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What I'm looking for is those of you who also, or rather, submit to services like Associated Content and Helium. I want to hear about your experiences, successes, failures, income potential, you name it -- I want to hear about it.

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Melissa

Take Your Time and Be Patient When Starting Your Own Business

How do entrepreneurs do it? How do they come up with thoughts and plans that grow into successful, financially sound endeavors?

It all starts with an idea. Remember, even though it will be your own business and you will be, in effect, working for nobody but yourself, it must be treated like a real business and taken very, very seriously in order to succeed. So keep in mind that this is your opportunity to actually do something you truly enjoy all day long. The idea can be a hobby, an interest, or even an area where you have just noticed a real need in your community. They possibilities are virtually endless, so focus only on the ones that you are passionate about and you feel you can dedicate yourself to turning into reality.

You will want to begin to build your own business slowly, ensuring that you have a written plan, complete with anticipated dates of achievement for each action step you lay out. It is important for you to go slow so that you can nurture your idea and avoid the frustration that comes with setting unattainable goals for yourself. Some companies fail because they grow too fast and then they can’t deal with the rapid change. Because you are so excited about the prospect of having your own business, the excitement will come through in your voice when you speak about it to potential customers. That is what will sell it initially, and later the reputation of your company and testimonials from satisfied customers will carry the business forward. But you must be cautious in the initial stages when you enjoy some success, as the inclination will be to spend the profits too quickly rather than reinvesting appropriately back to the business. Further, you may be ready to spend limited resources in the company but in places and ways that may be best, as you have failed to do your due diligence. Keep your feet firmly planted and remember that as quickly as you have managed to have these successes you can just as easily lose them and sour yourself for self-employment altogether.

When it comes to getting started, you don’t want to take on a lot of work at once before you are able to learn how to manage the workload. Sure, the excitement will carry you forward at the onset, but you can quickly burn out by taking on more than you can handle before your small business has properly gotten off the ground.

There is a certain element of supply and demand in every business, so be careful to try to balance this aspect of your company. If your community, for example, has no child care program and many working parents, you can consider providing a baby-sitting service. However, although 20 mothers may call you about potential openings, you cannot closely and safely provide care for 20 or more children every day, at least not if you are the sole owner with no employees. Although you will really want to make as much money as possible, you will want to make sure that you do not lower the quality standards of your work. Once you are able to have a good customer base you can then raise the prices and create your supply and demand curves. You will see that this scenario applies no matter what area of business you choose.

Most importantly, you will want to make sure that you have thought everything through before you open the doors to your small business. Do a lot of research on your perceived customers and even more research on your competition in order to ensure your business will run smoothly. What is it that makes these businesses successful? What provides the most satisfaction for customers that will keep them from shopping around for services or products from another company? You may feel rushed for time, but by building your ideas slowly and therefore more thoroughly, your business is more likely to succeed.

Contrary to what you may have heard, it does take money to make money. You will want to make sure that you pay close attention to all of the details of the business and products or services and speak to experts in the field to ensure you are truly spending each dollar wisely. Do not spend more money than you and your family are completely comfortable with spending. Putting additional pressure on yourself and your business to recoup extremely limited resources too quickly is a recipe for failure. Carefully consider all costs before you start the business. Once again, you should always begin small and then slowly build the business. You will find that you can create a strong foundation when you go slowly, and you will find it is just like building a house -- it is less likely to crumble when the inevitable storms hit.

Built properly, a business of your own can be not only the ticket to financial freedom, but also the most generous form of inheritance for future generations.


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