The Entrepreneur-Logic Report

Different people have different needs, different situations and different mindsets.

Read the following information, to learn about entrepreneurship

Starting a business in your 20's 

If you are in your 20's and you desire to be an entrepreneur, good for you. Congratulations on making a career choice to start your own business at a young age. Most business people are at least 35 when they start a business, but there is no reason you can’t be successful.

As a person who was born with technology at their fingertips, there are so many options for you. You can start a side hustle, or you can start a business. Maybe you’ll create the next "YouTube sensation," start a digital marketing agency, or become a social influencer? The world really is at your fingertips today if you’re in your 20s. However, you may need to make some sacrifices.

Stop Partying (all the time)

You don’t have to give up all your fun, but the truth is, partying every weekend is not the way to create a successful business - at least not in the beginning when you’re doing a lot of the work yourself that you can later outsource.

Get a Financial Education

Educate yourself in finance, both business, and personal. There is a lot of information that you likely don’t know, or even know how to ask to get the right answers. When you don’t even know what questions to ask, it puts you in a dangerous situation. Instead, accept that there are things you don’t know yet and educate yourself about them.

Explore Ideas

Make a list of your ideas that fit in with your skill set or things you’d like to learn. Take a course, find a mentor, or get a business coach to help you get started faster. Doing the research beforehand is better than jumping right in. Give yourself a few months to explore ideas.

Write a Business Plan

Once you are set on your idea, write a business plan. Visit the local SCORE.org office to get some help with this. Check out your local library, college, or university for classes, workshops, and more regarding starting a business to get some assistance.

Once you have chosen a business and have the plan, that means you’ve investigated all aspects and are ready to start. Set your intention by putting all tasks and actions in a calendar for you and anyone on your team. Then do the steps and start the business. You will be so happy you did. By the time you’re 35, you’ll have an established business while your friends are just getting started. 

Starting a business in your 30's

If you’re in your 30's and considering starting a business, there must be a big reason to make you want to do it. You may be unhappy in your job, or you may enjoy what you do so much you want to start your own firm. Starting a business in your 30's puts you in good company, though, since most people start a business around the age of 35.

In your 30's you’ve likely already had a lot of experience and education in something that is causing you to be filled with the dream of entrepreneurship. It could be based on what you are doing now, but it might be something totally unexpected. 

Maybe now you have kids too, and you realize that the old job doesn’t give you the time freedom that you need, and you feel as if you’re missing out on your kids’ lives. So, you set up a business the entire family can work in. Whatever the reason, it’s a great time to start a business. 

Some great business ideas for people in their 30's are software companies, digital ad agencies, and so much more. To come up with the right business for you, ask yourself what you’re trying to achieve. How do you want your life to look once the business is established? Do you want to be location independent, or do you want to start something in your local area? Do you want to earn millions, or are you fine with six figures? All these factors matter when choosing the business.

How can you support yourself while you start this business? 

It’s important to know how you can do it financially and be successful. You likely already have a mortgage and other bills to contend with that you didn’t have in your 20's. Make a budget. Cut back, tighten your belt, and jump in. Look to your business plan to determine what you need.

Am I really leaving a stable job for this? 

If you know you have savings and can finance your start-up, it may cross your mind that you are nuts to leave a stable job. And plenty of people will tell you that very thing without you even asking. But is a job really that stable? What makes it stable? Won’t the jobs you create also be considered stable jobs?

What about your training, experience, and knowledge? 

You may think you’re wasting it, especially if you’re going in a new direction. But who says you must do the same thing forever? Why can’t you change your life if you want to? If you’ve been in corporate finance since you graduated college at 22 years old but now you want to start a software firm, you’ll use some of the skills, but it’s different enough to give you a change if that’s what you desire.

Will this business, if successful, give me the results I desire? 

Before picking the business you are going to run (probably for at least the next 10 years), make sure it’s really what you want to do, and that is how you want to live your life. Imagine a day in the life establishing the business, and what a day in the life will be like once the business is well established. 

You can literally start any type of business you want to in your 30's. There are very few barriers to entry for any type of business other than resources. Do you have the funds, skills, and ability to do it? If you do, go for it. 

Starting a business in your 40's

Did you know that a landmark study of almost three million start-ups discovered that the best age to start a business is not as young as you may think? There are a lot of examples of entrepreneurs that started in their 40's and are uber successful.

* People like Donald Fisher who co-founded The Gap was 41 when he founded that company in 1969. Today that company is a nine-billion-dollar company. 

* How about Brenda Cascio, who in her late 40's started GB Design House - a wedding customization company which today sells more than a million dollars' worth annually. 

* Auria Abraham, at age 44, founded Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen which can be found under the same website (https://auriasmalaysiankitchen.com/). She started mostly for work-life balance after having her first child at 39.

* Robert Noyce founded Intel when he was 41 years old. You know the rest of that story and what a success this visionary company is. 

