Along with "This is the year I will lose weight!" and "This is the year I will stop smoking!" Quite a few people dream "This IS the year I will start my own business!"...the dream resolution!!! Lots of people plan it but it does not always happen, at least not in a way that lasts. So, before you have just another New Year Resolution that didn't last until the next lot, here are some things to think about.
Are you self-motivated and disciplined? If you cannot get out of bed without being forced out by a hungry and insistent cat, the chances are that you may well not have the motivation to run a business. You have to motivate yourself to do a hundred and one different things some of which you may not like but still have to be done and which may not get done unless you do them. I do not like making phone calls, I have before my blog really started to take off done telesales from home, but only purely to get some money. Depending on your business you may have to force yourself to make calls, or to go and visit people. Running a business is not about staying in bed half the day, spending much of the rest of it in your pajamas and watching the telly no matter how many get rich quick internet ads try to tell you otherwise.
Are you afraid of hard work? You think that running your own business is an easier option do you? Well, you are very wrong. If you think it is too much hard work to work for someone else, then wait until you have a business of your own. I am getting better at switching off in the evenings and weekends but all the many tasks there are to do can easily find you working long hours and seven days a week, at least at the start.
Are you able to delegate some tasks? Running a business, even this blog involves loads of tasks not just the running of the business itself. Many of my readers I know and I am very grateful, would love to see me write more articles but I am not able to afford yet to pay for help and so I alone not only have to write the articles but market the blog as well. There is no point in my writing, if nobody sees it. It is very hard to try to do all the tasks both practical and administrative yourself and it is much better to delegate, even if you do have to pay for help. Also, being a good delegator is an excellent skill in itself, people are much more inclined to help you if they see that you can ask for and welcome assistance, however, certainly in the early days you may financially have no choice but to carry on alone.
Seriously ask yourself if your personal relationships with family and friends are strong enough to withstand your starting a business. Starting a business will not only take time away from your family but also may put a strain on your partner and family financially. You really do need to be sure that you have accessed all the financial help and support there may be out there, any state benefits that you are entitled to and grants that you can apply for, and that your partner is willing to carry and support you with the drop in income coming into the home that there may well be before the business really gets going. It will be even more strain on you if your mother-in-law who is not keen on you in any event is feeling that her beloved son or daughter is having to work even harder to support you and maybe children while you as she may see it ...won't get a decent job. On the subject of getting a decent job, you may find yourself surprised and hurt even, that friends and family seem unenthusiastic about your new career that you have such high hopes for. However, try to better understand this from my experience, loads of people want to be a writer as I do, I want to be a writer on age, health and employment issues ~ a journalist? well yes !! but many do not make it successfully in journalism or as writers of any kind including fiction, as a first career, never mind when like me they take it up as a woman in her fifties who was a nursery nurse and should still be working until 66, had it not been for health issues. Family and friends on the whole care about you, when they sound like they are putting down your ambitions, it is very often because like the experience I have had with friends and family, they worry about you and especially if they are older do not believe that a job is a job and has any security unless like a friend of mine says if I mention any kind of work online ~ do they pay everything for you? meaning tax and national insurance and a pension. This friend of mine does not believe that a job is a job unless you have been for an interview in a physical building ...If this sort of concern is going to give you a big guilt trip for
worrying and putting stress on people who care about you or even as in the case of your partner and family may rely on you having a regular income, you will need to ask yourself if you can take the pressure.
For more Google: when family and friends don't support your business
Do you have financial backing? One of the main reasons for a business failure is lack of sound financial underpinning before you begin. You really should have enough financial resources to see you through until the business is giving you enough profit to live on ...if you haven't then it is not a business; it is a hobby. This might sound sarcastic and harsh to any readers trying to start a business but your business is your bread and butter and it needs to be able to put food on the table, pay the mortgage or the rent and the gas and electricity bill among others. If it isn't and you are still e.g. having to claim state benefits because you are not making any money, then it is not a business. It seems initially unfair that Jobseekers allowance in the UK frowns on claimants doing such things as Avon and other direct sales schemes. You may think that Oh, this is going to lead to my own business, indeed Avon, Kleenezee, Bettaware and the like will all tell you that you will be making thousands in a few months and spending most of your time on the beach. Well, maybe not in the UK but you will have a nice new posh fancy car ...but the reality is that unless you are very lucky, you won't , although it can be done but takes time to build up and if you are claiming job seekers allowance then in effect you are being paid to look for a job and your job as far as the Job Centre think IS looking for a job and if you are doing Avon and other such schemes then you have a job, even if it not yet making enough money to live on ....
Can you handle rejection? or are you a sensitive soul? You need a thick skin to run a business. Rejection of what you are offering lurks around every corner, not only from family and friends rejecting your ambitions, but from customers, bankers and investors, grant makers, to name a few. Can you actually sell? Are you persuasive? even I as a writer need to be able to sell my services, every business whether it be crafts, photography, a service such as cleaning, all depend on having someone who needs what you are offering ...you need customers. This means selling yourself and your service. My blog is a service to my readers and I have to sell it i.e. get readers. If you hate selling, then you will find it hard to run any business. I remember when I was saving up to get a deposit to buy my own home and as well as baby sitting I did some shifts in a call centre at evenings and weekend selling kitchens and bathrooms. One potential customer I called was incredibly rude to me at the end of my introduction and I actually dared not that this was allowed but he was so rude when I had finished that I asked him why he had let me finish what I was saying and he said, I knew you are reading from a script and I didn’t want to interrupt you so I let you finish!!
Do you have staying power ...or do you give up easily? The world is sadly full of a lot of job seekers who are desperate to get a job having failed at running their own business. The chances of failure are high, especially in the first few years. One of the things that most stands a chance of ending a business venture is not being financially prepared at the beginning and having enough behind you or coming in from elsewhere to live on while you build the business up to making a profit.
How well do you get on with others? There are businesses that you can run almost solo from your desk or the kitchen table, and these may well be ideal if you are a loner, but for most people being a business owner means that you will have to interact and do it well with other people. This may even in time include knowing how to manage your own staff. How are your leadership skills? are you a good team player? So many of the skills you need in running your own business are the same ones as when working for an employer.
Do you actually have experience and knowledge in the business you want to run? One of the terms I see most often on the internet related to blogging and running a successful high earning website is Niche blogs or sites and which subjects (niches) are high earning http://onlineincometeacher.com/money/top-earning-blogs/ ......However, while weight loss is one of the most profitable niches to write about for making money , you will stand a much better chance of being successful in your business if you actually know about the field it is in . Many of my reader’s comment on my unique style and the humour with which I write on the subjects I do, the issues of being an older and disabled person looking for work...that may well be because I have been one, so I write from personal experience. The most successful business owners have knowledge and experience of what they do...and an enthusiasm for it.
Good luck !!! and keep that resolution!!
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