Comments on: Starting a Business? Cover Yourself

By: International Self Employment

International Self Employment — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:38:39 +0000

One has to keep all his options open.
Knowing oneself is key of course, I agree with the other commentators.
How about opening a business in another country, the conditions might be less competitive for the right idea.

By: Cheryl's Desk

Cheryl's Desk — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:12:04 +0000

The challenge for any startup is to direct the tip-of-its-spear toward its market. Without a sharp point of focus funds will drain away and management energy will be wasted.

By: Deborah Brown

Deborah Brown — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:03:19 +0000

Great additions! The comment from Bob about determining your unique value is important in every aspect of our lives. In the book, Making a Name for Yourself, the author suggests that you ask OTHERS what value they believe you offer. So frequently it is entirely different from what you perceive. And so the same goes for starting a business. Are there really any unique ideas or are they just different twists combined with your unique value?

Back on Gus’ comment about understanding fixed/variable/break even: so true. Often people get caught up in the excitement of going to market that they fail to take the time to effectively put pencil to paper and figure out the dry, boring, all so important financial details of what it will take to break even.

One more thought: if you don’t know the difference between fixed and variable, you probably aren’t ready to quit your day job.

Deborah

By: Adamant Solutions

Adamant Solutions — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 05:59:21 +0000

Starting a Business? Cover Yourself…

[...] Courtesy of Small Business Trends [...]…

By: Martin Lindeskog

Martin Lindeskog — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:01:16 +0000

How about doing a SWOT analysis? The book, “What Color is Your Parachute?”, is a classic!

By: Kurt Ehlert

Kurt Ehlert — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:45:15 +0000

Bob’s comments are perfect. How do you differentiate yourself? If you have a product or service that isn’t available yet, what are the barriers to entry for others who either have the same idea as yours right now or “steal” yours once they see how well you’re doing?

Another book to consider for those of a certain age (in other words, my age – mid-40′s) – Bob Buford’s “Halftime” and “Game Plan”. These are for the middle ager who thinks he wants to change what he’s doing. It made me realize how my feelings about changing my life around are not unique and gives a realistic assessment tool and plan to go about it.

By: Bob Poole

Bob Poole — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:26:29 +0000

Thirty years ago, I would pose a question to people who were looking for help with their starting a new business that went like this, “Suppose that your customers and potential customers had unlimited access to the same product or service you are selling from many companies – why should they do business with you?”

Thirty years ago, customers’ choices were limited by geography and availability. That is not the case today. Today your customers really do have unlimited access to the same product or service you are selling. It is all just a few clicks away on the Web.

So what are you doing to differentiate your company, its products, yourself? How do you compete with unlimited competition?

Here are 3 simple (yet difficult) questions to ask yourself. The answers can lead you to developing your Unique Selling Proposition. The answers can mean the difference between extraordinary success and barely getting by.

1. Why should I choose to do business with you versus any and every option available to me?
2. What do you offer no one else can or will?
3. What is your reason for existence in your chosen market besides it’s where you want to be?

Good luck!
Bob

By: Gus

Gus — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:28:07 +0000

This isn’t necesarily a resource like you were asking for; however, it’s a line of thought that can also help to determine how ready you are to begin the new venture. One thing I always put on paper beyond startup costs are the fixed and variable costs for producing revenue at a basic level (obviously, the basic level is relative depending on the type of business). First, if you don’t know what all (or most) of those costs would be to produce revenue at a basic level, then you probably don’t need to go into that business yet. Inputting those costs into a sample income statement helps me see how profitable (or unprofitable) that proposed structure could be. I (along with a friend here or there) have come up with a handful of really good ideas for a business, especially when considering the possible demand. However, once we sat down to do those two things, we saw that most of the ideas we came up with were not profitable with respect to the way we decided to structure things. If we hadn’t done those two steps, we could have possibly jumped into some well-intentioned ideas that would’ve put us in a world of hurt.