* Reid Hoffman founded LinkedIn in his 30's, but was in his 40's when the business went public. 

In fact, according to the study, a business founder’s age being in the 40's means that their business has two times the average chance of success. That means if you want to start a business in your 40's, it’s an ideal time to do it.

There is one thing that stands out as a reason for this fact, and that is implementation or execution. You can have all the dreams and ideas you want but without executing the plan, you won’t see success. And the fact is, people who are older with more experience tend to be much better at execution. 

Most 40-year-old people also have something that most 20-year-old people don’t have, which is access to start-up funding. You may already earn a decent wage in your career, and you’re more established and know more about what you want. 

Maybe you have savings or equity in your home. Even if you were a stay-at-home parent, by the time you reach your 40s, you still have more confidence in who you are and what you know (and are more aware and accepting that there are things you don’t know) than a 20-something person. 

You can start any type of business you are interested in, from digital companies to physical companies. You can create software or start a new clothing line. It’s totally up to you. While there is age discrimination in the workplace, there is no age discrimination for starting a business; in fact, you’re more likely to get VC funding if you’re older and have more working experience.

The key to being successful is to do something you know, love, and really feel passionate about. You know how to do it because you have the experience to create your business plan and follow it to success. 

Starting a business in your 50's

There is no doubt that the 50's is a good time to start a business. Anything you’ve heard to the contrary is wrong. You have almost three times as much chance of creating a successful business than at any other age. Let’s look at a couple examples.

* Leo Goodwin founded GEICO, the well-known insurance company, in the 1930's when he was 50 years old, along with his wife. He considered it a family business at the time even though it was not usual for a wife to work with her husband at a business like this. 

* Wally Blume started his ice cream business Denali Flavors in 1995 when he was in his mid-50s. The business makes ice-cream in 40 flavors like black raspberry and caramel brownie. In the old days, he sometimes had really strange flavors too.

* Carol Gardner started her company Zelda Wisdom (https://www.zeldawisdom.com/), a greeting card company, after a divorce. She’s been featured on Oprah, Martha and various morning shows around the country.

As you see, you can start any type of business you can dream up if you have the right skill set and ability to invest in yourself and your idea and share the vision with the world. You can start a large business or a small business. You can start a solo operation or build a big firm. It’s totally up to you and your goals.

Your best bet is to become the expert on your niche even before you begin. That way, it won’t be a big shock when you start. Do your due diligence, identify your market, set up your start-up budget, craft a marketing plan, and go for it. 

Don’t forget to use the contacts you’ve built up over the years. You’ll want to let everyone know that you’ve started the business or are going to, and you want them involved. If you are deficient in modern technology, consider bringing on other experts that have that skill either as a partner, employee or as a contractor.

The most important thing you can do when you have decided to start a business is to set a timeline right now for when you want to have your grand opening. Then get started on the planning and organizing so that you have a calendar full of things to do that will lead to your new business success. 

Starting a business in retirement

If you ask most people when they will retire, they’ll tell you they won’t ever retire. Most people today actually plan to bring income home forever. Some plan to have side gigs or to work as a freelancer or consultant, and some plan to start full-fledged businesses. What’s awesome is that there isn’t really a better time in your life to start a business.

Here are some businesses you can start in retirement:

* Financial Advisor – Depending on how you want to go about this, you may not even need new credentials. You can help young people and families set up their financial futures with sound advice.

* Consulting – Whatever you do now, you can do as a business owner, or as a freelancer, in a consulting capacity. If you’re an expert, especially if you’ve written papers or books, becoming a consultant is almost a no-brainer. 

* Digital Marketing Agency – If you are experienced with marketing, you can start your own marketing agency. Digital marketing is a big thing today and if you have worked in this field a long time and have the experience, you can make an impact here.

* Real Estate – There are tons of things you can do in real estate that will be more hands-off, such as starting a management company to help people manage their rentals. Maybe you have a nice property and want to rent out portions for events or rooms in your home. Or you can invest in flipping or start bed and breakfast. Some retirees just like getting their real estate license and selling. 

* Buy Something – You can also buy a business you are interested in that is already successful, and run that. Some businesses can run with absentee owners too. It’s totally up to you how you choose to run a business.

You’re going to be successful in whatever you do because you’ve lived a lot. You’ve experienced life. You know things that other people don’t know just by having been on the Earth longer than them. 

You Know Who You Are 

While there may be some retired individuals who still don’t know who they are, that’s not likely. If you are having issues about not being sure, seek some help through a business or life coach (or even counseling) so that you can become clear on who you are.

You Know What Hard Work Is 

You’ve had a career; you know what hard work is. You’ve learned from others and know what to do and what to avoid. You’re ready because you have all this experience.

You Are Dedicated 

Having worked your entire life until retirement, you are a dedicated person who can stick to something for long periods, even if it’s hard or not always fun. Having a business can sometimes be hard, and that is going to help you.

