and some natural instinct - a developed mind,
good social skills and emotional intelligence,
problem solving and analytical intelligence,
strong powers of persuasion,
a logical mind,
strong organisational skills,
and evidence of good leadership and management qualities, so you can fill any skill-gaps with other people and grow a team.
Few people possess all of these attributes, so don’t worry. Ask other people their opinion. Ask people you have worked with, ideally somebody who owns an established and successful business. Listen to their advice. Don’t pay too much attention to friends, family or colleagues as they tend to give political answers.
Let us cut to the chase. You can take the ’Have I got what it takes?’ test - it is free and might help you on your way. You can discuss the results with us to flush out your strengths and weaknesses. You can then build a team around you that complements them. You can also develop some of these skills on your journey.
biz-wisdom: Don’t expect to succeed immediately. It often takes several attempts at your business before you really get it right but that’s half the fun. Plan to succeed but be prepared to fallback and re-group often along the way. Learn by your mistakes - just as in life, this will serve you well. It will keep you motivated and happy.
Step Two - What Will my Business Do?
At this stage many people have a notion that they want to ‘go it alone’ but do not always know what their business will do.
In some cases people already have an idea that they wish to explore. In any case, it is sensible before marching off in any specific direction, to check that your idea is sound and that it will make a good business.
A business must serve a need or solve a problem. Ideas often relate to our passion for something that we do or for which we have a natural ability. There is a catch here. What you enjoy and do well for others on a personal basis, may not necessarily make a good business.
Your idea may simply not fulfill the needs of a wider audience. It may not be the right time for your idea for commercial or other reasons. There may be insufficient demand to satisfy your desired income. Your idea or skill may meet a need but nonetheless, it may work best for you as a trades-person, a consultant or a self-employed person - it may not be scalable or sustainable.
What is a business? A very contentious question indeed but here is one good answer. A business is something that satisfies the customer’s needs, its owner’s needs and is sustainable, with or without the owner’s direct involvement. This book is about helping you create such an entity.
Many people make a good living from doing what they enjoy. That’s just fine. But is it a business? If you are already up and running, ask yourself the following. Can you have a long deserved vacation without your income falling? Can you work to hours of your choice to keep it alive or does it demand more? Will you still earn money when you are sick or, heaven forbid, run over? Can you sustain the level of income you really need into retirement? Could you sell it?
If the answers to the above are a resounding ‘No’ then you need to read this book. You are probably making money and serving your customers well, which is to be commended but you may be missing out on the most precious jewel and well-deserved reward, a saleable asset - a pension for when you can no longer sustain your enthusiasm and effort.
So what are the desirable characteristics of a business? It should:
Provide value - a product or service that your target customer needs and is considered to be of value, else it is pointless,
not merely involve you and your time,
become a financial asset. In the future somebody will want to buy it,
conform with your jurisdiction’s company law, commercial and tax laws,
be scalable; it is capable of profitable growth without breaking,
be sustainable; it isn’t a fluke of short-term conditions or resources, environmental, legal or other economic driver that will fizzle out or become outlawed,
provide a competitive return to shareholders, the people who risk their money investing in your business (probably includes you),
and be inclusive; rewards, nurtures and sustains all stakeholders.
If you have a business now and it does not do all the above then you have some work to do. Ask yourself this simple question? Could I sell it to somebody, using a lawyer, thus testing legality, to exchange terms without any problem?
A business then, must first be capable of delivering perceived value to fulfil a need.
Ideas are Free
We know what makes a good business but what constitutes a good idea? It is a common mistake to assume your idea needs to be somehow ground-breaking, innovative or just cheaper than the competition.
What is the well-trodden path? How can you increase your chances of success? To get you started, let’s consider from where you might draw inspiration.
Buy a franchise of something, anything you know you can do. It is a great way to learn how to run a business properly and a good start in your new career as a business owner.
If you are already running a successful one-person business and you have sufficient income, happy customers and a growing market, consider growing it into a valuable asset. This book will help you think in a more structured way so you can achieve that.
Buy a business from somebody else. This is tricky unless you really know what you are doing, so not for beginners but in many cases it is quicker to recover or takeover a turn-key business (if you know what you are doing) than start a new one. Perhaps something for the future though.
If you have a real talent for something that others appreciate, it could be a good basis for starting a business. The idea needs to be tested on a wider audience.
The majority of new businesses are simply copies or more often, step improvements of another. Sometimes the owners don’t even improve it, they just ‘spin’ it differently. Good marketing can be transformational but you must be able to deliver on the resulting demand.
There is nothing wrong with copying. It is a free market and competition is a good thing. It keeps people on their toes, keeps prices fair and customers generally benefit. So don’t feel cheated when somebody else starts a copy of your business - take it as a compliment but be careful to protect your intellectual property (IP) as we discuss later.
A Franchise is the ultimate copy, you have a great head-start because all of the operational detail and much of the sales and marketing is predefined for you. Trust us, that is worth paying for, as you will find out.
biz-wisdom: Steer clear of saturated ‘price-war’ markets. They can be very destructive and small businesses or lesser funded companies most often lose in that game. Same applies to ‘get rich quick’ schemes that arrive in your in-box. It is important to be in control, so test your idea for yourself.
In general, the key to ‘cloning’ another business is to experience as many of your competition as possible. Become a customer and test out their customer service and sales skills. Most importantly, use their product or service. Analyse their business model, work out what they do and why, how they sell it and how they deliver it. Work out how you can improve upon this. Once you are in business this can become instinctive and addictive. You will find yourself analysing every company you buy from and those you don’t.
If you are risk averse, inventive and creative, why not innovate? Innovation is the most exciting,