START THAT BUSINESS!!!

Entrepreneurship could generally be said to be about making the best use of an opportunity when it arises.

But true entrepreneurs create such opportunities in the first place then, optimally deploy such opportunities to the best of their advantage.

Be you a business owner, a self-employed person, an investor, an employee, or a job seeker, you are all entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship is an unending journey into greatness. It’s on the journey you learn your lessons and the challenges never ends. It’s like taking a big gamble, with calculated risks.

We venture into entrepreneurship for reasons ranging from a need to make money to a passion to fulfill a cause.

Some people go around with the mindset that there is a master plan for their life of which they are acting out like auto-bots.

These set of people form most of humanity and thus when they eventually get to that ‘uhuru’ (place of victory); they cannot state specifically what path they had threaded to get there. They consider it an accidental deviation that has turned out for good or simply a miracle.

But what we should understand is that our future is in our hands, opportunities come but we do not need to wait for them, we can go ahead and create them for ourselves. Careful planning and deliberate, focused implementation produce outstandingly excellent results.

We should be able to define what we are doing, why we are doing it and how we got to where we are, and how we are going to get to where we are going to.

An enterprise is always representative of its owner; it exhibits those innate personalities of the owner that sometimes even the owner does not know exist.

When starting a business venture, it is always best to be deliberate, to achieve this, one needs careful planning and self-searching.

We need to be able to define who we are, what’s our strengths and weaknesses and what opportunities exist in our environment in relation to this, what need can we fill or create?

 

GETTING STARTED.

A business is representative of the vision and standards set by the owners of the business.

The essence of self-searching is to have a better understanding and good knowledge of ourselves. By this knowledge, we can stand on our strengths and minimize our weaknesses until over time; these observed weaknesses become very negligible or converted to strengths through alliances for example.

After a careful self-assessment, we also engage in a very careful and deliberate business assessment.

Getting started with our entrepreneurial venture means that we have a clear set out business plan.

The business plan should state your primary business, the industry your business belongs to, what aspect of that business will be your primary focus, what type of clientele are you after, what is the 3-5year cash flow projection, where do you see your business in 5years, 10 years, 20 years, etc.

You should also be able to say what your plans are at getting to this perceived objectives and what resources would you require to achieve this; how do you plan or expect to get these observed requirements.

All these may seem like preparing to climb the highest mountain for the first time, it actually is.

The higher you climb this mountain of starting your company, the higher you will go with your company.

Going back a bit, we need to understand that a problem defined is a problem solved.

The day you give a name to an unidentified challenge, the day your perspective of that challenge changes, you will now see that item in a wider and different but more understanding perspective.

That is why it is important to define your business and industry to know what information to seek and from where, once you have this information, you will now be more focused and deliberate in all you do concerning that challenge.

As simple and unnecessary as this sounds, it is like the backbone of a successful business venture, it gives you a reference point and a compass to help you stay focused on your success path else deviation occurs and focus is lost, and failure starts knocking at the door.

In summary, when venturing into a new business, the following points should be noted before starting out.

• Do a SWOT analysis of yourself.
• Do a SWOT analysis of the business idea.
• Identify your market, product/service.
• Prepare a business plan and strategy.
• Determine start-up costs and marketing plan.
• Determine source of funds
• Consult with professionals-consultants, accountants, bankers, lawyers, etc.
• Chose a business type and register the business.
• Setup your website
• Start

All the items listed above will be further broken down in later editions of this newsletter to guide you on your path to entrepreneurial/business success.

 

Ayo Emakhiomhe