If you’ve been thinking about starting a small business for some time now, you’ve probably been searching for advice on the web. The trouble is, most of the articles out there tell you the same things.
For instance, you need a business plan; you should make sure your idea is a good one and so on. While all of these tips are important, they don’t tell you whether you’re genuinely ready to start your own company or not.
After all, launching a business isn’t an easy feat. Although it has it’s great points – like the ability to work from home, you’ll also have a significant amount of stress and some new challenges to handle. If you’re wondering whether you’re ready to handle the entrepreneur lifestyle, start by doing these crucial things.
1. Overcome the excuses
There are a lot of people who complain about their boss and dream about running their own businesses out there. So, why aren’t there fewer employees and more CEOs? The simple answer is that you may be holding yourself back. When you’re afraid that you may fail and end up with absolutely no cash in your bank account, you start coming up with excuses to stop yourself from taking the next step.
You won’t be prepared to start your company until you’ve overcame these excuses. For instance, if you keep telling yourself, you can’t afford to become an entrepreneur remember that 99% of businesses start with a loan. Most people don’t have the cash to launch an entire corporation in their bank. Don’t let something so simple hold you back.
2. Become a lifelong learner
Anyone can benefit from a long-term commitment to learning. Even as an employee, the more you learn, the more you open yourself up to opportunities for promotions and new responsibilities.
However, as an entrepreneur, you need to develop a passion for learning before you get started. Remember, you won’t just be learning how to run your company, you’ll also be finding out more about your customers, the marketplace you’re launching into, and more.
As you progress through your life as a new entrepreneur, you may even need to learn some new skills along the way. For instance, you’ll need to know how to manage people to run a successful team, and how to promote yourself to sell your products. If you’re not good at learning consistently, then you might not thrive as a business owner.
3. Commit to simplifying things
As you begin to run your business, you’ll realize that keeping everything under control isn’t easy. You’ll have a lot of things to manage, from your team to your marketing campaigns, your cash flow, and even your accounts. The simpler you can make your business, the better off you’ll be. Rather than getting carried away with grand ideas from day one, start with a basic USP and an idea of who you want to sell to. Sell small and tell yourself that you’ll get bigger going forward.
Additionally, remember to get help when and where you need it. Rather than telling yourself you can play every role in your business, remember that sometimes you’re going to need specialist support. If you need a marketing team, find the budget to pay for one. If you have no clue how to build a website, hire a graphic designer – even if it’s just on a temporary freelance basis. Simplifying things also means taking jobs off your plate that you can’t do yourself.
4. Make sure you know the legal stuff
If you’ve taken our advice from the tip above, then you should be hiring accountants and lawyers to help with the legal side of running your business. However, that doesn’t mean you can go in blind. To make sure that you’re prepared for a life as an entrepreneur, spend some time reading about the structure of different business types, and the kind of accounting system you’ll need to have in place.
Before you start launching anything, make sure that you know whether you need to register your business with your state. Additionally, it helps to learn about employer laws, so you can bring on the extra assistance you need as soon as possible. The rules that you’ll need to follow will depend on your industry, business structure, and where you live.
5. Learn how to live with nothing
Finally, all entrepreneurs want their businesses to be successful – but that success doesn’t happen overnight. Over half of all new companies fail in the first five years, and even the successful ones have their bad patches. Make sure that when you’re preparing to launch your company, you have a plan for what you can do when your finances go sideways.
For instance, a loan to tide you over personally while you wait for certain payments to come through might be the best way to keep your business afloat in bad patches. If you decide to take this route, make sure you compare your options and get the best interest rates.