This is the first of a multi-part series that will help prospective entrepreneurs to develop the tools they need for a successful business venture.

The idea of starting a new business venture is really exciting, but it can also be absolutely terrifying. You may have driven or walked past an empty storefront or office space for months (or years!), fantasizing about seeing your dream business finally coming to fruition in that space.

There’s no guarantee that the new business will be a success, but you’ll never know if you don’t try. However, there are steps that you can take to ensure that you minimize the risks and maximize your potential profit.

Ask any successful business owner here and they’ll tell you that the Huntsville/Madison County area is a great space to start a business thanks to its booming economy, vibrant customer base, and its culture of innovation. In addition, the community offers a wealth of resources to help get new businesses off the ground.

Okay, so you have the initial idea for your prospective business and you’ve decided it’s time to take the risk. Now what?

That storefront may look nice, but is it going to draw the customer base that you want? The first step, therefore, is to do your homework with market research. This step is critical–you need to know not only whether your product or service is desirable, but also who your competition is and how you can effectively compete with them.

According to Hilary Claybourne, Regional Director of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), “Market research is your proof of concept that your business idea can take flight in a market substantially large enough to support your business in a profitable way.”

Claybourne said that she is often asked how much market research is necessary. “My answer would be that it depends on how much you are risking…the higher the potential cost of failure, the more research you want to do. But don’t get stuck in the cycle of so much research that you don’t actually get started…That would make you a dreamer, a person with a good idea, a “wantrepreneur”, but not an actual entrepreneur with a successful business venture,” she said.

Market research has a twofold benefit: it helps you to determine whether your idea is a good fit for the market and whether it’s something people will pay you for. Rather than jumping into the deep end, you’ll need to address a number of important questions, including:

Who is your customer?
What are their spending habits?
What is the market like?
Who are your competitors?
What opportunities exist for expansion?
Where is the best place to establish a brick-and-mortar location, or is one even necessary?
What pricing is best for the product or service?

The more information you can gather early on, the better prepared you will be to move forward with your dream of starting your own venture.

Conducting quality market research usually costs money, but it doesn’t have to break the bank. Prospective business owners can create their own short surveys for free using resources such as Google Forms and Surveymonkey.com online surveys. These surveys can then be posted on social media. Social media surveys, of course, come with a huge caveat–anyone can access them, so responses may need to be taken with a big grain of salt.

Other free information sources include local census data, which is available for free online and can provide general demographic information about a specific city or county.

Those interested in establishing a new business venture in the City of Huntsville have additional resources available. Demographic information specific to certain parts of the city can also be found for free in the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) section of the City of Huntsville website. Madison City’s website does not yet have this capability.

It’s easy enough to ask questions and locate data on your own, but there’s a catch: you have to know what to ask and how to use that data. Fortunately, you don’t have to go it alone: the Huntsville/Madison County area has plenty of resources available to get prospective small business owners started off on the right foot.

Housed within the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce at 225 Church Street NW in Huntsville, the UAH SBDC and PTAC, which are part of both the state and national SBDC/PTAC networks, provide confidential business advising and professional development services at no cost. Their extensive networks can also help future business owners connect with the resources they need to get started.

Another local option is the Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship. Located at 515 Sparkman Dr NW in Huntsville, the Catalyst Center also offers support for future business owners in the form of workshops and coaching.

According to Sandy Edwards, Operations Manager of the Catalyst Center, business coaching services are currently offered at no cost. “We would certainly be able to coach [prospective business owners] through the market research process,” she said.

Once the market research phase is completed and you’ve determined that your business idea has the potential for success, it’s time to move on to the next step: writing your business plan. We’ll cover this in the next installment of our guide.