You Can Execute Your Plans 

The thing that sets apart dreamers and entrepreneurs is execution. If you can implement your plans after you’ve done your due diligence, then you will succeed. 

You Already Have Authority 

When you’re retired and have lived a good life, you already experience some trust that someone in their 20's won’t automatically receive. For example, when is the last time you went to any type of financial advisor who was in their 20's that you trusted? 

When you do decide to start a business at this age, it might be more enjoyable to find something that you truly have a passion for doing. Maybe you have a hobby that you’d love to turn into a business? Maybe you love your job now and want to start your own firm? 

Whatever it is that you do, usually by retirement you are done with doing things you really hate, but you also know how to get through those things by outsourcing, delegating, or just scheduling it and putting your nose to the grindstone. 

Starting a business when you're a stay-at-home parent

If you’re a stay-at-home parent today, you’re in luck. There are so many types of businesses that you can start that if you really want to do it and you take the time to choose wisely, there is truly no limit to what you can accomplish and earn in your own business.

When you start your own business, you can design it the way you need it to be for your family. For example, if you don’t want to leave your house for the work, you don’t have to. Choose something that enables you to stay home. If you don’t want to be beholden to clients and customers during the day at set hours, you can accomplish that too. The sky is the limit. 

Let’s look at some flexible ideas that will take into consideration the family for a stay-at-home parent who wants to start a business.

* Sell Your Arts and Crafts – If you are good at making things, you can start a business selling them. The key here is to set your prices higher rather than lower as they are exclusive handmade items. Don’t price like Walmart; you’re not Walmart and you’re making something very personal and handmade. 

* Social Media Manager – If you are savvy with social media like Instagram and Instagram Stories and know how to get attention online, you can start your own social media digital agency and handle other businesses’ social media. You can do this at 3 am while kids are sleeping if you must.

* Bookkeeping Business – You can become a bookkeeper from home today. You may need to work with local people, but it’s not difficult to set up automation for some of the work. You may need to go to your clients’ offices to pick up paperwork weekly, but you can access everything remotely via your computer. 

* Farming – If you have some land, you and your family can grow a local salad garden and supply local restaurants with local greens. Another alternative that is not hard and doesn’t require a lot of space is mushrooms. Some varieties must be bought locally due to problems with shipping. Whatever you grow can lead to selling cheese, jams, and so much more from your homestead. 

* YouTube Star – Believe it or not, plenty of moms and dads are staying home with their kids, traveling, and doing all sorts of freedom-oriented things as YouTube stars. Just because others are doing it doesn’t mean your idea won’t work. 

If you want to start a business as a stay-at-home parent, a good idea is to join some online groups. However, keep your wits about you. There are lots of scams that you want to avoid. If you really want to be an entrepreneur, take it seriously, do your research, and realize that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Having said that, there really are families making a lot of money on YouTube and other social platforms. 

You can also start as an entrepreneur even though you are in a full-time job already. We'll look at that next time.

Starting a business when you're already in a full-time job

If you have a full-time job but you desperately want to be an entrepreneur today, you can do it if you pick the right type of business. A digital business can be designed so that you don’t have to do it during specific hours or times. 

For example, if you decide to start a blogging business and make money as an affiliate marketer, it doesn’t matter when you create your content if you publish content that your audience wants to see regularly. 

If you’re interested in starting a business when you’re already in a full-time job, here are some ideas to investigate for yourself.

* Virtual Assistant – You can set up your VA business (kind of like a virtual secretary) to work in such a way that you are not available on call. You can have your clients assign work by a certain time for you to finish by a certain time. All they should care about are the deliverable's.

* Digital Marketing – If you start a digital marketing agency, you can easily do it while you have your full-time job due to software that enables you to schedule actions. So, on the weekends when you’re off, you can feed ten emails into your autoresponder plus ten blog posts into your blog schedule, and it’ll work for you all week.

* Blogger – As a blogger, you can create the content for your blog whenever you have the time. The system will schedule the blogs that you set up to be published regularly. No one will realize you wrote it at 2 am or that you wrote all ten blog posts in a series in a weekend. You make money via ads and products that you recommend.

* Graphic Design Firm – If you are good with Photoshop and other software that enables you to design beautiful graphics (from web banners to book covers), then you can start a graphic design firm. If you build websites too, that’s even more than your firm can do. Hire some help, and you have a real business that can go far. 

* Create an Online Course – Do you know how to do something that is super-cool and useful? Or, maybe it’s not even useful but other people want to do it? If so, you can create a course. Today, the software available like Teachable.com or aMember.com enables you to deliver courses without you even being there. 

* Become a Writer – You can start a writing business by becoming an author and self-publishing via Amazon and Kindle, or you can actually write as a service for other businesses that need content for their websites, ads, and brochures. 

