SolveYourProblem
Article Series:
Start
A Home Business
Business
Mentality:
Preparing Yourself To Start a Business
by Jeff Cohen
People say that starting your own business
is difficult. Guess what? They’re not kidding. Starting a business,
in many ways, is a lot like having a child – and would you
just have a child without thinking it through first? Before
you get started, here are some thoughts you need to consider
and discuss with anyone you can.
Can You Afford to Fail?
You may have heard the old saying ‘only gamble what you can
afford to lose’. Well, however you approach it, starting your
own business is still gambling. A massive percentage of businesses
fail in their first year. If your financial situation is such
that you agonize over every small amount you spend, starting
a business is probably a bad idea.
Put it this way: do not expect to succeed overnight. Expect
that you will fail and have to try, try again. Take notice
and be pleasantly surprised if things start going your way.
Note that this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t believe in yourself
and your business – simply that you have to realize the kind
of odds you’re up against, and stay realistic.
Will You Stick To It?
You can’t get halfway through all this and have a sudden change
of heart, or feel like you’re doomed to fail. All successful
businesses spend plenty of time performing badly before they
start to pick up. You need to prepare yourself for a steady
stream of failure being slowly replaced by success. Don’t expect
the world all at once.
Can You Take the Stress?
Starting a business is one of the most stressful things you
can do. It will affect you mentally, physically and emotionally.
You need to be strong to deal with this kind of stress, and
you need to have someone to turn to for support.
Are You a Survivor?
There are some people who always seem to make it in the end,
regardless of what life throws at them. You need to be the
kind of person whose response to things going wrong is to work
harder and get it fixed, not someone who cries and goes into
hiding.
Many entrepreneurs say that this, more than anything, is the
secret to success. You need to be a ‘never say die’ kind of
person. You need to be always ready to try again, no matter
what gets thrown at you. Remember that it’s not when things
start to go wrong that you fail – you haven’t failed until
you’ve given up.
Be Prepared to Work Hard
If you’ve been working a standard nine-to-five job, you’re
probably used to a world where it’s someone else’s responsibility
if the job doesn’t get done – you work as fast as you can for
the hours you’re told to, and if it’s not done on time then
it’s the manager’s fault for not hiring enough people. When
you work on your own, though, there’s no-one to blame – the
buck stops where it starts, with you.
You Need to Satisfy Every Customer
When you run a home business, you can’t afford to lose any
customers. You need to always be nice to them, trying to meet
(and hopefully exceed) their needs. You have to remember that
you’re the most senior person they can talk to in this organization,
and you have to act like it. When there’s no-one other than
you to handle complaints, you have to either give in to customers
at every opportunity or watch them take their business elsewhere.
Do You Really Love What You Do?
If you don’t love what you do, then sooner or later you’re
going to want to stop doing it – and when you run a home business,
that’s difficult. Besides, you can’t run a home business if
you’re always sitting and thinking about how great it’ll be
when it’s the weekend. No, the only way to succeed in home
business is to be absolutely sure that you really love what
you’re doing. If you can think of another job you’d rather
have, then you’re in trouble.
Think of it this way: could you run up to someone on the street
with a leaflet about your business, and tell them all about
it in a way that would really leave an impression? It doesn’t
matter whether you actually could or not – if you think everyone
will be interested, then, believe me, they will be.
# # # # # SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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