Friday, October 13, 2006

Unlock Your True Potential

Here's another excerpt of an excellent article entitled "Unlocking Your Entrepreneurial Spirit" featured in "Success from Home" magazine written by Todd Eliason and Martha Belden:

If you are serious about starting your own business, the most important thing you need to do first is simply take action. If you don't know what kind of business to start, there are several resources you can tap into to give you some ideas. Here's a quick checklist to set you on your way.

1. Do Your Research

Once you have decided that you want to experience the rewards of small business success, your job is to explore every single detail of the business. Leave nothing to chance; investigate before you step; talk to lots of other people and get lots of input. Your job is to minimize, reduce and eliminate risk wherever possible in the pursuit of profit so that the profits are real and the losses are minimal or non-existent.

2. What Are You Passionate About?

Passion is the critical factor in determining business success. Many people start businesses selling products that they particularly like using themselves. Other people start businesses because they are passionate about the technology or the science involved. Some people start businesses based on their hobbies or other interests. Look around you at the parts of your life that you enjoy the most. Think about the products and services that you have the strongest feelings about.

3. Start Small and Grow As You Go

Whatever your motivations, if you've ever thought of starting your own business, you should just get on with it, right now. However, do not quit your day job! Well, at least not yet. You'll need a steady flow of income coming in while you're getting your new business off the ground.

Start working out of your house, offering a product or service part time, in the evenings and on the weekends. This will help you get a taste for what being an entrepreneur is all about. And when you start earning some money, keep some aside for your business. It will be very tempting in the beginning to spend all of the money on other priorities. By reinvesting some of it back into your business, it will help offset some of the operational costs and help you grow your business faster. Repeat this process of putting money aside as your business grows.

4. Stay Focused On Your Dream

There will be many ups and downs no matter what business you decide to start. It's part of the "rite of passage" of becoming an entrepreneur - taking the good with the bad. And there will be days when nothing goes right and you'll start to debate whether you should pack it in. This is the time where you'll need to work even harder. Some of the most successful companies had to go through years of failure before they got it right. You will have to go through a similar process to see what works for you. Like these business trailblazers, you will have days full of challenges and failure. But keep in mind, they are your challenges and failures, not your employer's. It's how you deal with failure that will determine your ultimate success.


It's Time

The human spirit was never intended to be boxed in. But if you look around you, that cubicle you're in is doing just that. A cubicle is more than just a "small-portioned space" as the dictionary defines it; it's a barrier of sorts - blocking the view of your true potential. Many people have escaped these barriers and are choosing their own destiny. And with a little courage, faith and perseverance, you too can unlock your potential by starting a business that will allow you to enjoy life's many activities any day of the week - even Tuesdays.