs extremely low to preserve your startup capital
- Focus on one core 'Productised Service' before expanding into other areas
Start with your existing 'Unfair Advantages'
Many people begin their business journey by looking outwards for 'hot' trends, new technologies, or a generic 'gap in the market'. This is often the hardest and most risky way to start. A far more effective and sustainable approach is to look inwards at what you already have. Your 'Unfair Advantages' are the things that would make it difficult for someone else to compete with you: ten years in a specific industry, a network of potential buyers who trust you, or a deep understanding of a particular technical or operational problem.
When you start with your advantages, you are not starting from zero. You already know who the customers are, what they struggle with daily, and the specific language they use to describe their pain. This dramatically reduces the risk of 'Building something nobody wants'. Instead of guessing what the market needs, you are responding to needs you have witnessed first-hand. The Evans 'What Business Should I Start?' tool is designed to help you map these advantages to specific, high-margin business models.
Audit your assets honestly. Are you a technical expert? Do you have high-level sales skills? Do you have access to a specific piece of equipment or a unique supplier relationship? These are the foundations of your business. A business built on a generic idea is a commodity; a business built on an unfair advantage is a strategic asset. Focus your energy where you already have a head start.
Identify the problem, not just the product
A business is not a 'thing' you build; it is a mechanism for solving a problem in exchange for money. Therefore, you should begin by finding a problem worth solving. Talk to people in your network, look at where businesses are spending money inefficiently, and identify where existing solutions are falling short or are simply too complex. The bigger, more painful, and more expensive the problem, the more people will be willing to pay for a solution.
Resist the urge to fall in love with a specific product or service idea too early. If you focus on the problem, you remain flexible about *how* you solve it. This flexibility is vital in the early days when you are learning what the market actually values and what they are willing to pay for. A business built on a 'solution looking for a problem' is much harder to sustain than one built on a clearly identified and urgent need. You are looking for a 'bleeding neck' problem, not a 'nice to have' improvement.
This shift in mindset—from 'What can I build?' to 'What can I solve?'—is the most important transition for a new founder. It moves you from being a 'Maker' to being a 'Business Owner'. It also makes your marketing and sales far easier; instead of trying to convince someone they need your product, you are simply showing them that you have the cure for their pain. The 'Problem-First' approach is the core of the Evans validation methodology.
The first steps are NOT administrative
It is a common and expensive mistake to think that starting a business begins with registering a company name, designing a logo, or hiring an accountant. While these steps are necessary eventually, they are not the 'beginning' of the business itself. The business begins the moment you have a value proposition that a customer is willing to buy. Spending time and money on administration before you have validated demand is a form of 'productive procrastination'.
Focus your initial energy entirely on 'Commercial Activities'. Can you get a potential buyer to agree to a 20-minute meeting? Can you get them to give you feedback on a one-page proposal? Can you get them to sign a 'Letter of Intent' or pay a small deposit? These are the only metrics that matter in the first 90 days. Company registration and other administrative tasks should only follow once you have 'Commercial Evidence' that the idea has legs.
Administrative setup provides a false sense of security. It makes you *feel* like you are making progress when you haven't actually engaged with the market. Real progress is messy, involves rejection, and requires constant adjustment based on feedback. By delaying the formal setup, you keep your costs at zero and your options open. Don't build the 'casing' of the business until you know the 'engine' actually runs.
Setting a 'Validation Budget' and preserving capital
Beginning a business does not have to be expensive. In fact, spending too much too early is one of the primary reasons startups fail. Your goal in the beginning should be to spend the absolute minimum amount necessary to get meaningful feedback from the market. This might mean a simple one-page website, a few hundred pounds on test advertising, or just the cost of your time to conduct structured customer interviews.
Treat your startup capital as a precious resource to be protected at all costs. You will need that capital once you have proven the concept and need to fund the actual launch, hiring, and growth. Treating your initial budget as a 'ceiling to be protected' rather than a 'pot to be spent' is a core principle for any new founder. If you aren't sure how to allocate your initial budget, seek guidance on 'Startup Costs' to ensure you aren't over-investing in the wrong areas.
Illustratively, if you have £5,000 in savings, your 'Validation Budget' should be no more than £500. The remaining £4,500 is your 'Fuel' for when you find something that actually works. Most service-based or B2B businesses can be validated for the cost of a few Zoom calls and a LinkedIn Premium subscription. If your validation requires a £20,000 investment before you've spoken to a customer, you are likely taking too much risk. Pivot to a leaner version of the idea.
The first 90 days: A structured roadmap
Your first 90 days should be divided into three clear phases. Phase 1 (Days 1-30): 'Asset Auditing and Niche Selection'. Identify your unfair advantages and pick a specific problem-customer pair. Phase 2 (Days 31-60): 'Market Discovery'. Conduct at least 10-15 interviews with potential customers to understand their pain points and their current solutions. Phase 3 (Days 61-90): 'Offer Validation'. Present a 'Productised Service' offer to these prospects and try to secure a pilot project.
Avoid the 'Squirrel Syndrome'—the urge to chase every new idea or opportunity that comes your way. Stick to your chosen niche for the full 90 days to give it a fair test. If you switch ideas every two weeks, you never gather enough data to know what's working. Consistency is as important as creativity in the early stages. Document everything you learn during this period; this data is the intellectual property of your new business.
