Five Must-Have Characteristics for Starting Your Own Small Business

We have heard the dream.  “I want to own my own business.”  If you want to truly be your own boss, earn what you’re worrth, and make a mark with something you can be proud of, you need to start your own business.  Many brave, yet naïve souls set out on this path.  These people often throw caution to the windg and make the leap away from a “job”, to become an “entrepreneur”.  We then hear the stories where this entrepreneur took their $500 of savings and turned it into an enterprise rivaling that of Coca-Cola or Microsoft. 

Ah, yes, the daring few who set out and chart this course are rewarded.  But let’s close our eyes for a moment and put that image on the back burner for just a second.  The fact is, most, if not nearly all, fall far short of this envious story (Oh yeah – you can open your eyes again now, sorry).  Let’s discuss a few rules and characteristics that will help you avoid what most entrepreneurs actualize, making little in money and frequently performing duties that they truly never thought, or wanted to do. 

1.  commitment – You must have off the chart commitment.  When considering this, everyone tells themselves that this is not an issue.  “I can hear you now, telling yourself, “I have nothing to worry about here.’  But I am not talking about getting up when the alarm goes off.  I am talking about being able to work through problems you know nothing about when you had the smile on your face considering what you were going to accomplish today.  This may not even be what you end up working on at all (but I’ll get to that in a moment).  Commitment is being able to stay focused on the duties that other people will not do for you, and you are truly sick of doing it.  Picture a construction worker practicing debits and credits and running financial statements.  But wait, this is probably you. 

The fact is, you will spend nearly 80-90% of your time doing functions you never intended to do.  Unless you have a rich uncle that gives you an allowance, a wheelbarrow full of money, or a leprechaun in the basement, or… well you get the picture – the work stinks.  Being a true entrepreneur in the beginning is not fun.  DON’T get into business to be your own boss!  You aren’t, and you won’t be.  The truth is you will not be part of that 5% that is truly cut out for this commitment.  Of course, if you still think you are, read on. 

2.  Multi-tasking – Again, let’s exaggerate to the point of honesty.  Have you ever gone to work thinking you had four things on your to do list, to find that you had forgotten that meeting the report you put off until next week is due in an hour, and the big boss was flying in from out of town and you needed to prepare to answer some questions by 9:30?  Add to that the fact that you will need to find and call a list of potential customers that might be interested in your products or services.  Multiply that by 10!  Oh, did I mention accounting? As you can see, number one again becomes an issue.  Of course, you should speak with a couple of entrepreneurs before venturing into a small business of your choice, but you can’t even imagine the boring tasks that will need to be taken care of before you can be successful.  If you are going into real estate & the fed lowers interest rates, forget everything above. 

3.  DISCIPLINE – With number 1, you will need to tell yourself that you need to make those sales call this morning, and punish yourself relentlessly if you don’t follow it.  Trust me.  This is harder than it seems, especially if you have children, a spouse, or a car that won’t start – (long story).  Try writing out the basic rules you will give your 1st employee who has a problem showing up to work and completing all the projects you asked them to complete by a given time.  Now put that in a drawer for, you guessed it!  This employee is YOU!

4.  COMMUNICATION – you will be talking to multiple groups of people, suppliers, bankers, accountants, employees, contractors, credit card service people, customers, etc.  If you can’t communicate or hate dealing with people, or can’t stand them in general, you need to find that wheelbarrow we spoke of earlier.  Otherwise, go to a company such as Elance.com and hire a subcontractor that can perform such duties for you.  Believe me, if you are easily frustrated and tend to take it out on the incompetent bank attendant, you may find yourself in a world of penury when you realize he/she is your next potential customer.  Yes, this happens all the time. 

5.  TIME MANAGEMENT – This goes without saying, but if you have to finish your Gears of War level or your day will not be complete.  You better try to get a proposal from Alex Rodriguez (supplier of the above-mentioned wheelbarrow), and fast.  The Legend of Zelda and Madden superbowl guru is not the 5% that will succeed in a self-employment opportunity, or penalty, depending on how you look at it.  You need to be able to prioritize, followthrough, and, of course finish tasks that take longer than a couple hours to finish –period.  Of course, there are ways to subcontract items to others, www.elance.com, www.odesk.com, or www.guru.com are good examples of professional subcontracting organizations that can help with this, but if you aren’t there yet, you have to do it, it still needs to get done, no exception. 

I purposely painted a harsh picture of entrepreneurial life.  If you can feel comfortable living this lifestyle for at least a couple years, and can complete the quick 5 above, you may be ready to take the leap into your own business.  You will inevitably find yourself in the situations above, and if you aren’t ready, or expecting it, you will waste a lot of time, energy, and probably, some of your dreams.  Don’t let that happen.  Be prepared and expect to have to overcome these and many more obstacles than you can even think of now.  If anyone knows where I put that damn wheelbarrow, please let me know. 

As a sidenote, you can begin some businesses without having to jump right in.  For example, eBay has the potential to become a very good business for those of you that tinker, invent, or have a product that you know is not being offered, but is needed or wanted by others.  More links and a less van gogh painting will follow in my next installment.  The light at the end of the tunnel may not be a train after all, but at least you will know to listen for the sound!  You can sign up by clicking this link – www.ebay.com.  This would be a good place to start to see if you can manage some of the elements of a business without having to get into some of the details of business that are not quite as desireable. 

Make sure to visit www.petadministration.com for more home based business tips and tricks, as well as articles on pet related topics and products!