Are you Suited to Run a Start-up?

So Are You Suited To Run A Start-Up Business?

So your thinking of starting your own business? Before investing time and money, it is essential to determine whether you are the right person to be in business.

Entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson, James Dyson and Simon Cowell have a glamorous image, but the reality is many start-ups struggle to survive. One in three may fail within the first three years.

There’s no doubt it takes a special kind of person to ride the storm of being in business. It takes the desire to succeed, courage, perseverance and a great deal of willpower. You will need all of these traits and qualities to continue to work at it in the face of setbacks you will inevitably have to deal with.

Important Questions to Ask Yourself

If you have been in employment for the last few years, then ask your self the following questions:

• Did you ever have a time where you didn’t get paid for two months, and you had to chase your boss for your pay cheque?
• You have had to do overtime and did not get paid for it, so an order got out on time?
• Found you have had to do everything for your employer such as cleaning the toilets to meeting with potential new customers?
• Started a job and was then asked to change it or have it pulled away from you with no notice whatsoever?

The reality of business is that customers are very different from employers. If an employer was to do some of the things above, then they may get some disgruntled employees at best and at worst an employment tribunal. However, listed above are some examples of day to day business issues.

It’s not all doom and gloom. If you can handle to stresses of being in business, there are significant rewards for those who get it right. The freedom to choose when you work, who you work for and how you will work to name a few!

Review your Personal Finances

The first and most vital step that any prospective business owner should take is to review their own personal finances. There are two reasons for this.

• Will the money you earn from your own business cover your personal expenses?
• Do you have the money to invest in your business, or will you need funding from the bank or other financial institution?

Preparing a list of current monthly expenses. Then the bare minimum you would need if you were to trim back and cut out luxury activities such as holidays and expensive gym memberships. All your outgoings calculated are your monthly expenses.

Next look at what you own and what you owe. Property and investments, savings and motor vehicles all fall under what you own. What you owe can include items such as mortgage balance, loans outstanding and credit cards.

So the difference between what you own minus what you owe is your net worth. This is what the bank will consider you are worth in regards to any financial application and will base the figure the may lend to you.

Identify Stakeholders

Take time to identify all the potential stakeholders of your personal finances. These can include dependent family members, people you owe money to and the even the beneficiaries of your will. Decide whether you need to discuss your plans with them

What is your personality type?

There are three main personality types requires to run a successful business: The entrepreneur who defines the business, the technician who is the is the hands-on person and the manager who is the bridge between the two.

For many small business owners, the technician usually dominates, often to the detriment of the overall business: For example, a gardener thoroughly enjoys mowing lawns, this personality leans heavily towards the technician.

Are you self motivated?

Self-motivated people have certain traits, being decisive, self-disciplined and self-starters. If you want to own a business so you can stay in bed in the morning or you think you might not have to work forty hours a week, you might want to stick with your 9 to 5 job.

The truth is, you will be working far more than forty hours a week for quite a while, and most often with very little money to show for it.

Can You be Your Own Boss?

There won’t be anyone telling you what to do, how to do it and when it needs to be done. Your new boss is your customer, and they often want things done yesterday. You need to be able to make decisions, and be disciplined enough to work at it every day, no matter how discouraged you might be.

And, the fact that you are your own boss means you should be self-directing too. It means you should be able to prioritise, plan well, meet deadlines and be able to work until the job is done whether that takes fifteen minutes or eighteen hours a day.

Can You Deal with Stress?

How well do you deal with stress? How do you deal with uncertainty? Successful entrepreneurs need to deal with both well. Running a business is stressful at the best of times, and can be extremely stressful when things aren’t going well.

Things are rarely certain in business. That big client you have that you think is so loyal could simply decide to go elsewhere for no reason that’s apparent t

Are you Willing to Sacrifice

Are you able to make short term sacrifice for long term gain? It might be tempting, for example, to take the first thousand pounds your company earns and spend it on clothes or your house or your car, but is that necessarily the best thing for your small business? Or should you be leaving the money in the company and using it to build your business?

Along with technical skills, most entrepreneurs have to be a jack of all trades, at least from the beginning. Let’s say you build the best widget in the country. Assuming that you have leased a space and have all your tools ready. One of the first things you may want to do is source suppliers that can provide the parts you will need to assemble the widget. The next step may be to negotiate with them so you can get the best prices and terms. So now you’re a purchasing agent as well as a manufacturer.

Customers aren’t going to come and find you, so you have to figure out ways to let people know who you are, where you are and what you can do for them. That means you also need to know something about marketing.

How are your office skills?

You are required to keep proper records, so you are a bookkeeper too. And you’re responsible for all your small business’ financial decisions, so you’re going to have to know something about finance. You will probably have to answer the phones and make appointments, which means you are also a secretary.

Are you a quick learner?

Since its unlikely that you possess all those skills and you probably can’t afford to hire someone to do most of those jobs. You will have to be willing to learn new things and be able to pick them up quickly.

You won’t see any direct money for these jobs either. Are you willing to put in the hours it takes to learn these skills? And to perform them without seeing immediate results?

Do You Have Patience?

Finally, procrastination and owning a business do not seem to go well together. Are you are the type of person who tends to put off until tomorrow what can be done today. If so, then you might not be suited to owning your own business.

Nobody is going to be the perfect entrepreneur. It’s doubtful there is anyone who has all the personality traits discussed here. But, you should at least be willing to take an honest look at yourself. You may discover you do have some of the characteristics mentioned. Just as important is the ability to know how to compensate for areas where you are weak.

Many people have ideas, but few decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. “The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.”

This is the start of an exciting new venture in your life. In a few years from now, you will look back on as this as the best decision that you ever made.