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| 3 things you should know before starting your business |
Today I had a long chat with a friend on the phone, and it was mind-blowing, hence; I had to share with my Facebook friends what transpired in an hour conversion. In her quest to run a successful small business which she woefully failed, in which she has lost huge sums of money, and she is traumatised.
She is a graduate from the health sciences, however; I’m not justifying her failure due to her inadequate knowledge in the study field, but her ignorance of not taking the modern models or business strategies into consideration before running her business. Don’t forget folks have graduated from MBA and still failed in running successful businesses.
The term ‘entrepreneurship’ is evolving and the perception which holds traditional way of conducting our daily business no longer applicable in running successful businesses. Even our mothers who have no formal education or training in business has tremendously changed their way of doing business.
My cross culture management lecturer once said–the best person who can ever be qualified as a manager is your mother. Yes! Very true, our mother’s play a very vital role in our lives making sure we have the best. From going to the market to buy the right foodstuffs, preparing the food, and making sure you’re home at the right time to eat, etc…Basically, this tells you that you can’t just wake up one morning and start running a business, there are prudent steps to be considered.
I know, nowadays everyone wants to become an entrepreneur or businessman/woman. But we have to make sure we employ the modern models and strategies from—Planning, marketing, and managerial, etc.
As an entrepreneur your ability to know the “Do’s and ‘Don’ts” is an essential characteristic. I have outlined a number of tips which will forever be helpful not only to my friend but any other person who wish to start a new business.
1. Passion
Through our conversation, at a certain point I started asking her some basic questions, and one of the questions I ask her was—What derived you to starting up the business? She flatly answered, “Someone told me it was booming and I could make big money”. It sounds funny, huh? Lol
An entrepreneur is often driven by the desire for deeper relevance beyond running a business for profit. This is a key characteristic of every ‘successful entrepreneur’. One thing I want folks! to understand is Before you go into any business make sure it drives you beyond your sheer mechanics for just making profits. 
2. Learn your business
Through our conversation, I also realised that, my friend didn’t have a foreknowledge of her business. I still remember vividly way back high school our colleagues in general arts and science classes’ taunted as “crediting and debiting” students. Smh! Today’s business competitive advantage has a significant role in both traditional and modern way of conducting a business which descends across all types of business, Be it sole proprietorship (one man business) or a company.
As you start to develop the interest to start a business, learn the basics and use them to guide your steps for building a successful business. Remember that many successful entrepreneurs failed in their first attempts but bounced back to thrive after studying the right steps to be considered before starting a business.
3. Seeking help outside
If not for anything I was expecting my friend to seek free advice from me before venturing into the business, but her excuse was—she didn’t have my contact until recently. What distinguished ‘success entrepreneurs’ is the fact that they never failed to ask for help outside or even paying for professional advice. Numerous new entrepreneurs blindly neglect the help factor. Please don’t be shy seeking help from friends who are in the business field.
