There are a lot of factors to consider when starting a business.
Primary among these are the three “P”s – Plan, Prepare and Persist.
Plan
After you have selected some ideas from your brainstorming to base your
business around, create a plan of attack. List what you'll need before
your business starts. What will your ongoing expenses be? Factors
include rent, utilities, permits, licensing, legal fees, inventory,
staff, design, marketing collateral, mailing lists, software,
advertising and more. Get as much as you can out on paper and set
deadlines to get things accomplished. This will allow you to evaluate
your pace.
Prepare
Once you have a plan, carry it out. Preparing to start a business can
be a lot of work. Tasks include getting an identity designed, creating
business cards, brochures, web sites and other marketing material,
consulting with CPA's, lawyers, and HR professionals, in some cases
finding and renting or buying a storefront or office, furnishing the
business space, getting utilities in place, receiving and organizing
inventory, getting a database for your customers and leads and any
number of other tasks. By running a home business, some of these steps
will already be taken care of, yet opening a business of any kind can
be an enormous task. While planning your business make sure to leave
plenty of time to get up and running. Better to plan your setup time
too long than too short and finding yourself running out of money.
Persist
This is the most important step of running a business. Without
persistence, you won't even be able to finish your business plan. Hang
on like a pit-bull. When the going gets tough, get tougher. Have worst
case scenario plans to fall back on, as well as best case scenario
plans.
Some businesses become over-night successes, while other take year to
develop. If you plan, prepare and persist, you’ve got a very good
chance of making it.
