Before You Start Your Business
There are lots of good sources for information on how to start your own business. SCORE, the Kitsap Business Assistance Center, and Olympic College all have great workshops on the many topics you need before you take this step. Many of these topics have been covered in this column and include preparing a business plan, market research, customer service, pricing, and why businesses fail.
However, before you take this big step of starting your own business, and even before writing your business plan, you need to take time and prepare a personal plan.
This personal plan outlines the reasons why you want to start a business and makes an assessment of what you bring to the business.
The first question to answer is “Why do you want to go into business?” Having conducted over 50 SCORE Business Plan workshops, I have asked this question of the attendees. The responses are surprising. The number one response is to have more control of my life. Most felt that if they are going to work hard they would rather work for themselves rather than someone else. The second response it to have an opportunity to be more creative and the third is to make a contribution.
Only after these three, is the response to make more money. Money is important but it is not always number one.
So make sure that you understand your reason for starting a business.
Next comes having what I call a “Personal Plan”. Set your personal goals first and then set your business goals. What is important –family, children, college, leisure time, retirement? Where do you want to be in 5, 10 or 20 years? Make your business work for you and not visa versa. This also applies to those currently in business. Many current owners forgot why they went into business in the first place.
Then you need to make an assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. Besides having an expertise in their core discipline, small businesses owners need to know something about a lot of subjects. You can’t know nothing about some of these subjects. For example, if you know absolutely zero about accounting, you won’t even know what to ask your accountant. Sometimes you can learn these as you go, but remember you will have a business to run. It may be better to prepare first.
One also needs a personality assessment. What is your P & T quotient? I always suggest that people starting their own business need P & T. This is not patience and time. Most entrepreneurs I know don’t have a high degree of patience and they certainly don’t have lots of time. It is persistence and tenacity. When you are down and things seem tough, it is a persistent and tenacious attitude that wins the day. Most successful small business owners have P & T.
Finally there is one last step before you prepare to go into business. It’s a real agreement with your spouse or significant other. You don’t want to be in the situation later, after you have started your own business, and things have hit a rough patch, when your spouse says “Well I never wanted you to start your own business anyway”.
Small businesses are the heart and soul of American free enterprise and good luck to those who start. Remember, most people don’t regret the things they do, only the things they didn’t do.
This article was written by Seattle SCORE Chapter member Fred Parkinson for the Kitsap Sun in Bremerton.