Do
You Have
What It Takes?
Do you have what it takes to succeed in
a small business environment? Starting a small business can
be an intimidating process. There is a lot of risk involved.
A
thorough and honest self-evaluation should be your very first
step in the business start-up process. It makes little
sense to spend the considerable time and resources required
to launch a new business if you lack the fundamental elements
of success.
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Of course, success attributes are difficult
to define because they are not consistent across all business
owners. What is a strength to one person is a weakness to
another. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to prove a true
correlation between any one characteristic and business success.
There is, however, one key attribute that
must be considered an absolute prerequisite for any business
start-up. This attribute characterizes almost every successful
business owner and is central to the success of a new enterprise.
Interestingly, the most important attribute for success has
more to do with attitude than with aptitude. It is a burning
desire to succeed in your new venture.
It is this burning desire to succeed which
will sustain you through the difficulties, the discomfort,
the discouragement and the deprivation which will surely come
to you as you launch your new business.
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Evaluating Your Desire to Succeed
How does one evaluate something so abstract
as a burning desire to succeed? Consider asking yourself the
following questions. This is where honesty comes into play.
To ensure a truly objective assessment you may want to involve
a spouse or other family member or a close friend.
- Can you truly say that you have
a burning desire to succeed in your new venture?
- Is this desire deep seated -
or is it superficial and fleeting?
- Is it a focused desire or are
you continually distracted by some new adventure?
- Has your desire become a passion
and an obsession?
- Is it a desire you are willing
to make great sacrifices for?
- What is your ultimate motivation
for launching this new enterprise?
- Is this motivation sufficient
to sustain you through a potentially grueling business start-up?
Small Business Success Factors
Once you are convinced that you do have
a sufficient desire to succeed and that this desire is of
an enduring nature, you should turn your attention to a more
extensive self-evaluation. There are a host of other attributes
that may to one degree or another determine your ultimate
success in business. Of course, it is certainly not necessary
(or likely) that you possess all of these attributes. However,
the degree to which you do possess them may influence your
success. Consider the following ten attributes and evaluate
yourself with respect to each of them.
1)   Resourcefulness
Some of the most successful and productive
business owners and managers have an amazing ability to create
impressive results with very little in the way of resources.
At the heart of resourcefulness is creativity. Resourcefulness
by definition requires that something valuable - or at least
something useful - be created from a seemingly inadequate
pool of resources.
If you feel continually constrained from
accomplishing great things because of a perceived lack of
tools or resources, then you need to be more creative in stretching
and molding the resources that are available to you to the
ends you desire. Truly resourceful people are able to create
ingenious things with an unusually limited resource base.
These people epitomize the wealth creators of this generation.
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2)   Willingness to fail
History is replete with examples of individuals
who became wildly successful - but not until the third or
fourth try. If you are one who is easily discouraged or who
takes failure personally, you may want to think carefully
about what is at stake here.
3)   Frugality
One of the most common reasons for business
failure is the cash flow dilemma which occurs at the outset
of a business start-up - and periodically thereafter. In short,
bills must be paid as they are incurred whereas income is
often delayed by a slow sales cycle, 30-day credit terms,
slow paying clients, and a myriad of other reasons.
Unfortunately, many starry-eyed entrepreneurs
exacerbate the problem by spending extravagantly on office
space, furnishings, equipment and services precisely at the
time when the business can least afford them.
A frugal approach to your business start-up
will make as much difference to your early (and long-term)
business success as any other factor. If you have a propensity
to spend and consume lavishly, you would be well advised to
conduct a very careful and detailed cash flow analysis prior
to kicking off your business. You may be surprised to see
exactly how much start-up capital such an operation will require.
4)   Vision of where you want to
go with your new venture
One of the marks of a true leader is the
ability to conceive and communicate a vision to an organization
in a way that inspires, challenges and motivates. It is this
vision of where and what you want your organization to be
that puts you on a common and proactive path toward a pre-defined
end. A lack of vision or an unclear vision will result in
ill-defined objectives and a haphazard and reactionary approach
to business.
A shared vision provides an important context
for the day to day activities of your organization. It imbues
these activities with a sense of meaning and gives your organization
a sense of direction. It defines your destination at the beginning
of your journey so that a proper road map can be designed
to get you there. The road map in this case will be a detailed
business plan. A business plan without an objective is like
a journey without a destination. It is impossible to create
an effective road map - or business plan if you do not have
a fairly definite sense of where you want to end up. Your
ultimate objective should be embedded in your vision for the
new enterprise.
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5)   Ability to motivate others
If you are like most of us, you feel a
little uncertain about your ability to influence and motivate
others. Yet the game of business is very much about cultivating
relationships and influencing people. Unfortunately, charisma
and natural leadership abilities don't seem to be spread very
evenly across the population. Fortunately, you do not have
to be charismatic to be influential.
