Control What You Can
When Starting a Business
You don’t want to lose your edge. That edge is your belief in yourself and your product, your optimism, and your willingness to put it on the line. That’s what makes you an Entrepreneur, and that’s what makes you so good, but the odds aren’t in your favor. You can't control everything, but the odds get better when you control what you can control.
The first thing that you need to do is make sure that your personal life is in order. If you have problems before you start they’re going to be magnified ten fold once you get started, but don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t build a business and have a great personal life. You can. We know. You just have to make sure that your spouse
is truly on board for the effort. That your financial house is in order, and that your family is protected. Just remember that your spouse is your partner in this effort. Treat them accordingly. Keep them in the loop no matter how good or how bad things are. If you’re on anxiety medication before you start you may want to think twice about going forward.
Next, assemble the group that’s thinking of putting this start-up together. If it’s only you then you’re the group. Sit down with pencil and paper, and just free think. Let your mind(s) loose. Come up with as many possible uses for your product as you can, and the advantages and disadvantages for each use. We know that the use of a pencil and paper is a lost art so use a computer if it makes you feel more comfortable, but make a list. Once you have the list of product uses with advantages and disadvantages, add as many markets as you can think of for each use to your list. Relate the advantages and disadvantages of product use to each market. Reoccurring disadvantages might highlight something that you have to work on.
Next prioritize your markets according to:
1) Accessibility – how easy is it to get your product in front of decision makers, Can you identify who they are? What would it take to be able to present your product to them? What would a realistic time span be from presentation to order acceptance? How did you come up with that time span? What means of distribution would be most viable? Are these means of distribution available to you or is product distribution controlled by competitive product dominance or by the customer?
2) Potential Offered – This one is straight and simple. How many people or organizations in each market would potentially use your product, and how much of your product would they potentially use over a 5 year period.
3) Approach – What do you (and your group) think would be the best way to approach each of these potential markets taking cost into consideration? Think about time, cost and familiarity. You might even want to rate the various markets by Approach.
4) Competition – There may be other products like yours, or your product might be unlike any other product out there, but there is always competition for the Users dollars. You need to know what that competition is and just how your product is going to overcome it.
5) Market Selection - Consider Accessibility, Potential Offered, Approach and Competition, and rank the various uses or markets for your product. We know that this is tedious, but if there's a jewel out there just waiting you should know it sooner rather than later. It could make the difference between success and failure.
6) Production – Before you get started you’re going to have to know just how and where your product is going to be produced, and if it can be produced for an economically viable price.
This will all take time, effort and research to put together. Start with a brain storming session and as obstacles confront you suspend that session until you can investigate and retrieve the information that you need to move forward. We know that you don’t want to do any of this. This process might take anywhere from a few months to a year. We know that you really want to get going. The fact is that “you are getting going”. Just not the way you envisioned it, but you’re not wasting money doing it. You’re plotting out your moves and writing a “PLAN OF BUSINESS”. Whatever time you spend at the front end putting this PLAN together will be paid back many times over in time and dollars as you move forward. Just hang on to that entrepreneurial spark!
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