A lot of people who want to start their own business have an idea, but really struggle with getting that idea out of the concept stage.
This is really hard for a lot of first-time entrepreneurs, and is also quite difficult when their big idea is something far from their area of expertise.
In my experience as a consultant to entrepreneurs, a former SCORE mentor, and a mentor at Workbox, the problem is usually that people can’t get past the “noodling” phase. And that’s usually due to one of three things: (1) there are risks, and that is scary, or (2) they think things need to be perfect before getting started– there is so much to learn about the new industry and learning it all that they are paralyzed, or (3) they keep thinking of new things, new angles, new bells and whistles, and can’t stay truly focused on the immediate tasks.
I’ll look at each of these groups, but today I’m focused on the first group.
It may be hard to recognize this at first. You want so much to do something different and your idea is so exciting that it’s hard to let go of it. Being an entrepreneur requires being comfortable with risk, being decisive (even if you are often wrong), and being comfortable stepping outside your personal comfort zone on a regular basis.
“I’ve Got a Great Idea, But Moving Forward is Risky!”
Honestly, some people don’t even realize they are worried about the risks.
And there ARE risks. Sometimes lots of them, in different shapes and sizes.
There’s the risks that are pretty obvious: The risk of investing time and money that may never pay off. The risk of leaving your job and the comfortable, predictable paycheck. The risk of not being able to pay your bills. The risk of finding another job if your venture fails.
But there’s also the less obvious ones: The risk that your idea wasn’t so great after all. The risk that you’re look like and feel like a failure if/when your new venture fails. The risk that you maybe don’t have the skills and mindset that it takes to build a business.
And lots of people are actually afraid of success. Will you be able to handle it if your business takes off and your life is completely changed?
If this sounds like you, one of the best ways to get started is to take baby steps — small, low-risk steps that move you forward without betting the house.
If at all possible, stay employed (either keep on with your current job, or find another similar one). Yes, this might be painful – but begin taking the many steps you’ll need to take to start your own business while you have cash coming in.
First, put together a simple business plan. Don’t make it into a doctoral thesis or a B-School case study! Just create a little project plan of the things you need. People are often surprised how long – and how expensive – it is to put in place many of the building blocks you’ll need.
Brainstorm a name for your company, and research whether anyone else is using it. Places to look here are the internet, domain name registration sites, and also your secretary of state office, which can tell you whether or not the name is already taken.
If it is, go back & brainstorm some more. If it’s free, establish your company and reserve the domain name.
Do market research on your future competition. How do they distinguish themselves? How do they market themselves? What do they charge? You can do this on the internet, or even have fun posing as a potential customer. What kind of a demand for your new business will there be? Is there a unique angle you can take?
Once you’ve done that, there’s still lots & lots of pre-launch work to be done. Spend your evenings, weekends, and lunch hours figuring out how to build a website, or find someone to help you. Begin building it. If you’re like most, this will take a lot longer than you think.
If you need a brick and mortar space, find a good realtor to start gathering information on options for leasing. Ditto if you need furnishings for your new space.
What kind of support or help will you need? Start spending time investing in those options (carefully, of course – if you’re worried about your current employer finding out), Imagine how you will announce your launch and how you will market, and start preparing all of the copy for that.
Build a prototype of your product or service and a pricing model. Stick it out there — maybe with friends and colleagues — to see what resonates.
You get the idea. Your personal business plan will almost certainly highlight a number of tasks pre-launch that you can be working on in your spare time while you’re still working. The closer you can get to being ready to sell your products or services before you quit your day job, the shorter the time you’ll be without a good income stream.
Because almost all the entrepreneurs who have been on my show in the past and that I have worked with as clients will tell you: Everything takes MUCH longer and costs MUCH more than they anticipated. And if you can stomach continuing to work in your current job for a bit longer – which hopefully will be easier knowing you have a plan and that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel – then you have just increased your odds of success exponentially.
One last piece of advice that also comes from other entrepreneur clients and show guests: take the time to do some very thorough market research. The business world is littered with failed businesses that had a really cool idea, but for which there is no perceived need.
It’s the #1 reason new businesses fail, and it includes mis-steps like:
Your pitch is off—it’s not resonating, or you lack credibility
- Your pitch is off — it’s not resonating, or you lack credibility
- Your pricing is off
- You’ve mis-identified your target market
- Your market doesn’t see the need or isn’t ready for your offering
As regular listeners already know, I had a distributor consulting business with a partner – helping companies find distributors that were better fits and setting up the distributor to sell more.
We thought our target market was smaller companies, because they often didn’t have dedicated distributor managers. But it turns out the better fit was really large companies that had the dedicated distributor manager. Those were the companies with the resources to afford to hire us, and they were the ones with enough expertise in house to understand how much money they were leaving on the table.
But, since we hadn’t really done any market research, we spent months and lots of time and money chasing the wrong market segment.
So really take the time to do some thorough market research. Take it from me: you’ll save yourself a lot of time and headaches!