Starting a business is not easy! Where do you start? How do I know if I'm doing it right? Is this normal?
Here are some helpful facts that no one tells you when you start a business. Hopefully, by knowing these now, you can take a deep breath before starting a new business:
1. Your business will have failures
Don't walk into starting a business thinking you will succeed. Failures are actually one of the most helpful parts of running a business.
How can you know if a product works or people want your service if you don't fail and try something else? Failing helps you to re-evaluate your business to make it better.
Learn from the experts: Albert Einstein failed 99 times before he succeeded. Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before discovering the lightbulb. Failure teaches you what not to do. You have to go and figure out the one way it does work.
2. You will have competition
Don’t dive into your business, thinking that you’re the only fish in the pond. There are a lot of others competing for the same customer base.
And the thing is, some of those competitors may be better than you! Their branding may be snazzier, their pockets deeper, their talent superior and their knowledge greater.
So, be prepared for it, but don’t be discouraged by it. Without competition, you could easily grow lazy and lose your edge. Embrace the competition and improve because of it.
There are tens of thousands of people offering the same business I am. Most likely with more experience, more qualifications and charging more. But that is also the motivation to be unique. What can I offer that they can't? What skills or experience do I have that I can tailor to help my clients. There will always be a space for you. You have just got to find it.
3. You will need to spend money
This puts people off straight away when setting up a business. 'I don't have any money or a lot of money to start a business.' Nor did I. But I did my research. What did I NEED to spend and what could I do myself that could save me some money.
For me as an online business, I needed a website, social media and a way for people to contact me. So I brought the cheapest website building package with a free domain and an integrated mail service. I had my 7-year-old laptop that still worked and off I went.
I've been careful this year. There are some amazing companies offering great apps and services that can make your business simpler and more efficient but once you start adding all the monthly charges together, you could be spending hundreds on services you could learn to do yourself.
It's essential to invest in some start-up costs but you can do it well and wisely without having to take out a business loan.
4. You will not immediately get rich
A “business owner” has a certain prestige title about it, with it sometimes associated with visions of Mercedes and luxury holidays. The harsh reality is that business ownership is more of a soul-sucking adventure than an income-boosting joyride.
Riches may be in your future, but the path to attain them is narrow, long and hard.
I've been full-time working at my business now and I can tell you confidently that I have made on average about 50% of my old full-time income. Yeah, not what I planned nor what I expected. You see all these articles of new start-up who make 3 times their salary in 6 months. They are just anomalies. For most startups, you have to expect that it will take a lot of hard work and a big financial cost.
These facts are not to put you off starting a business but to help you to walk into this adventure realistically.
Signing off,