The ability to influence is a skill that
can be developed over time. The key to your success in this
area will be to take the time to understand what motivates
the people you wish to influence. Customers, employees, suppliers
and investors will all have different objectives. If you come
to understand their individual concerns and motivations, you
will be able to formulate interactions and agreements in ways
that are mutually beneficial.
This is the essence of the win-win psychology.
Someone who continually takes advantage of others is not likely
to be successful in the long run. In business as in other
areas of life, the golden rule rules.
6)   Risk tolerance
As mentioned earlier, starting a new business
can be a risky proposition. The good news is that much of
this risk can be mitigated through proper preparation. And
a good portion of the risk that cannot be eliminated can be
managed through careful planning.
Nonetheless, a new business venture is
not for the faint of heart. There are simply too many variables
to ensure a safe landing 100% of the time. Downturns in the
economy, industry consolidation, the bankruptcy of key customers
and other unforeseen perils lay in wait to take their toll
on even the best-laid business plans.
While an unhealthy appetite for risk can
lead to reckless decisions a certain level of risk tolerance
is important. It will save you a lot of sleepless nights.
A good way to deal with a low level of risk tolerance is to
identify those risks that can be reasonably managed and then
do what you can to minimize them. If you find yourself staying
up late at night contemplating the myriad risks over which
you have no direct control, then you may want to avoid the
business arena - for it is fraught with unmanageable risk
- but then so is life.
7)   Self-motivation
If you are looking at business ownership
as an escape from the monotony and drudgery of your present
job you may want to question your motives. As a new business
owner, you will probably not have the luxury of clerical help
or the assistance of a large staff. This means that you will
wear many hats. You will be responsible for everything from
sales calls and billing to filing paperwork and emptying the
trash. Business ownership is anything but an escape. It can
be very demanding.
If you are not a self-starter you may choose
to neglect many of the tasks that bore you. With no one looking
over your shoulder this will be quite easy to do. If you allow
this to happen, your business will quickly become disorganized.
If left unchecked, you will see your business slip out of
control over time. This will lead to a sense of despondency
and a feeling of hopelessness.
Everyone has occasional lapses of motivation.
The best way to deal with this problem is to set some very
specific and demanding goals regarding your activity level.
Then reward yourself for meeting your goals. For example,
you may set a goal to contact 25 new prospective customers
per day. Then, after successfully achieving this goal for
an entire week you may choose to reward yourself by taking
Friday afternoon off. Be creative - the important thing is
to continually set goals and then find ways to motivate yourself
to achieve them.
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8)   Self-confidence
Self-confidence emanates from a positive
self-regard. Implicit in the concept of self-confidence is
a belief in oneself, a belief in one's vision and a belief
in one's ability to fulfill that vision.
It is amazing the effect that a modest
amount of self-confidence can have on an activity or enterprise.
It is interesting to note that a very self-confident person
will often succeed out of sheer determination - feeling in
his heart of hearts that he knows what he is doing - even
when he clearly does not. Most of this person's learning comes
through trial and error. A self-confident leader often simply
charges forward - certain of his ability to overcome obstacles
as they present themselves.
Of course self-confidence must be tempered
by rationality. Irrational exuberance can often be a recipe
for disaster. However, it is self-confidence that most often
results in action and it is the lack of self-confidence that
too frequently yields inaction. And of course action - even
misguided action - is more likely to produce results than
inaction, however well intended.
9)   Persistence
The ability to stick with something and
see it through to a conclusion should be considered a key
attribute for someone intent on launching a new business.
Unfortunately it tends to be lacking in many would-be entrepreneurs.
The personality that finds excitement in the prospect of a
new venture is often the same personality that lacks the resolve
to see an enterprise through to maturity. This attribute can
be cultivated, but it requires a commitment to commitment
itself - something that is not easy to acquire for someone
who has a long history of flighty behavior.
10)   Emotional support network
A support network of family and friends
can be critical to your ability to maintain energy and enthusiasm
toward your new business venture. Resentment or negativism
on the part of a spouse or friend can be demoralizing and
debilitating. Positive support and reinforcement, on the other
hand, can mean the difference between giving up and carrying
on when times become difficult.
Many entrepreneurs join business associations
and entrepreneur groups in an effort to find empathetic ears
and experienced opinions. The camaraderie and interaction
that comes from such affiliations can be beneficial and therapeutic
to a new entrepreneur.
Capital Considerations
You will notice that I did not include
financial capacity as an initial consideration in the decision
to pursue or not pursue a new business opportunity. Of course,
finances will play a critical role in your ultimate success.
I have chosen to set this issue aside for the moment. Financial
considerations will be treated in some detail later on.
For now, you may make the assumption that
if
you are sufficiently frugal, resourceful, and creative - and
if you are willing to sacrifice to make your dream a reality,
financial capacity should not be a barrier to your success.
Access to capital may determine the way in which you
start your business and perhaps the rate at which you are
able to grow, but a lack of capital should not keep you from
pursuing your dream.
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How Can I
Get Financing?
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