Possibly the most exciting day in your life will be to start a small business. The adrenaline is running high as you make the decision to push forward with your dream. You feel like you finally have control over something important and you no longer have someone else looking over your shoulder and giving orders that seem a bit silly or even crazy.
Well, hang onto your enthusiasm because it will serve as your foundation for becoming a successful business person. There are not very many people who have become successful at entrepreneurship who, at some level, have not loved what they were doing. However, you can not feed yourself and your family on adrenaline and dreams, so the sooner you begin to establish strategies and action plans, the better.
There are a variety of things you need to consider when starting a small business. The decisions you make at the front-end of the process will have profound implications on how things go for you and your ultimate level of success. Here are a few things to keep in mind.
· Do a very good job of estimating initial costs. You want to make sure you have enough money available to support the business for a minimum of one year. The safe thing to do is to develop an estimate of costs and then double it. There is nothing more stressful than to run out of money when success is within reach.
· You can learn quite a bit from other business people. Join the Chamber of Commerce and seek out other opportunities to pick the brains of other entrepreneurs who have gone through their own business start-ups. People generally love to talk about themselves and what they have to deal with, so take advantage of any opportunity you find to learn from others.
· Begin to build good business credit as soon as you can. Do not wait until you money runs out. You want to avoid having to use your personal resources to fund the business. If you borrow carefully and pay it off promptly during the first year you will improve your chances of obtaining a line-of-credit or business loan to use when things get tight. You will want to set up an account with Bradstreet, Equifax, or some other credit reporting company to monitor your credit scores.
· Make sure you have the skills to be successful. You will be doing a lot of things you may not have done before such as hiring, training, and supervising people; managing programs, performing bookkeeping; networking and marketing; and making sure the business remains consistent with your goals and dreams. Do not take any of these skills lightly. Spend time reading useful guides and other materials and attending relevant training.
There is a lot more ground to cover in discussing the process of small business start-up. However, this gives you a general idea of some of the priorities you need to be focusing on as you move forward in fulfilling your dream.
Steven Watson, PhD has been a small business owner for 8 years and currently owns two businesses – a home health agency and professional copywriting and resume company. He also has over 10 years of experience working in federal, state, and local government agencies as a manager.
Useful Resources
Successful business owners and managers understand themselves and are able to connect with other people. Here is a resource that will help you to maximize your potential as a manager and leader Click Here!
If you are interested in learning more about small business financing without the use of your personal resources, check out this site Click Here!
Here is another interesting resource you can take a look at if you want to know more about how to build your skills as a successful manager and leader of your business Click Here!
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