Sure, the idea of running your own show, being your own boss, making your own money is a common dream. But what most people don’t realize is that startups involve a lot of time, energy and often money. Although it may seem rewarding to start up your own company, it can be brutally painful. If you are still unsure, read on…
Can You Work With A Partner? When it comes to starting a business, I’d say you’d ideally want between 2 – 4 fouders. Going at it alone can be daunting. Who will hold you accountable for results? More than four people and it often becomes impossible to make quick decisions. (Of course there are many startups that came about from a single person’s efforts and many that had more than four founding members.) Regardless of how you go about partnering or not, there’s no getting around the fact that a startup will test you to your limits.
Are You Old Enough or Young Enough? This might sound like a strange question. The truth is age does matter when it comes to launching a startup. The bottom line is, forming a startup means you opt to put your entire life on hold to make this one venture take off. You most likely won’t have time to do anything else but work – figure you’ll be sqeezing your entire work life into four years or so. Starting a company isn’t for everyone, so think about your life and lifestyle before jumping in.
Can You Secure Early Funding? Not having enought money top operate your new business will hurt your chances for success. You need to figure out how much money you’ll need and where that money will come from. The idea is to calculate what it will cost you to get established and operate for one or two years, and then raise money for that period of time.
Can You Limit Your Spending? Once you’ve secured the money, you’ll need to spend as little as possible. Here are a few money saving tips.
- Avoid hiring a complete staff. Stay lean. Use temps or contract workers when needed.
- Resist paying yourself lavishly
- Save money and pour it back into the business
- Avoid buying lavish office furniture – buy it cheap, used or borrowed from friends and family
Successful companies take time to mature. You don’t have to get big quickly. You just have to have enough money to keep on moving forward. It takes time to reach sustainable profitability, so be patient but dilligent.
Do You Want To Make A Lot Of Money? Who doesn’t right? But there are many reasons entrepreneurs want to be rich. Here are four varying scenarios:
- Poverty – some people grow up ina lifestyle of peverty and want to get out of that to help their parents/family get out if it too
- Generosity – some entrepreneurs want to be wealthy enough to help causes they believe in
- Control – some want to be rich to have independence and live their lives as they want
- Lofty Desires – others just like the idea of owning yachts, multiple homes and the ability to travel the world
You’ll need to decide what’s most important to you. It’s not easy making money on your own, but there are ways to live comfortably and maintain a “life.”
Take Away: Being an entrepreneur is a demanding lifestyle. It requires a lot from you as a person. You’ll be challenged in so many ways. But you’ll also be rewarded in ways you don’t even know about now. A startup is not for everyone, as I mentioned. It’s a good idea to evaluate if you do have what it takes to start to build a company.
If you think you do, what are you waiting for? Tell us on our Facebook page what you think it takes to run a startup!