Deciding Whether You Should Start Your Own Business

I’ve decided that in this post we need to step back a little. In past articles, I already got you thinking about what you want to sell and how you can make money, but you should really ask yourself another question first. Is starting a business really right for you?

It is not going to be easy. Money will certainly not flow in right away and it may never happen if you haven’t carefully planned out your business. Can you operate without money and the security of a regular job for 6 months +? Are you able to focus on the opportunity of your business rather than your current status?

In addition to the financial state of mind that you need to be ready for there are many other differences. You need to be willing to learn. There are many aspects that go into a successful business and no doubt that in at least one of these areas, you won’t have much experience. You may have to do some reading. You may want to consider finding a mentor, someone who has been through it already and succeeded and maybe even failed once or twice too. You can learn a lot from other people. Learning from their mistakes can save you a lot of time.

Are you willing to be responsible for an entire company? It’s not something to take lightly. The decisions you make will greatly affect the success of your company. Can you manage others? Different people have different motivations. Can you cater to these, changing your managing style depending on who you are dealing with?

Are you willing to work hard to make your business successful? It may even mean longer hours than you’d put into a normal job, but if you feel strongly about what you are working on, you’ll still love what you are doing.

There is no security and it may not pay well, but if you feel passionately about what you are doing, you will do well as long as you put a little thought into the details. A good idea is to try starting your business part time to see if it's really want you want to do. This is great time to do all of the planning necessary before you actually start.

The rest of this blog is about helping you consider some of the details I’ve run into.

Good luck on this important decision!