There are many more ideas today that you can do from home even with a full-time job - even if you have kids. The main thing to consider is the flexibility that your business will afford you, and if it has the capability to earn enough money to replace your job or not. If it can’t replace your job, you may want to find something else. 

What about starting a business when you want a career change? We'll talk about that in our next email.

Starting a business when you want a career change

Are you considering starting a business because you dislike your job or you’re ready for a career change? If you love the idea of giving up your current career and making a big change to become an entrepreneur, you’re in luck because there hasn’t been a better time to start your own business. 

Take a Test Drive 

Don’t quit your job right away before you’re ready. You really do want to do this right for the maximum chance for success. For example, if you think you want to start a restaurant but you’ve not worked in one, you really should try to work in one a few times a week on your time off to get a feel for it.

If you want to start a digital job, you can test drive that easily at home via your laptop. You can give your idea a try by setting up a Facebook group for people who might want to buy your idea someday. See how much interest you can develop before quitting your job.

Be Willing to Commit

Sometimes when you want to change careers, you can get into a big hurry and act too fast. You must remember that even if you don’t like your job right now, it is paying the bills. You’ll need to be willing to work nights and weekends (or when you’re off work) to make your dream come true. But if you are willing to make a commitment to it, you will be successful once your idea is developed. 

Change Your Mindset

It’s hard to think like a business owner when you are still in a job. However, you’ll need to change your mindset when you are working on your business to that of an owner who is an expert over a person with a job. You’re the one in charge now, so you want to do things your way and the most appropriate way that will lead to success.

Replace Your Income before Quitting

You might not have to replace everything, but you should replace the needed portion of your income before you quit your day job to run your business full time. One thing to do is set up a budget. Read about the 50-30-20 budget, which is going to help you ensure you have enough to devote to your business. 

Remember that the only thing that can hold you back from starting your own business at any time in your life is you. If you don’t believe in your ideas, it’s hard to implement them. One way to believe in your ideas is to study and research your audience and your industry until you become an expert on both. 

Starting a business when you're out of work

The truth is, no matter how scary this time is, this is a great time to start your own business. You can take control of the situation you’re in and come out of it better than ever. If you didn’t lose your job, you might not ever be brave enough to become an entrepreneur. People like Mark Cuban, Kathryn Minshew, and even the most powerful woman on Wall Street, Sallie Krawcheck, all stared their businesses after being fired.

Being fired is a common way people end up in their own business, and it can be a very successful way to start. This is mostly because when people are afraid of starvation or losing their home, they tend to work harder and are much more committed. In fact, many entrepreneurs report being fired multiple times before finally getting the hint and going out on their own.

If you want to start your own business when you’re out of work, this is one time you should not delay finding a way to bring in income so you can work your dream. 

* Get Something on the Side – If your dream business is not a service-based business and you have to earn money for the product, consider starting a service-based business on the side like driving for a rideshare company, delivering groceries, or something like that which won’t distract you from your business.

* Live Off Your Unemployment – If you do get unemployment or you have some form of buyout package, you can live off that for a time. Cut all your extra expenses, such as eating out and buying clothing. Stick to the basics while you build the business.

* Know Your Skill Set – You should know that you are good at doing. Right now, it is not a time to try to learn something completely new because you are unemployed and need to get money coming in. You can work as a consultant doing what you did before, or you may have to figure out how your skills align with something else.

* What Do You Love? – Is there something you are good at that you really love doing and would do for free if you could? If there is something you get excited about that also has a way to earn income from it and build a business, what would it take to turn that into your business? 

* What Problems Can You Solve and for Whom? – Knowing who your ideal audience/client/customer is can help you figure out what problems you can solve for them using your skills, knowledge, and experience. 

* Determine How You’ll Market Your New Business – If money is tight, you may have to consider some interesting alternatives to get people to notice your business. For example, you may want to start a blog, or a YouTube channel or an Instagram, depending on which works best for your type of business. 

The main thing to realize is that nothing is stopping you from coming up with a million-dollar business idea and building it starting today, other than you. Chances are that if you are reading this, you already have at least a glimmer of an idea of what you want to do. Now you just need to research the idea, study the audience, and match it to your skill set and implement and execute, and you’re going to be a success. 

We've given many examples of the benefits of starting your own business. In our next email, we'll look at the flip side - when you should not become an entrepreneur.

When you should not become an entrepreneur

There are many reasons that people choose to become entrepreneur, but there are some that tend to be signs that the business idea won’t work out so well for the business owner. Let’s look at those reasons you should not become an entrepreneur.

* You Cannot Commit – If you cannot commit to a "workday" of some sort and a schedule to implement your ideas, it is not going to work out. You cannot make things happen, doing nothing. If you aren’t the type of person who can create a plan and then follow it to completion, a small business might not be for you. Maybe you want to find a remote job or a flexible alternative.

