5 Things to Consider Before Starting Your Own Small Business

Want to leave your job? Think you can make it out there on your own? Why not start your own small business? Before you do that, consider this…

Did you know that most new small businesses fail because of poor planning which creates financial problems, stress, a lack of direction or a lack of hope.  In many cases, these businesses could have thrived if only the owner considered these five things before starting their own small business.

Consideration #1:  Your Resourcefulness Game Needs To Be On Fire

There will be so many things that you don’t know the answers to at the beginning of your business and throughout because you won’t have the experience.  The buck will stop with you, and you will have to find a solution for problems you don’t have experience with, but the problem is most people are not very resourceful.  Nor do they realise how resourceful they will need to be when starting a small business.

Resourcefulness is one of the first skills you need to learn if you are starting a small business.

Tip! Fast-track your resourcefulness by making a decision right from the offset that if you don’t know what to do, you will do everything within your power to research, network and ask questions until you find the answers you need to succeed.

Consideration #2: Your Plan For Your Business Should Be Watertight

Most people start a business without a plan.  They don’t know what prices their competitors charge, what suppliers can offer, the cost of their marketing or even how to market their business.  They don’t know how to recruit staff, and in some cases, they may not have factored in everything they need to consider about their financials (their personal, business and contingencies for both).  

This is usually because they are too laid back, too emotionally invested in an idea or haven’t developed the resourcefulness they need to complete a thorough plan, including risk assessments for their business.

Big mistake.  

If you have established your business on paper, you will make the whole process of starting your own small business so much easier on yourself. Plus you’ll make much better decisions.

Consideration #3:  You Are About To Experience A New Level Of Personal And Professional Development

You may have years behind you of personal discovery and development, but if you are starting your own business, you’ll soon discover you’ve still got a lot to learn about yourself.  

And if you don’t like personal development, and are considering starting your own business, it’s time to brace yourself because you won’t be able to avoid it.

Starting a small business will test you personally, it will find your weaknesses even the tiniest issue and challenge them until you are forced to step up the plate and face them head-on.  

Consideration #4: You Will Require Resilience In Bucket Loads

But these are the times when you have to look at how far you’ve come, and how close you are to where you want to be, and you have to bounce back.

There’s not much that will challenge you more than your own business, and you are going to need to be resilient.  There will be highs, and lows, people will let you down, you might even let yourself down.  

But if you bounce back and you have a solid plan, then you will achieve your goals.  You just need to remember that during this time.

Tip! May we also point out that if you have a good business plan, you can use this as a resource to remind you how you are going to fix a problem, and what your goals are.  Use your plan as a motivational tool too to help you find some resilience when you need it the most.  

Consideration #5: Your Comfort Zone Will Be A Thing Of The Past

You probably already realise that if you start a new small business that you are going to be out of your comfort zone.  But what you probably don’t appreciate is how far out of your comfort zone you will be and for how long.

As you build your business you’ll be learning and growing as much and as fast as your business grows.  New problems and challenges will arise on the daily, and you’ll have to find the means to resolve them.  But then when you’ve mastered those and your business starts to grow, you’ll have to go through new growing pains and new experiences and once again be out of your comfort zone.

Even if you reach a plateau with your business and you don’t want or need to grow any further, you’ll need to deal with new people daily, different changes to your industry and even different changes to your lifestyle that might influence your business.  

In fact, a business that is too much in their comfort zone is probably a weak one.  

So buckle up for the ride… 

Are you considering switching up careers or taking a leap of faith and going out on your own? Build the confidence and skills that’ll help you succeed with a small business course.