9 STEPS TO START YOUR BUSINESS TODAY!
1. Don’t quit your day job (unless you have 9-12 months of salary saved). I know you don’t like this one, but it’s important. The reason that this is the first rule is that I don’t want you to be homeless. That being stated, focus on starting and scaling your business to the point where you can tell your day job “I’m outta here”. But you have to be disciplined. Begin to kill your time wasters so that you can focus when you are not on the day job. You know who they are: Netflix, Hulu, ABC, NBC, ESPN, Samsung, Apple, Facebook, Snapchat - you’re paying all of these guys (time and money), but they’re not paying you! We need to get this to work the other way around.
2. Determine the need or opportunity in demand for your product or service. You will hear me talk and write a lot about your target market and/or niche. Now is the time to begin thinking about what you are good at, what others need and what you can sell. This also begins the time to start a mini-mastermind where you brainstorm with others who are positive and are in agreeance with your move. Unfortunately, sometimes this takes a while to find the right 2 to 4 people.
3. Complete the Idea Napkin. Yup, I use napkins. Actually, thanks to Dr. Alex Burton for creating this act of innovative genius. Please note how this item helps you to really solidify the bare-bones necessity of your product or service.
4. Get accountability partner(s). To piggyback on #2, it is imperative that you surround yourself with individuals who are like-minded. In addition, a coach, mentor, or advisor that can partner with you in order to hold you accountable is also good. You might have to pay this individual, but this is not a bad thing. The cost will an incentive for you to get results fast.
5. Research the marketplace to see who else is doing it. Another way to say this is to know your competition. What are their strengths and weaknesses? Who is their niche? Once you have scoured the marketplace to see who else is out there, then it will be easy to set yourself apart.
6. Determine if you need training. Then execute. You might not be that good at sales, creating websites, online platforms, or talking in front of audiences. But if this is part of your new business, you should get better than the competition.
7. Determine your pricing and test sales. There are too many platforms and sites that you can begin to test the market. Ebay, Fiverr, Upwork, and loads of other organizations.
8. Expand your business napkin to a One-Page Plan. Chris Guillebeau has a great resource to help expand the napkin you worked on earlier. This will help you to get more serious, especially as you have expanded your knowledge by following the previous steps.
9. Become legitimate. Secure a name/website/license/EIN - in that order. You may also need insurance depending on the type of business that you open up as well. I believe that the name and website are important. Therefore, try to secure these early and throughout the process.
I don’t like to make these documents too long and this is definitely not comprehensive, but these 9 steps will set you securely on your way. Yes, there are other important things to take care of afterward. Some will say you need a lawyer. Others will say you need an accountant. However, these items listed above are necessities. There are too many free resources available for you to be able to get your gig going. But there are definitely some well-paid ones also: The High-Performance Coach.
Peter A. James, PhD
The High-Performance Coach
drjames@shiftyourmindset.com