* You Hate Your Job – If you hate your job, it’s time to go find another one, but that’s not the only reason to start your own business. A lot of the things you dislike in your job might exist in the business too. For example, if you are currently a secretary and your boss is on your last nerve, becoming a virtual assistant isn’t going to solve that problem because you’ll end up with several "bosses." 

* You Don’t Want to Work Hard – If you think having your own business means doing nothing, you’ve read too many books and fantasies. Even the Four-Hour Work Week Guy did not work only four hours a week - at least not at first. There is a joke about being an entrepreneur that goes like this, "Only an entrepreneur chooses to work 80 hours a week because they did not want to work 40 hours a week for someone else." 

* You’re Not Willing to Learn New Things – As an entrepreneur, you’re going to have to learn about taxes, finance, and so many things that have nothing directly to do with your business. You cannot just rely on others when it comes to these things. If you are not willing to learn about these things, don’t start your own business, because you’ll end up failing your first tax year when you owe a ton of money you can’t pay.

* You Have No Family Support – If your family does not support you in your dream, it might not be the right time to start. This is true whether you’re a stay-at-home parent or the breadwinner, because the only way you can be successful in business is if your partner supports you. 

If you think becoming an entrepreneur is easier than working at a job, you are wrong. It’s different, for sure, but it’s not easier. If you aren’t good at being self-motivated, managing finances, and delegating while executing, entrepreneurship might not be for you. However, if you can get on board with what you need to do and do it, you can overcome any personality deficiency if you really want to do it and become a success. 

PART 2

So, You Want to Be an Entrepreneur?

People become entrepreneurs for many reasons. Sometimes it’s just because they cannot find a job that pays enough, is interesting enough, or challenges them enough. Other times it comes after a long life of working for others and moving up in a company and then realizing that they can do more with their own business. Yet others start a business because they want time freedom and flexibility.

While there are many reasons for becoming an entrepreneur, it’s critical to choose the right business and run it properly if you want to be successful. It’s fun to say you’re an entrepreneur, but it’s a whole other thing to really do it successfully.


=> What Is an Entrepreneur?

There is a lot of discussion about what makes an entrepreneur, both online and offline. For example, a freelancer is not really an entrepreneur in the sense of creating a business that they can retire from and still earn money, or sell to someone else to keep running into perpetuity.

An entrepreneur builds a business that can outlast them, while a freelancer earns money providing services or benefits to someone else for pay. But if that person is out of the picture, the freelancer won't get any money. An entrepreneur also takes a financial risk that is greater than average to run their business, while a freelancer generally doesn’t have that many expenses.

Both are perfectly legitimate ways to earn a living, but the goal is slightly different. One is to work and earn money, and the other is to build something that is about more than making money and will outlast you and earn money today. You can choose to call either one of these, freelancer or business owner, an entrepreneur, but technically there is a mindset difference that is very subtle:

* Entrepreneurs build a business that outlasts themselves
* Freelancers build jobs that support themselves and their family

It’s minimal but it is different, and is an important distinction when we are talking about becoming an entrepreneur. The following pages will give you information about starting your own business and becoming an entrepreneur that manages their own resources to run a business and build a business that will live on after they’re gone.


=> Do You Have the Right Personality to Be an Entrepreneur?

The other aspect of entrepreneurship that is important to note is whether you have the personality to do it or not. Are you self-motivated? Can you act without a boss? If you notice you are missing some of the personality traits that entrepreneurs possess, can you make up for it by buying those traits or skills?

What Characteristics Do You Need to Become an Entrepreneur?

There are lots of articles you can read online about all the personality traits that an entrepreneur should have. Many of them bring up the idea of being passionate about your work; however, there are more important things than passion when it comes to business success.

After all, some days you will hate your business. But you really don’t have to be that passionate about the work, just excited about the results. This list of skills and personality traits that you need to be successful all hinges on your ability to do the work.

* Expertise – You need to know what you are doing. Without that, you need to at least have someone you can call on who knows what they, as the expert, are doing. You can outsource everything in your business, so you don’t (for example) need to know how to build a website to be a website builder. You just need a plan for finding clients and assigning the work to other people.

* Perseverance – Once you start a business, you cannot give up when the first thing goes wrong. You need to be able to stick it out until you experience success. If you have done the research and you have the actions planned, you need to do those before throwing in the towel. Stick to it for at least a prescribed amount of time before quitting.

* Resilience – In truth, an entrepreneur needs to be able to fall and get back up immediately. Things are going to happen that cause you to second-guess yourself. That is normal. All businesses have normal ebbs and flows. Your ability to weather these storms is what will make you an entrepreneur.

* Resourcefulness – A lot of people think you need a lot of resources to start a business, but in truth, you just need to be resourceful enough to recognize when you have access to something amazing. For example, some of your resources may be money, people, or technology.

* Motivation – If you don’t have the natural ability to motivate yourself and others to achieve a vision or goal that you have in your own head, it’s going to be hard to be successful. However, if you lack motivation but you have the skills and desire, you can buy it in the form of a coach to help you find it.

