At some point in our lives, most of us feel as if we have a good business idea. Wherever our inspiration comes from, good ideas are just that. Ideas. And ideas don’t make money without inspired action.
Anyone who has started their own business will attest; there’s a fine line between saying you want to launch a business or grow your business and actually doing it. If being successful in business was easy, we’d all do it – but it can be an uphill battle, and not everyone succeeds on their first try.
There’s no doubt about it: bBecoming a successful business owner involves a considerable degree of risk. But it’s risk that pays off for those who are serious about making their dreams come true. There’s a clever term for people who stay perpetually stuck in the “dreamer” phase, without ever taking any action towards achieving their business goals: WANTrepreneur.
Try these three simple steps to get out of your rut and achieving your business goals.
Step 1: Define Your why
Newsflash: Wanting to make more money is not enough reason on its own to start a business. Let’s be honest: first-time business owners usually aren’t rolling in the dough, or at least not right away. Additionally, as much as you may love money, it’s usually the things that money can’t buy you that will really drive you during the hard times.
You need to have a real reason, a passion, a series of goals you want to achieve.What’s going to make you get out of bed every morning and stay up all night long? Ask yourself WHY five times and only then will you arrive at the right answer.
Figure this out, and build your business around it. Write it down, live it, breathe it and refer to it during the hard times. While there is a real learning curve to running a business, and mistakes are inevitable, you should never become complacent: establish your driving motivation, and aim to make the most of it.
Step 2: Create a Business Plan
Most people hate creating business plans (myself included). But you do need to have a timeline and strategy laid out for how you plan to get establish and grow your business. The good news is, the days of 30+ page business plans are long gone.
When crafting a business plan, simplicity is always preferable over complexity: you should establish who you are, what you want, what you want to bring to the market, and the channels you’ll use to connect to potential customers.
After all, it would be silly to spend countless hours obsessing over a business idea that hasn’t even been validated yet.
The Lean Model Canvas is becoming more and more popular with startups – but what is it? Simply put, the central idea of this model is to maximize customer value and minimize waste at the same time – in essence, generating more value for customers with fewer resources.
Step 3: Take advantage of free resources
The good news is, the internet is chock full of free resources for business owners. Whether it’s searching for a business lender or finding a mentor, it’s easy to find the motivation and information you need. Advance Funds Network is an online lender that provides business loans up to $3 million and it’s completely free to apply. Long live the internet!
Even better than free information on the internet are free mentorship programs like the one offered through SCORE, a national non-profit under the umbrella of the Small Business Administration. All of the mentors have been executives or business owners themselves and give you unlimited, FREE mentoring. More information can be found about mentors in your area on SCORE.org.
Building a business is never easy, and some people just aren’t cut out for its unique challenges. If you have a business idea that you’re truly ready to get off the ground, or if you’re ready to grow your business, start with these three simple steps and get yourself out of the “wantrepreneur club”.
