11 things to do before starting a business

How many times you said: “I’m sick of working here! I’m tired of everybody bossing me around.”? If you thought about this at least, that means you had enough and it’s time to take your life in your own hands and be your own boss. Success doesn’t just happen. You need to work hard to get there, unless you’re a spoiled brat and your father puts everything on a plate for you of course. It’s easy to sit on the couch watching Oprah and thinking that “if it’s meant to be, it will happen”. Doesn’t work that way. You need to get up and if you really want something, go fight for it. One way to stop asking your mother for rent money is to become an entrepreneur. It’s not simple, but you will not regret it.

I’m going to give you few tips that you need to know before starting your own business:

1. Choose something that you like – isn’t the fact that you are doing everyday the same boring thing at work one of the reasons you want to quit your job? When you don’t like something, you are not motivated and you are as productive as a dog chasing its tale, putting effort in something without results. You will have to invest a lot of time in this so why not choose something that you enjoy?

2. Try to find a business partner – but be careful who you choose. A business partner must be someone who you can trust. There must be no doubt whatsoever between you. It’s easier to have someone to share the investment and share the duties with.

3. Start your business while you still have another job – at first think of your business as a hobby that you’re doing in your spare time, see how it works out and if things are on an ascending path, you can quit your everyday job and invest the whole time into your company.

4. Take your time when thinking what business you should start – this is the hardest part before starting a business. Thinking about what to sell. Don’t rush into anything that later might bring you regrets. One way of coming with a good idea is writing anything that comes into your mind in Excel. For example write down 50 ideas. After that have a better look at them, look them up on the internet and learn about each of them to see how productive they are. Narrow up the list to 10. For these 10 write everything from resources needed, workers needed, time necessary for development and then compare them. A good method for finding so many ideas is having a brain-storm with your business partner.

5. Be original – don’t invest in something that is already a fully developed “trend”. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel, try to find another use for it. Look around and see what people like, what they need and don’t have. Make your business the new trend.

6. Research the market – After you decided, do some research about your potential business. Find your target people (age, gender), check your competitors and see how’s the economy in that area.

7. Information – getting information is free. Use the internet in a more productive manner than you usually do when you look for movies or games. Your country or the EU might be offering generous funds for what you are trying to build.

8. Choose your name carefully – find something catchy. Test it! Ask people on the street what’s their opinion.

9. Ask for professional advice – don’t act like a know-it-all person. Look for some professional guidance when it comes to accounting or legal advices.

10. Funds – always make sure you have some back-up funds for the unpredictable. Let’s say you need 5000 euros to star your business. Put 15 – 20% more and you are good to go.

11. There is a risk in everything – Richard Branson said in one of his books that brave people don’t live forever but at least they cherish their lives, meanwhile, people who are afraid don’t live at all. You may fail from time to time but there is no such thing as a complete failure.

When you decide that you want to change your life know that it’s not everything all sunshine and rainbows. There is no perfection in anything. You will have obstacles that you need to jump. The main thing is not to give up. If you’re successful, continue. If you’re down on the floor, get up and be stronger than ever. Don’t think from the start that you will be the richest man alive because it doesn’t happen over night.

Remember, when you start a business don’t think of yourself as “the boss”. Think of yourself as a leader. As a boss, people will do what you want and they will stab you in the back with the first chance they get. You will become the thing that you despise the most now. As a leader people will follow and respect you!