* Commitment – This is the ability to truly be in your business 100 percent. You don’t want to dabble in this business and that business and play at business. You want to do your due diligence and then stick to a business and make it work.

* A Sense of Adventure – Owning and running a business is a journey that you’re going to take which is going to be a lot like being on a roller coaster. There will be ups and there will be downs. Sometimes you will go very fast between the two; that’s the way it is. They say that an entrepreneur likes to take the risk, but the truth is, a person who works for someone else is taking a risk too; they just don’t realize it.

The other traits are also important, but when you notice that entrepreneurs encompass all types of personalities, from introverts to extroverts and everything in between, you quickly realize what makes them successful.

Research and taking strategic forward action that helps you reach the goals you make is what it takes. In short, doing makes you successful. You can have all the intention in the world plus lots of plans, but if you don’t implement and do something, nothing will happen.

Once you make a choice to become an entrepreneur, the next thing you need to do is to decide which type of business you need to start to be successful.


=> Steps to Choose the Right Business for You

Choosing the right business to start, based on what you know about yourself thus far, is the first thing you need to do to build your dream. Let’s look at how you can choose the right business for you.

Step #1: Know How Much You Need / Want to Earn

This may seem like a weird place to start, but whether we like it or not, money is how we pay for our lives. It’s what enables us to get the education we want, go to the doctor, buy homes, enjoy entertainment and so much more.

Right now, you’ll want to look at the "pie in the sky" and the "big, hairy audacious dream" lifestyle and pick a number that you’d like to earn. Justify it by creating a little one-page budget, so you know it works.

Consider everything, including how much tax you’ll need to pay and potential business expenses. When it comes to earnings, the only thing that really matters is what you take home. That’s the money you can spend.

Step #2: Know Your Skill Set

The skills you have right now are essential to identify. What are you good at? As you evaluate different types of businesses, it’s imperative that you know what you do well, what you do poorly, and what you don’t ever want to do again.

You can start by listing the things you have done before, what you have education for doing, credentials for, and anything you’ve done for fun as well that required skill. Right now, just make a list without opinion or thought as to whether you like it or not. You may have the skill and hate it, but that’s not important right this moment.

Step #3: Identify the Right Type of Business for You

Considering your skill set, what industry do those fall in? Knowing the niche and industry where your skills fit in best is helpful. You may also decide to start with a particular type of business because you already know you want to do it. If you already think you know, what is it about that niche that calls to you?

One thing to consider is how much it costs to start that particular business. It’s also important to know what type of business you do not want to do. For example, if you absolutely never want to do anything with MLM, that’s great. Make it your goal to choose something else.

Based on your skills, write down a few different ideas that come to mind. Again, don’t use any type of judgment right now. After you’re done, you can go through and mark through the "no" ideas and highlight the "yes" ideas.

Step #4: Determine Who You Like Serving

One thing to look at in any given industry is the type of people you like working with. If you don’t like the people who are served by that type of business, you’ll hate your business. If you like the people who you serve, you’re going to love your business and feel good about it.

Write down a description of the type of person you’d like to work with. What are their values? What are their problems? Do they have money to pay for problem solving? How many are they? Can you earn a living from that audience?

Step #5: Know Why You Will Do This

It’s also important to always keep in mind why you are choosing a particular type of business. Know your why - whether it’s because you had a problem that you found the solution for, or if it’s because you like working with the type of people that this business serves, or something else. Your story is your story. Be sure to tell it to your audience.

Taking the time to explore alternatives and new opportunities before you get started is all part of the process and journey of becoming an entrepreneur. Many people spend a lot of time researching until they find just the right thing. Once you do find the right thing, you can easily get started in your business. Let’s look at the ways.


=> Know How You’ll Manage All Aspects of Your Business

Once you know the niche, the industry, and the people you’ll serve, you can start thinking about how you’ll run and manage your business. A typical business has several aspects that needs to be managed. Yours may have all of these or only some, but you need to consider how you’ll deal with each one that applies to your business.

Production

How will you produce your product or solution? What type of product are you making? Is it physical or digital? How and who will make it? How much will it cost? What are all the parts you need to work together to get it to work?

For example, if you want to promote and sell affiliate software, that’s a digital product. Will you outsource the project to someone who is going to code it for you? Can you code it? You need to plan out every single aspect of production and know who is responsible for it.

Research and Development

How will you research your audience to keep creating amazing products for them? How will you research your competition? What means will you use to compile the data you collect? How often will you look at it and what will you use it for?

Purchasing

It depends on your business, but all companies have to make purchases. You need to create a process for purchases, even if it’s just you. How do you decide the price and who to choose to buy from? How will you keep track of the vendors you use? Who will maintain the relationships?

Marketing

No business can succeed without marketing. What type of marketing do you want to do, and how will you do it? In this case, you may need to start with your budget and then choose your marketing method based on how much you can invest.

