What’s the worst that could happen?
One of the things that comes up in a lot of biographies of successful people is that they wish they could go back and do it all over again. Not necessarily the same life, but the challenge of starting from nothing, or even less than nothing, and building something they can be proud of.
Starting a business isn’t easy. There is a lot of content out there about all the challenges to starting a business.
But don’t let those deter you from trying. If you feel it in your soul that you need to start a business in your lifetime then there is no better time to do it than now.
And if you’re worried about some things, hopefully this list can alleviate some of that concern.
1. Motivation
When you start a business your motivation is at an all time high. There are a number of reasons to start a business. Most, if not all, will give you more than enough motivation to get through the initial stages. There will be trying times and you’ll have to come back to what motivates in order to persevere. Make a mental note of what motivates you to start the company. Then come back to it later when you need it.
2. Time
It’s amazing how your time opens up when you’re motivated to start a business. Watching TV and Netflix become less important. All these little things that take up your time take a backseat and you’re very focused. You can even still keep your full-time job and find time to work on a business on the side. Even if you have family there is still time for it all.
Make sure you leave time for sleep. You can still work 8 full-time hours, sleep 8 hours and have the other 8 hours for working on your business. Cut out some for eating and family and there is all kinds of time to spend working on your new company.
3. First Paying Customer
One of the biggest lessons for me in business was learning that you don’t have to do anything for a business before you get your first paying customer. In fact, many business owners I’ve come across have experienced their most successful business by first getting a customer. They didn’t setup an official company. They didn’t find an office. They got a customer first.
What’s the easy part of this? It narrows your focus. You start thinking about what somebody will pay for and not what you think is a good idea. Focus on finding a paying customer first and the rest gets much easier.
4. Finding Employees
People have a lot of options for jobs these days. On on hand, that is challenging for business owners and managers. But on the other hand it makes it relatively easy to find employees. Even for a new business. Certain people like the challenge of a new business. Some like the possible option of getting some ownership stake. If you’re looking to start or expand a new business it can be relatively easy to find people to add to the team. Start with your professional network. Explain the job you have and see if they know anybody that would fit.
5. Filing The Corporation
It’s pretty easy to start a company these days. In terms of the legal. You can do the LLC thing online for most states. You can work with a lawyer. That’s usually not a bad idea from the start, but typically you can do it very easily and even if do something wrong from the start you can sort it out later. Don’t worry too much about this one. Definitely don’t let it stop you from starting.
6. The Name
Don’t overthink the name of your new company. It’s a procrastination technique that many of us use to avoid actually starting a business. We worry that our name defines our company. That’s really not true. Your actions with the company define the brand. The name is just the way people associate with the actions. “Google” is a nonsense name for a business. “Apple” is about as generic as it gets and it wasn’t even original at the time. It had been the name of the Beatle’s record label.
Pick a name and go with it.
7. Feedback
You’ll get lots of unsolicited feedback about your new venture. That can be good and bad. It’s a good way to learn while you’re trying to figure out what the business is and what it should focus on. You definitely don’t have to worry about hearing from friends, colleagues and customers.
8. Simplifying The Product
Most businesses need to simplify their product. The good news is that it can be really easy and because it’s easy you actually improve the product early in the process. The difficult part is knowing that it’s okay to make things simpler and then doing it.
9. Process Documentation
This is another one that is easy once you know that you have to do it. Get into the habit of documenting what you do with the business. The same for your employees. Documenting allows you to delegate. It also allows you to discover things that could be improved and made more efficient.
10. Competition SWOT
Looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the competition is relatively easy. You just need to take the step to actually doing it. You can do it on yourself when you launch and in the coming years. Also take the time to know your competition. Learn as much as you can and look for holes in the market that you can fill.
Final Thought
There are lots of difficult things involved with starting a business. However, there really are very few things that you can overcome. We put a lot of barriers in front of ourselves in life and in business. The hope with this list is to let you know that there are also easy things involved with starting a business. The big reality is that even the worst that could happen is often really not that bad. So why not get started?