8 Tips Before you Start a Business
Learn and gather knowledge from others: Join entrepreneurship forums, learn about the industry you plan to go into, attend webinars, and take basic training courses when they are available. You will save a tremendous amount of trial and error time
Understand the difference between working for a company versus working for yourself, and building on a new business. Know the amount of staffing requirements or support that your business would need. Feel free to develop systems and methods that allow for you to hire other people to DO the work for the business while you plan it.
Get to know investors: If the business you plan to start would require investment to grow, do what you can to find our what investors are looking for and where to find those who might invest in your kind of business.
Put yourself out there: Ask for what you want in polite ways. Remember, people like to do business with people they know rather than strangers. Get the ball rolling early by continuously reaching out and introducing yourself to key stakeholders and entrepreneurs in the ecosystem.
Never stop learning and trying new things: What is profitable and works now, won't necessarily be profitable and work 10 years from now. Don't let yourself fall into the "this is the way its done" phase. Keep your eyes open for new opportunities and changes to our environments. Get as much information about your related industry and listen to your future customers.
Plan to start small scale before going all out: Entrepreneurs are known to be risk takers but for the most part , successful entrepreneurs don't just jump right into creating the next big thing, instead they take controlled risks. Test your idea on a small scale, then build on what works well, tweak what shows promise and discard the disasters.
Don't be afraid to make mistakes: The difference between successful entrepreneurs and everyone else is that successful entrepreneurs learn from their mistakes and move forward to solve them. Do not dwell on the risk of failure, blame the economy, curse the bad luck, or blame others for your fate. If your path to opening your business and reaching your goal is blocked, then look for an alternative way to do so.
Think of what you will do as a business: Figure out how you will keep track of income and expenses, keep your business money separate from personal funds, find out what regulations your business needs to abide by and find out how to register your business and the benefits of doing so.