By the end of day 90, you should either have your first paying customer or a very clear understanding of why your original idea failed. Both outcomes are successes. If the idea failed, you have 'failed fast' and saved your capital for the next attempt. If it succeeded, you have the foundation of a profitable business. Evans Business Builder provides the structure and accountability to help you navigate these first 90 days without getting lost.
Risk Management: The 'Worst-Case Scenario' planning
Starting a business is inherently risky, but that risk can be managed through 'Intelligent Pessimism'. Before you begin, define your 'Red Lines'. What is the maximum amount of money you are willing to lose? What is the latest date by which you must see revenue? What is the 'Worst-Case Scenario' if the business doesn't work out? By defining these limits upfront, you remove the emotional stress of uncertainty.
Manage your personal financial risk. Many founders feel they must quit their job to be 'serious' about a business. This is rarely true. Validating a business 'on the side'—during evenings and weekends—is a far more responsible way to start. It allows you to test the idea without the pressure of needing immediate revenue to pay your rent. Pressure often leads to poor commercial decisions; financial security leads to strategic thinking.
Diversify your validation. Don't rely on a single prospect or a single marketing channel. If your entire validation plan relies on one 'big break' or one specific contact, you aren't building a business; you're gambling. Build a broad base of evidence from multiple conversations and multiple tests. This resilience is what allows you to survive the inevitable setbacks of the first year.
Mental Models for the new founder
Your success as a founder depends as much on your 'Mental Models' as it does on your technical skills. One of the most important models is 'Iterative Learning'. You must view every interaction with a customer as an experiment. If they say 'no', it's not a personal rejection; it's a data point. What was the reason for the no? Was the price too high? Was the problem not painful enough? Use this data to refine your next attempt.
Another key model is 'Asymmetric Risk'. You want to find opportunities where the 'Downside' is small and known (e.g., the cost of a few Zoom calls) but the 'Upside' is large and unknown (e.g., a recurring £2,000 monthly contract). Most people do the opposite—they take on large, unknown risks for small, known rewards. By focusing on asymmetric opportunities, you can afford to fail many times until you hit a significant success.
Finally, adopt the 'Builder Mindset'. A business is something you build, piece by piece, over time. It is not an 'event' that happens once you launch. Focus on the 'Inputs'—the number of calls made, the number of proposals sent, the number of hours spent on service delivery—rather than just the 'Outputs' (revenue). If you control the inputs and use the data to iterate, the outputs will eventually take care of themselves.
Building a 'Founder-Led' Sales Engine
In the beginning, you are the only salesperson. This is not a burden; it is an advantage. No one understands the vision and the value of the business better than the founder. You must learn the fundamentals of B2B sales: how to qualify a lead, how to run a discovery call, how to handle objections, and how to close a deal. Hiring a salesperson too early is a common mistake that often leads to failure because they cannot sell an unproven product.
Build a simple, repeatable 'Sales Sequence'. This might involve a personalised LinkedIn outreach, followed by a value-adding email, followed by a request for a short call. Consistency is the key. Making 10 outreach attempts every single day is far more effective than making 50 attempts once a month. This daily 'Sales Drumbeat' is what creates the pipeline of opportunities that sustains the business.
Your goal is to reach 'Founder-Led Sales Maturity'—the point where you have a clear understanding of your conversion rates and your sales cycle length. Once you can consistently turn leads into customers using a documented process, you are ready to scale. Evans Business Builder focuses heavily on helping founders build this engine, ensuring that they are never reliant on luck to win new business.
Choosing the right Business Model for your life
There are many ways to build a business, but they all fall into a few core models: Consultancy (selling your time), Agency (selling others' time), Productised Service (selling a fixed outcome), or Product (selling a physical or digital item). The 'Right' model depends on your goals. Do you want a high-margin business you can run solo? Or do you want a large, scalable company with hundreds of employees?
For most first-time founders, a 'Productised Service' is the ideal starting point. It offers higher margins than generic consultancy, is easier to sell than a bespoke agency, and is far less expensive to launch than a software product. It allows you to build a 'System' around your expertise, which is the first step toward true business ownership. You can always pivot to a different model later once you have a stable revenue base.
Consider the 'Operational Reality' of each model. A consultancy requires you to be constantly available to clients. An ecommerce business requires you to manage stock and logistics. A software business requires constant technical updates. Choose the model that fits the lifestyle you want to lead, not just the one that seems most profitable on paper. A successful business that makes you miserable is not a success. Evans helps you align your model with your personal and financial objectives.
How Evans can help you start correctly
Starting a business is a complex process with many competing priorities. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the 'Noise' of conflicting advice. Evans provides structured, evidence-led support to help founders move from a vague idea to a functioning, profitable business. This includes free tools to help you choose an idea based on your advantages and the Evans Business Builder for those who want a structured 12-month programme.
The advantage of structured support is that it helps you avoid the common, expensive mistakes that many first-time founders make. By following a proven methodology for validation, sales, and operations, you can build a more resilient business faster and with less wasted capital. We focus on the 'Commercial Fundamentals'—the things that actually drive revenue and profit—rather than the administrative 'Theatre' of starting a business.
Whether you are just beginning to think about an idea or you have already taken the first steps, having a clear roadmap and a supportive community is vital. Turning an idea into a business is one of the most challenging and rewarding things you can do. By starting with your advantages, focusing on a high-stakes problem, and validating relentlessly, you can build a business that provides you with both financial freedom and professional fulfilment.
Next step
Not sure which idea to pursue? Use the free tool. Already chosen? Explore Evans Business Builder.