Tips for starting your own business

Joy took a buyout package and is thinking about starting her own business. The trouble is she doesn’t know where to start. She was initially thinking of a home-based business but the envelope stuffing and re-mailing “opportunities” seemed shady — she’s right; they are. You need to start by finding out if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Here’s 10 Yes/No question test for prospective entrepreneurs. Don’t be fooled by the Yes/No; the questions are thought-proving and require some soul searching. The more Yes answers, the better your chances of success.

1. Can you delegate without micromanaging? No one succeeds by making all the decisions. Why? There are too many decisions.

Jim Pawlak Building a business requires a team. At some point in the growth stage, the owner must rely on the team to make some decisions so he/she can maintain focus on the core business. Every time focus diverts from the core so does success.

Being able to hire and groom talent — and let them do what you hired them to do — is a problem area for many entrepreneurs.

2. Are you self-motivated and disciplined?

3. Are you willing to work hard for as long as it takes?

4. Are your personal relationships strong enough to withstand starting a business? If you want to work a forty-hour week, running a business isn’t for you. Most retailers and service businesses are open seven days a week; most commercial businesses are open six. Most owners do paperwork after hours, too. Figure you’ll be working 70-80 hour weeks.

Those extra hours slice deeply into family and leisure time. You’ll have to be an expert time manager and delegate authority to your team (remember Question 1) if you’re going to make those dance recitals, soccer games, dinners and vacations. If your family isn’t behind the venture, too, it will cause friction and stress — just what you don’t need when you’re starting up.

5. Are you willing to be your best salesperson?

6. Can you pick yourself up and get back in the game when business knocks you down?

7. Can you handle rejection?

8. Do you interact well with others? If people don’t believe in the owner, the business will fail.

9. Do you have financial backing? You must be able to sell people on you, particularly in B2B ventures, before they’ll buy your products and services. Don’t expect to make a sale just because you open your doors. You need a sales and marketing plan that includes sales and customer service training.

In B2B, it’s unlikely that you’ll find a prospect that isn’t already doing business with a competitor. You must change their mind; that takes time. Also, you’re going to hear ‘No’ more times than ‘Yes’. Hearing ‘No’ several times before you get a ‘Yes’ puts a strain on finances and on an investor’s patience. Most small businesses fail in their first two years because they run out of money. Their owners underestimated how long it would take to get from ‘No’ to ‘Yes’.

‘No’ also take a toll on the psyche because it creates doubt. When you doubt, you fail.

10. Do you have experience in the type of business you want to start? This is a corollary to Questions 5 through 9. If you have no experience in your new business, you are learning as you go. Mistakes will be made. Mistake cost money and time — neither of which you can afford to waste.

Additionally, if you have no experience, you may find that you’ve poured money into a business that you don’t like.

A friend of mine bought a printing franchise thinking it would offset his lack of experience. Good thinking to a point. After three months, he realized he didn’t like the printing business.