Getting YOU Business Ready – You're the most important ASSET in your business.

Getting YOU business ready before you even start your new business venture is super important.

Now we can all get carried away by the excitement of starting your own business. And we should. But it’s important we address the realities of what we are about to get into. Dreams won’t run the business and pay the bills. Yes, solid business planning is required. But more importantly, being aware and realistic about the effort required by YOU along with the sacrifices and risks associated with owning and running a business is so important before you start.

It's so important to address YOUR readiness to start up and run a business before you do.

Thinking through and being aware of what lays ahead in terms of the personal effort, time and cost you need to invest in getting your business off the ground is key. Setting your expectations about the impact and benefits this will have on you and your family before you start will put you in good shape once your business is up and running. Don’t be fooled, curve balls will come your way despite your best laid plans. It might not be until sometime way down the track, but they will come. How you absorb and respond to them is key.

People will say garbage, just get started and follow your dreams before someone else beats you to it.

Fair point. However, no-one is suggesting you don’t follow your dreams. All I am saying is understand that what you are about to start requires a significant investment by YOU and will unlikely be all smooth sailing. There will be roadblocks, it will get lonely at times, you will question yourself, those around you may get worried, the business may not scale as quickly as you anticipate. I could go on but you get the drift.

And you know what? If by chance, you don’t experience any of these things, then at the very least, you’ve prepared yourself and are ready to step up to the challenges, if or when they do occur.

How Business Ready are you?

I’ve spoken to many people who have started up a business. Many had their own personal stories, experiences and tips about starting up a business. Most were reflective on what they may have done differently before they started. I’ve pulled together some of the common themes and questions business owners talked about. Have a think about these from your own perspective before you fully jump into your business and start this exciting journey. They may help. Here we go:

Why are you doing this? – Be very clear on the reasons you are setting out on this journey and what success looks like. If you think it’s a fast track to making incredible money and wealth, be careful. It’s a long journey to create a sustainable business. Many new businesses fail within the first 3 years. Set realistic expectations for yourself and for those close to you that are on this journey too. They are your support team so make sure you’re all on the same page. Don’t gloss over the risks, it’s much easier to address them upfront.

How passionate are you about this business? You need to be prepared to commit for years to building this business as it won’t happen overnight. You’ll need to get up every day to drive it, whether it’s flying along or struggling. It will all be on your shoulders, the expectations of your customers, your employees, family and more.?You’ll need to commit to this for the next 3 to 10 years. New competitors will emerge, circumstances will change, businesses will evolve. Your commitment and passion for the business, to spruik it, to lift it when times get tough and keep evolving it and renewing it will be essential. Think carefully about this question. It’s hard to stop once you get started.

How will you manage maintaining the lifestyle you have created? Will the lifestyle for you and your family be impacted while you build this business? How will you manage it? What sacrifices are you and those dependent on you prepared to make? Work life balance will go out the door. It’s likely your income will be far less than what it has been (at least initially) while you build the business. You won’t have access to annual leave or the benefits traditional employment offers like you may have once had. You’ll be at the beckon call of the business for years.

How will YOU manage rejection? It’s funny. When you start a business, after doing your planning, completing a SWAT analysis, segmenting and getting clear on your addressable market, launching your product... many people are convinced everything will just fall into place. Customers will appear, revenue will roll in, the business will scale easily…how easy is this? Well, maybe you’ll be one of the 1% this happens to. If you’re not though, how will you handle the ups and downs that will come your way? You may experience rejection along the way by potential customers or investors who fail to see the value in your product or service offering or business model. How will you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and find a way to push through? You’ll need resilience to lead and inspire belief in your business when things get rough or don’t go your way.

How will your close personal and professional networks change? If part of your business plan suggests that your large personal or professional network will jump on board with your new venture, support it and spruik it through their networks, think again. Many business owners reported experiencing a real shift in their networks. It may be because your business takes you into a different sector meaning you have less interaction with your network. It may be because they don’t fully appreciate or understand what you’re doing or why you’re doing it. It can get very lonely and you may feel a sense of loss of your professional identity that’s taken years to build and defined who you are. For warned is for armed. It may not happen, but if does, you're prepared and it’s just one less thing to worry about. Think about how you will stay connected with your network. And most importantly, how will you set about building new networks?

The Business,gov.au website - Are you ready to start a business provides you with some fantastic insights and resources. I suggest you visit the site and check it out.

If nothing else, make sure YOU have someone you TRUST to TALK to.

This article is unashamedly about getting YOU business ready. The facts are owning and running a business can get very lonely. There will be incredible highs and, yes, incredible lows in this journey you are starting. It can be all consuming if we let it. So, acknowledging this upfront, putting in place some simple support frameworks and committing to looking after your personal wellbeing is just so important when you start out. Because if you don’t, no-one else will. Ask yourself:

·???????Who’s in your corner to TALK to when you need someone to just listen to you or bounce stuff off?

·???????Who do you TRUST and give PERMISSION to give you tough feedback along the way, even when you don’t ask for it?

·???????How will look after your Health and Wellbeing?

Addressing these questions and putting in place some support structures can make a workd of difference from the start. After all, YOU are the most important asset your business has.

We’ll chat more about these in my next blog, “Managing YOUR Health and Wellbeing" where we'll talk about Self-Care strategies for running your business and staying healthy”.

Stay Tuned.

Good luck.

Andrew Jarvis

CEO CircleSource

P.S. If you like this article or have your experience to share, please leave a comment below. Would love to hear from you.