Online marketing is an important marketing method to use today. You can probably get started online less expensively than television, but you should determine which is best based on your business and your audience’s needs.

Sales

Do you need to hire people, work with joint venture partners, or bring on some affiliates? What software will you use? What features should it have? How will you handle sales? What type of software do you need to manage your customer relationships?

For example, when someone buys from you, that’s only one part of the sale. There are transactional emails and follow-ups that must be done to ensure customer happiness and satisfaction so that you can create repeat buyers.

Human Resources

How will you handle your freelancers, employees, and others who work with and for you? Are you aware of the legalities of each? Is there a professional you can outsource to on a contract basis that you know about? Do you want to hire someone full time to deal with this? If you have several employees and contractors, it’s in your best interest to have someone on staff or a contractor you can call on to ensure you’re doing things legally.

Accounting and Finance

What is your chosen business structure? How will you do your bookkeeping? Will you use a specific program? Will you hire a CPA to help? Do you have the skills to do it yourself? What about paying your taxes? Paying quarterly taxes (USA) is imperative. You must pay on every single dollar you earn from day one of your business.

Getting this appropriately organized is imperative. More than one business has taken a fall even though they were profitable due to unpaid taxes, and sometimes they even end up paying more than they should due to poor organization and commingling of business funds and personal funds.

You need to figure out each of these characteristics of your business and figure out how you’ll deal with them. You may need to develop a team, find mentors to help you, take a course, or any number of actions to get started. Go through each area with your business in mind to make an action list.


=> Run Your Business Right

Once you have figured out the business you want to start, know who your audience is and where they are, and get things in place to get started, you’ll need to ensure that you are legal and running your business right. To do that, you need the best tools you can afford, and a plan to follow going forward.

Get Legal

It depends on where you live and the type of business you are starting, but in most cases, you’re going to need to get a business license. In some cases, you'll need more than one. How much the business license costs and the type depend on where you live too.

Check out the potential for needing the following:

* Business license
* Federal and state (or county) tax ID
* Registered business
* Permits
* Licensing
* Business bank account
* Trademarks
* Copyrights
* Patents
* Business structure
* Inspections
* Labels
* Other

Get Support

Like most things, it totally depends on your situation, but you need support as an entrepreneur - people that you can go to who will always tell you the truth and who also support your dreams. You may want to involve a coach, family members, a mentor, or someone else like a professional banker, CPA, or something like that.

Before you hire a coach, be sure to get to know them first. Check out their groups, pages, and websites, and join one of their less expensive options first to make sure you’re a good fit. Any professional you want to bring on your team for support should be vetted to ensure they share your dreams and your values.

Learn from the Experts

Identify three to five movers and shakers in your niche to follow so you can start learning. They may be your competition too. You can learn so much from them as you build out your business idea. They say that the best place to open a successful coffee shop is right across the street from a successful coffee shop. Don’t fear your competition.

Your competition doesn’t have to be someone who is "bad." The competition is not the enemy. You can learn from them and even team up with them on issues you both care about. But mostly, you can learn from them. Learn what they do well and learn what they do poorly so you can do better.

Find and Get to Know Your Audience

Now that you know who you’ll serve and what you want to do for them, it’s time to find the audience and get to know them. You can use Google Alerts to set up a keyword or term that will then send you emails every day about that topic.

Follow the people your audience follows. Read the news they read. Get to know the gurus they like to follow too, whether you like them or not. There is something about them that your audience likes, and you can help them.

Create Processes and Systems

One thing that is important if you want to be a successful entrepreneur is to set up processes and systems for the business. The more you can automate, the better. For example, if you can automate your inventory process, you will make more money. That’s how Walmart took over the discount department stores.

Set up processes for everything, even things you cannot automate. For example, when you check the mail, you should have a process for that. When you set up processes and times to do tasks, you can turn them into habits and become much more efficient.

Read about the Butterfly Effect

Learn what you can about the butterfly effect and incremental change. When you realize that every little step you do in an orderly manner will get you to the end, it becomes a no-brainer to set up your business that way.

For example, sending out an email to your subscribers automatically every single day is an excellent way to build relationships with them. Even though it’s only one step, the fact that it’s automated will make all the difference because it will free you up to do other things that improve your business.

The thing to remember is that you do not need to reinvent the wheel. You can make a better wheel if needed, but you can use the wheels that exist right now to get started. Running your business "right" simply means that you go about things in a legal and organized manner with a goal in mind, using processes and systems to get things done more efficiently.

Keep in mind that even if you do all these steps and try to account for everything, sometimes issues happen. Many can be avoided, though, so let’s go over some common obstacles to becoming a successful entrepreneur.


=> Common Obstacles to Successful Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is a way for many people to successfully build something that will take care of them and their family for generations. However, it’s also fraught with barriers to entry, obstacles, and challenges that can become roadblocks to success. Let’s go over this so that you know exactly what to look for.

