The Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Starting a Business
Naomi Simson
B.Comm GAICD Non Exec Director, Entrepreneur, Business Owner, Keynote Speaker, Author
This is an excerpt from my new, soon to be released, book Ready to Soar.
Perhaps you have an idea or a vision for a business, or you simply want to be your own boss. You want to be an 'entrepreneur', lead a business, create something truly worthwhile and valuable. You want to make the world a better place.
In fact the five biggest reasons why people think they want to start a business are:
- I want to do what I love;
- I want to make a fortune;
- I want to ‘live the dream’;
- I want to be my own boss; and
- my idea is brilliant – everyone will buy it.
Do any of these resonate with you?
This might be what you think when you yearn for the great big open space of creating a business from scratch – but even the first step on your entrepreneurial journey might seem dif-ficult to take. Which is the right step, you ask yourself? What should I do first?
You might have friends or family who run a business and you think some do it well and others don’t seem to. You have seen high-profile entrepreneurs talking about how they overcame obstacles to create their enterprise – and you dream that might be you.
You think that perhaps they might be very clever, or they may thrive on taking risks – and you are not sure if you are that person. After all, you have worked long and hard for what you are already doing in your life – you might have a secure job or a mortgage, both of which make you think that maybe the idea you have should stay on the shelf until the day when you have more time, energy and money to get started on creating a business.
If you have ever thought about running your own business, then your preparation starts now.
The first step is to establish your best way forward - to ask yourself some hard questions: 'are you cut out to be an entrepreneur?' 'how do you know if this is the sort of life that you want to have?' I’m happy to share my personal experience but even more interestingly is the stories of many other founders that I have worked with, mentored, coached, invested in or sometimes dragged kicking and screaming on their journey.
Learning from others is a powerful first step in working out what sort of journey you would like to be on. This might even happen before the idea germinates.
The next step though is as important as working out if it is for you, it is about getting ready for launch: getting your pitch right, understanding what a pivot is, knowing all the things that you need to consider in starting a business. What about funding, finance and cash? Money is to business what breathing is to life, and understanding before launch what your key numbers will be will help you make the decision about whether to proceed or not.
There is much to this story - but an investment in a few hours to read, consume and participate in Ready to Soar - could save you a fortune, maybe make you a fortune - it is definitely an investment in you - the leader of your journey.
My intention with Ready to Soar is to help you on a journey to entrepreneurial freedom, of making your dreams come true – I want to help you control your business rather than your business controlling you.
Join me, pre-order a copy and join the conversation.
Naomi Simson is the founding director of Australian online tech success story RedBalloon and Redii. She has written more than 950 blog posts at NaomiSimson.com, is a professional speaker, author of Live What You Love & Ready To Soar and is one of five “Sharks” on TEN’s business reality show Shark Tank 9.00pm. Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook
--executive director
8 年Any idea for me please
Director at Kargaindia and PROCA
8 年I believe there are many articles that tell you the steps for starting a business but no one talks about the things you must do even before those business-startup-steps. Some of these ‘pre-business’ steps can save you from wasting time, energy and money because it’ll help you understand the basic viability of the business you’re thinking of doing! Just like there is an ‘instruction sheet’ for board-games without which you will never understand the game, This article is just like ‘instruction page’ for your ‘Beauty, Grooming and Wellness Business’. It covers all the basic things like you must read a few articles to know whether someone’s already done this before you, things to consider when studying if your idea has a market, what price should you sell your product at and thus whether you will be profitable ever, etc. https://www.thechairr.com/thechairrsays/steps-to-take-before-the-steps-to-start-your-own-business/
Agile project manager at Zinkworks Ireland Co founder of Midlands Women in Tech
8 年Sheila Keane
SMSF Manager & Bush Pilot
8 年Sure you wanna be your own boss but are you prepared to be a slave to your dream? Investing in your new business is like handing your savings to a financial planner - no guarantee of success, just a guarantee it will cost you heaps, even if you fail. The smartest thing you can do is get your accountant to crunch some realistic numbers up front.