I met with a potential customer who was thinking of starting a business - I offered to write her up a report as below - this is only my opinion - and in my experience most entrepreneurs do what they want to anyway - happy reading: (she became a client btw).
The journey starts with an understanding of what you have to do, second -it help's if your capable of doing it and lastly you care enough to take the knock backs and hits that will come your way.
It really helps if you can understand what other successful business people or consultants might say about your business and what guidance if any they would give, from concept to execution to growth and asking yourself if your really are good enough at writing, presenting, organising, leading, hiring, raising money and all these aspects to do the right thing because you care about what you craft.
A real problem that exists when building your business is that it's extremely difficult to talk to your partners, friends, family and employees about the journey you’re on.
Doctors train for many years before they qualify to practice however entrepreneurs don’t receive a qualification to say their ready to make money, trying to line everything perfectly isn’t the way of an entrepreneur, they are extremely resourceful, they see lots of opportunity – the issue for the entrepreneur is starting the project, becoming fearless and accepting sacrifice.
The vision of an entrepreneur is to build a business bigger than them; the struggle of an entrepreneur is separating themselves from the business.
So here is the real dilemma – when you begin very few businesses have cash, never mind the problems cash flow brings, I recommend to start-ups not to personally borrow to get the business started, or secure a loan against their home and the main reason I advise this is in the event of a mistake this is the hardest conversation to have with your partner and your children and your shouldn’t risk this. The advice I give if they really intend to start their business is to have a number and a period of time – no tradeoffs at all.
The number is the maximum amount of money you will put into the business to cover all foreseeable circumstances. Most people struggle with this because they add 'what if's' once you have the number stick with it, there just has to be a number.
How much time you will but into the business before you give up – so you don’t fall into a sunk cost scenario.
This really works because if your partner is aligned with it, you never have to worry about it again, and it stops you lying to yourself if it doesn’t work – this discipline early on is so valuable because then you can spend 100% of your time focusing and building the business rather than looking for the next pound.
Yours sincerely,
Rylan Skinner Insight Accountancy and Consultants