Setting up a new business venture takes courage. Even if you’ve done it before, making the next move is always full of doubt and fear. That’s only natural – we all have those feelings of doubt.
I like to think of Richard Branson having a bad day. I’m sure he does – he’s human just the same as the rest of us. I can see Richard getting out of bed, and checking his email, and then shaking his head and going back under the duvet for a little cry because he’s not sure that he can face it that day. After a while, of course, he comes out, blows his nose and gets on with what he needs to do.
Anyone can do it. if you do it right…
I firmly believe that anyone can create a successful business. And it’s my life’s work to equip people with the skills and knowledge they need to be successful. I’ve been able to create a great business out of doing just that – let’s look at what you can do to build something amazing for you.
You’re in exactly the right place for the first element you need for developing a successful business. You need the right idea – one that works, one that can actually be developed into a money making business. And that means you can avoid the business ideas that don’t work, the crappy dead end ideas that will get you stuck doing the same as everyone else. Have a look at the exciting new ventures in New business ideas collection and compare them with this list of business ideas you don’t want to do. See the difference?
And then you need an idea that fits with your budget, and your aspirations.
And then you need to learn some stuff.
One of the best things about running a business is that you get to learn all kinds of things. Interesting things, that are directly useful to your business. Do you remember being at school in maths class and wondering why you were learning about how to work out the length of the hypotenuse and wondering whether you’d ever actually use this in real life? Unless you’re an engineer, it probably never came up.
When you’re running a business you get to learn about gross profit margin, how to use a light box to get online subscribers, and how to write copy that encourages people to buy from your website. I even went on a course to learn how to shake hands once.
And the good thing is that all this stuff is out there to learn. You can find all kinds of useful resources online to help you make the most of your business (my blog is a good place to start) you can collect a library of books to help you get really detailed knowledge of how to make the most of your opportunities and there are lots of great courses to help you understand how to work this business machine you’ve created.
You can watch video tutorials (this is how I spend a lot of my lunch breaks), you can take online courses, you can become part of mastermind groups to help out other entrepreneurs, and you can pay people to teach you specific skills like bookkeeping.
Yes, this can cost money
We’re all looking for ways to keep our costs down, and there is some good material out there for free, don’t be afraid to invest in your business learning. If you have to pay for a membership site, or an online course, as long as you check it out carefully (there are some sharks out there, particularly for courses on online marketing) then go for it and invest some cash. It will save you lots of time and get you ready to launch your business much faster.
Talk to people who have done it before
I talked to someone who was just setting up their first proper business and wanted to come along to the Brighton Chamber of Commerce where I’m a member. She wasn’t sure that she could come along because she didn’t have a business yet, because she was scared that people wouldn’t take her seriously. I thought this was the best possible time to go and network, because she would have loads of questions at this stage which she could ask all those other people who had already worked on these things. And, even more importantly, they would take her seriously because they’d all been at exactly that stage themselves at some time.
People want to help. And they love being asked for their advice, especially if it’s about things they’ve had to wrangle with and have gone wrong with. Business war stories, other people’s experiences, are incredibly useful learning because they can stop you making the same mistakes.
Turbo charge your start up
Once you’ve settled on the idea you want to take forward, or you’ve got a short list, you might want some help from me. You can come to me and book a strategy session, so we can check that you’ve made the right decision for you, and to put together an action plan for getting going. If the business you want to set up is wrong for you in some way, I’ll be very honest with you about this and help you to make a different decision, or tweak it so it will work for you.
The reason I set up New Business Ideas Collection is that I don’t want people to be putting their efforts into a business which doesn’t work for them, and I love helping people to find the right thing for them.
Or you might want some more full on help, and want my ongoing mentoring and coaching support, so you’ve got my ongoing help in making a success of your new business. I only work with people I’m confident will be successful, and I’m known for my straight talking with new mentoring clients.
Go for it!
Get out there and test your idea!
Tell the world about it!
Sell some stuff!
Some more inspiration for you
A completely different way to do it
How to make money and have fun
Photo credit – Richard Branson after he’d got up from his little moment of self doubt, by Jarle Naustvik, from Flickr on a creative commons licence. Not Richard Branson in bed by Elisabeth Lies, and book image by Thought Catalog, Launch from NASA.
