Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

I am thinking about starting my own business, but I’m too scared to quit my job. What should I do? Part 2

Here are ten tips to help you beat the odds and launch your business successfully (or maybe to help you decide that your salaried job isn’t all that bad after all):

1. Research! Make sure there is a market for your product or service. Don’t be blinded by a good idea that either nobody wants (such as snowmobiles in Florida) or everybody has already thought of (as in warm ‘n fuzzy coffee houses, which are splattered across every Main Street in America).

How about Franchising?
Franchising is big business … mostly because it works. When considering starting or buying a business, it never hurts to look at franchises.

On one hand, buying a franchise can be expensive, and you have to go by their rules. On the other hand, though, if you pick your franchise carefully (remember, do your research!) you get the benefit of their business plan and marketing strategy. As a result, the failure rate for franchises is almost half that for other businesses.

Surf around and plug in search word “franchise.” You’ll find more info than you know what to do with. A good place to start is Entrepreneur Magazine. Their website, www.Entrepreneur.com, lists top franchises and has other good info about the risks and opportunities of franchising.

1. Learn! Read books and take classes about business. Having a great product or service is half the challenge. Learning how to manage a business is the rest. Get ideas from the Small Business Administration (www.sba.gov) and the National Federation of Independent Business (www.nfib.com).

2. Listen! Talk to other small-business owners about your idea. Ask for their opinions…and then listen carefully. Best bet: Find a mentor who is willing to advise you. Where to start: The Service Corps of Retired Executives (www.score.org).

3. Draft a business plan! Commit your vision to paper. If you can’t “see it” and articulate it, odds are you won’t be able to achieve it. There are samples all over the internet, including the SBA (which you might as well bookmark, because it has some great info for small business owners.

Work on it, revise it, re-draft it until it makes sense to you and to others, leaving as few leaps of faith as possible. (Fewer leaps of faith = greater odds of success.) This will be your startup blue print. Most business people absolutely hate doing a biz plan, but virtually all successful business people have them. (Your biz plan is also what your banker will want to see before giving you a line of credit.)

4. Get credit! Set up a line of credit at your bank or credit union, even if you never tap into it. The number one reason for business failures in this country is undercapitalization.

5. Worry! Especially when it comes to money, stress and worry are a natural part of being in business. Get used to it.

6. Master time management! Successful business owners devote 60 to 70 hours a week, especially in the startup years … and that’s not just putting in time. It’s working hard and smart. Learn to make the most of it. Time management is crucial.

7. Keep good records! Otherwise, the IRS could have a field day. Find a system that works for you.

8. Make quarterly tax payments to the fed and state. And if you have employees, get your unemployment and workers comp insurance and tax payments in on time. A lot of businesses go belly up after April 15, when they are surprised to discover that the IRS really does want several pounds of your flesh. Quarterly payments can be painful. But they’re a walk in the park compared to getting clobbered across the bridge of the nose by a five-figure tax hit in April.

9. Commit! Once you’ve done all your homework and planning, you are either in or you are out. Make a decision and do not look back. So, distinguish between a hobby (non-profit) and a business (for profit). Toe dipping, just giving it a try, is a sure way to fail. Even if yours will be a part-time business, decide just how part-time it will be.

The bottom line: Starting and running a successful business is a demanding task. It takes hard work and long hours. Still, while many don’t make it, there are still those millions who have. You could be one of them.

Work hard. Make money. Have fun.

           

Posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 11:43 am and is filed under Boardroom, Entrepreneurial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.