20 Steps to Starting a Small Business
If starting a business was easy, everyone would do it. However,I can tell you based on experience that it is the most rewardingthing you could do to earn the kind of money that you will neversee in a job.
The steps to starting a small business are easyto understand but difficult to implement – not because theimplementation is an arduous process but because most people simplydo not have the resolve that it takes to follow through.
Most people get stuck before they start because they let theirminds take them out of the game. If your mind says to you thingslike; it’s risky, job security is important and I’mnot cut out for business then you will fail.
On the other hand if you replace those thoughts with empoweringthoughts such as; I’m in the process of learning to be a greatbusiness person then eventually you will become one.
Business is all about learning to become comfortable with riskbut, as they say, “the greater the risk, the greater the reward.”
Here’s a list of 20 steps to starting a small business. These20 things are solely based on experience after having started 3very successful, and now not so small, businesses.
1. Do something you love. Unless you choose a business that youare passionate about your will most likely fail before you get started.Starting a business for money is the last thing that should be oneyour mind.
2. Quit your job when you’re business is making money. Manypeople make the mistake of quitting their job before the money startsto roll. Most businesses can be started in your spare time and thenwhen they start to make money, enough to replace your current income,is when you should quit your job.
3. Planning is everything. Have a clearly laid out plan such asa business and financial plan. Sure the plans may change along theway but at least you’ll know where you’re going.
4. Learn from someone who’s already successful at the businessyou want to be in. Trial and error is the longest route to success,don’t do it. Find a mentor or pay for information from anexpert.
5. Learn how to sell. Selling is the key to business. If you’renot selling it’s not a business it’s a hobby.
6. Raise your level of energy. If you’ve ever heard the expression,”how you do anything is how you do everything,” then you’ll wantto raise your energy to a new level to get a new result. If yougo into business with the same level of energy you use in your jobyou will fail.
7. Try to resist the temptation to focus on your business problems.Fixing problems will only create more problems. Focus on what’sworking and you’ll get more of what’s working.
8. One of the quickest paths to success is to help others getwhat they want first. If you help others first you will have whatever you’ve given out ten times over.
9. Pay yourself first. You must get in the habit of paying yourselfrather that for everything else. If you learn to pay yourself andare grateful for the money then more will come.
10. Make sure that whatever you do you have a big dream. Nothingbig ever got created with a small idea.
11. Create a mastermind group. If you tried to push a boulderup a hill by yourself you would quickly realize that it is impossibleto do so unless you had the help of others. A mastermind group isa great way of learning from and empowering others in the process.
12. Choose a business that has good cash flow and low overhead.Sounds simple but many rush into things with little or no knowledgeof what makes a business fiscally sound.
13. Know exactly what you want. The number one reason why peopledon’t succeed or get what they want is they don’t knowingexactly what that is. Figure out first what you want in businessand in your personal life and you will stand a much better chanceof getting it.
14. Keep an open mind. Many things that happen in business arenot what you’d want or even intended but, please know that thesethings have been custom designed to get you what you want fasterthan you think is possible. Therefore, don’t take failures as asign that you should quit. Thomas Edison said that, “success is99% failure.”
15. Never ever quit. Quitters never win and winners never quit.
16. Become a “learn-it-all.” Learning is the key tobusiness success. That’s why know-it-alls never win. Thoseare the people who say they know a lot but know very little. If,on the other hand, you become a learn-it-all you will never stoplearning and that is not only the key to business but to life itself.
17. Keep a lot of cash in your pocket. Cash will make you feeldifferent and it attracts more cash. Cash is king! Ever heard that?It’s also a lot easier to negotiate when you have cash.
18. Spend just enough to keep the business moving forward. Youwill have to risk investment but you must temper that with the potentialreward. Spending money based on a whim is not a good idea. Get expertadvice on when and where you should invest.
19. Become an expert marketer. Marketing is not the same as sellingand is certainly not the same as having a great product. You couldhave the greatest product on the planet but if no one knows aboutit then how much of your product will you sell?
20. Automation, automation, automation. It’s not a businessunless you can walk away from it for a couple months and come backand it’s still in the same shape and earning the same amountof money as when you left. If not, then it’s not a business,you’ve created yourself a job. Show me where is says “job”in “small business.”
These 20 steps to starting a small business have been brought toyou by me. If someone had given me these steps to starting my businessesit would have made things much much easier. But, for many yearsI struggled needlessly.
Everything that is stated in these 20 steps to starting a smallbusiness I have used and continue to use in my businesses. I onlywish that more people would learn them and adopt them.
85% of all business start-ups fail. Which simply means that mostof them did not follow this advice or didn’t know about itin the first place? Now you know, so you have no excuses.
Paul Tobey
StreetSmart Marketer
PS: These 20 steps to starting a small business are part of theoverall StreetSmart Marketer plan to help you build a successfulbusiness. For more information subscribe to our Free MarketingTips Magazine.