The ONLY 3 things you care about are....

Now that you have realized that you probably are a member of the 10% of the population that can be a small or medium-sized business owner, it is time to act. Yes – it’s that simple. The work you have completed to now will have given you a great deal of information about yourself and - if you are still reading blogs and other items like this - you still have the desire to learn more. In itself, that means that you have an entrepreneurial streak – something that a great many managers and other business types do not. So let’s go. No-one is keeping anything from you. There is a whole world of businesses whose sole function it is, is to help other businesses. Believe me, you are going to meet a whole bunch of them I the next few months and beyond. In fact, you would be forgiven in thinking that the other 90% NOT running their own business are visiting you to service yours!
You best friend is going to be your Bank Manager, no matter what anyone else says. He is the one that you are going to go to (if you haven’t already) to borrow money, or give yourself a second mortgage in order to support the start of this venture, and he is the one that will control re-payment, further expansion via loans, and a thousand other things that you haven’t thought of yet. Trust this person, and perhaps avail yourself of a lot of the financial products he has to assist your business – See? Even your bank is a supplier, and will want more of your custom!
You are going to have to come up with a business plan first in order to impress this guy. He hears more than a few pitches every day about budding businesses, and he has heard most of the pitches already. This doesn’t mean that you should treat a meeting with the bank like a job interview, but looking the part goes further than you may think. Every business has to satisfy 3 different components. These are Need, Marketplace, and Solution. If you have your eye on a business right now, you have probably answered these three questions already, but perhaps in a different form.
You may have seen something and thought: “What a great idea – why didn’t I think of this?”, or “Why didn’t someone think of this before?” This means that you have noticed a good or service that people want, and have identified a need. Next up is where? Who is going to buy it, or use it, and where are they? While it is tempting to see a market for fun and sporty Australian Boomerang covers, if you are the US Midwest, servicing the people that are going to buy them may stretch your budget somewhat.
Who is going to use it or buy it, and how can you get them to your store as fast and often as possible.
Next, do these two add up to a solution? I refer back to Starbucks as one of my favorite business stories.
That company obviously believed that there was a need for an Italian-style coffee establishment, and they also saw the potential for having one every sixty feet in some cities. While your bank manager will want some ideas on how you are going to get from where you are to where you want to be, the most important thing is to make him or her see that this has potential. That you have the solution that answers the need, and fits into a certain marketplace.
Of course, not mentioned here is Passion. Every single entrepreneur has it: A love for what they are doing, because it fills a need. There are less depressed individuals running their own enterprises than there are in salaried positions, because these people have a say everyday in how their business is run, and have a direct feel of the consequences of all decisions made – this is probably why you are looking for one. In the end, therefore, your money lender will need to see that passion in order to understand the need, marketplace, solution equation. This cannot be faked, so don’t even try it. If you don’t love it, don’t do it. If you have found the answer to your business prayers, and you can fill this equation, move on. You are soon going to impress someone enough to fund you, and then you are at the start line, so now is the time. Due diligence over a business plan and all of the plans you are going to make about expenses and probable revenue are just over the horizon, so the closer you get opening, the more like a Kid at Christmas you are going to feel.
Well, right now, it’s December 20th, so let the excitement begin – it’s good practice for telling everyone else about this great adventure you are on.