Total Pageviews

Thursday 22 November 2018

Entrepreneurs & Small Business


Everyone has had the dream of going into business for themselves at one point or another.

Being your own boss, making your own rules; these are the things that dreams are made of. Bug going into business can be risky. Fortunately, there are people willing to take the BIG risk of going into business.

Fifty percent of small businesses started in Canada fail within the first two years of existence. That number inflates to 60 percent in the first five years and a whopping 70 percent in the first ten.
Maybe the biggest mistake that people make when going into business for themselves is the label they put on themselves. The word entrepreneur is thrown around like a basketball.

But what is a real entrepreneur? A real entrepreneur is an individual who wants to take an industry by storm. Big dreaming and full of enthusiasm, entrepreneurs are the ones who seek venture capital from “funding angels” and venture capitalists.

Venture capitalists want to see there is an obvious, well planned road to profit with any project they fund. If you’re not familiar with venture capitalists and what they do, take a look at the program Dragon’s Den and you will get a pretty good, yet media-charged example, of what the venture capitalist does.  When you think entrepreneur, think Microsoft and Bill Gates.

An individual who would like to be self-employed is generally content with selling one service on a smaller scale, possibly hiring employees as business demands grow. Typically, there is less funding available to grow the small business from traditional lenders, and venture capitalists aren’t interested in smaller thinking. This means the self-employed are put into a positon where they must support themselves and their business at the same time. This process is called “bootstrapping”.   

Those individuals who choose to be self-employed are generally in it for the freedom that it presents. People with disabilities may choose this route to help them join a workforce that would otherwise be too rigid to accommodate their disability.

Perhaps the hardest thing about being an entrepreneur or a self-employed person is figuring out what the product or service they are selling is actually going to be. The status quo says “do what you love”, but how do you determine if your idea is good for a business venture and not just a really great hobby?

That’s where a business plan comes into play. A serious business idea deserves the attention of a serious business plan. Developing a business plan can be a daunting task, but once completed serve as an invaluable tool. Big businesses generally have fluid business plans that are constantly changing as consumer demand for goods and services evolves.

If you’re sincerely looking for a place to start with your ideas, spend some time thinking about the impact you would like to have with your product or service. Unfortunately not everyone can invent the next Pet Rock, but with a solid business plan and a bit of luck you may just be able to carve out enough market-share to support your business and yourself.



No comments:

Post a Comment