Finding Start-Up Capital

Starting a business can be expensive and even when it isn’t, it can be hard to come up with the money to get started. However, there are ways to get money. There are banks, but even PayPal offers loans to business owners without even checking their credit.

Cash flow Management

Once you start earning money, often it’s not going to be the same amount every month like a job. It’s going to sometimes be a lot and sometimes be nothing. Due to this, you need to learn how to manage your cash flow in a way that considers slow times and booming times.

Hiring Employees

You’ll need to ensure you know the laws if you are going to hire people. This is a lot of information to learn so you may want to make your first hire someone with the right knowledge to help set it all up.

Using Freelancers and Contractors

Sometimes you may want to outsource work to someone but not hire them as an employee. You can work with freelancers and contractors who often own their own business. You’ll give up some control over the work, but you tell them what you expect in the deliverable's.

Time Management

Twenty-four hours. That's all you get. That’s all anyone gets. Sometimes, it can seem as if the world expects entrepreneurs to have more. Learn all about scheduling the work that you need to do and how to avoid bottlenecks to do better with time management. Also, stop multitasking.

Delegating and Letting Go

One thing that can really block an entrepreneur is their inability to let go and let someone else do the work. As an entrepreneur who is building something bigger than themselves, letting other people do the work they’re an expert at doing without your micromanaging will be a major source of success in your life as an entrepreneur.

Understanding Technology

Depending on your niche and industry, there is going to be the technology that you may want to learn. However, you may need to let someone else do it instead. Having said that, do seek a basic understanding of tech that you choose to use.

Marketing

When it comes to business, you should "always be marketing." This is according to the experts and according to successful people. There are many forms of marketing to learn about, including online marketing, offline marketing, and everything in between. Content marketing is one of the most important types of marketing today.

The Things You Don’t Know

Everyone has things they don’t know, but the problem is that we also have things we don’t realize that we don’t know. There will be concepts that you’ve never even considered and that you don’t know about. That’s why you should always listen to your audience, your customers, and your competition.

The Tax Man

One issue many entrepreneurs face eventually is the problem with paying taxes. Often small business owners just put this aspect of their business out of their minds, thinking it’ll all be okay April 15th (in the USA). But, it won’t be okay. You need to defer to a professional to set this up right and avoid losing your entire business due to owing too many taxes.

Self-Doubt

This is probably one of the biggest obstacles you’re going to face as an entrepreneur. So many people that you know and love are going to act as naysayers when you say you want to start a business. It’s likely going to cause you to be afraid, but you must stand strong in your knowledge and the research you do and keep on going.

Finally, one of the biggest obstacles to entrepreneurial success is you. Do the steps it takes to find the right business to start for you. Then make a commitment to stick to it based on the data you generate. If you do your due diligence first, you will not be as likely to fall victim to these obstacles.


=> Getting Started Now

If you still want to start a business after reading this, let’s look at how you can get started right now. You’re just a few minutes away from the beginning of building your future. You may want to build an empire, or you may want to build a nice family business - it’s up to you where you go on this journey, but you do have to get started.

Know Yourself

Perform a SWOT on yourself. What are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats? The more you know about yourself, the better. It’s imperative that you operate with brutal honesty when it comes to getting started. For example, if you know that you’re not good at sticking to things, that is a consideration that you should try to figure out how to work around, such as by hiring a business coach or business manager.

Use Your Skill Set

When you are trying to figure out the type of business to start, it’s always better to go with something you already know how to do - unless you are the type of person who can stick through lots of schooling and education first. If you are, that’s great. You can choose to start any type of business with that type of action.

Conduct Market Research

Once you’ve narrowed down an idea, don’t start doing it right away. You need to research the idea first. If you don’t, you might waste a lot of money trying to go all in. Instead, conduct smaller tests to find out if your market wants what you have.

Talk to Experts

Find someone you trust that is an expert in starting a business or the type of business you want to start. You can go to an organization to get help too, such as SCORE.org or other business organizations in your community. You may be surprised at what is available for you. The feedback the experts can provide is invaluable.

Make It Legal

Once you are sure about the type of business you want to start, don’t go in halfway. Set up your business structure. Choose your business name and register your business with the proper authorities. Take care of your tax information with the federal and local governments. Get all the permits you need and so forth. Remember to set up trademarks, copyrights, and patents. Also, don’t forget to set up your bank account.

Most of all, get started. Set up a timeline to go by so that you have a beginning and an end in mind. For example, don’t say "I’m going to start a business" and then five years later not have done it. Instead, be intentional about what you say you’ll do and then back it up by going through the steps and taking the action you need.

Remember, the most successful businesses are conducted by people who are invested in doing. They are implementors to the max. When you set up your business plan, set it up for taking action and doing things. When you do take action, you’re going to be that much more likely to be successful. What are you waiting for?

"Becoming an Entrepreneur-By Melody Spider"