Many of us have worked for someone else while toiling around thinking about the possibilities of what we could do with our talents and interests. We wait for our managers to take advantage of this but that never happens.
Well, now it is time for you to use what comes naturally to you to create a new livelihood for yourself. This step by step guide will explain how to use your talents and abilities to start a business and exploit your passion!
List your talents, abilities, and interests. Think all the way back to childhood about those things that made you happy, excited, determined to change the world... anything that gets your blood pumping. See what themes arise from this list, if there is anything that pops out at you as something you can convert to a business/career opportunity. This will be your passion!
With this, research potential businesses and industries that would fit. Think about current events to see if you can solve problems with your talent. See if you can come up with no more than five potential businesses.
Once you have made this determination and its affirmative towards entrepreneurship, it is time to go through basic steps for start up. The first thing you must do is understand your life mission. Franklin Covey has a wonderful tool for building a mission statement - http://www.franklincovey.com/msb/ Doing this will give you guidance for where you want to spend your time and why.
There are different types of businesses you can consider implementing your passion as. A few include:
* Services - Consulting, Planner, Interior Design, Real Estate, Web Development, Independent Contracting
* Products - Patents, Wholesale Distribution, Retail
Or you can combine these and become an expert in your area of choice. This will require building a brand and could include writing books, hitting the speaking circuit, and consulting others with your expertise.
Think about if entrepreneurship is truly for you. Some people are not interested in being self-employed. It can be a very difficult decision so it is really important to think about this. Weigh the benefits, rewards, risks, and mitigation for taking on this task, particularly at this stage in your life.
Financing your venture may be the last step between developing your idea and serving your first customer. Two types of financing to consider are debt and equity meaning your business is either going to borrow funding or receive investments to get started. Your business plan will go a long way in pursuing financing for your business.
Readers will want to make sure it is a viable deal and will particularly look at your financial projections to make sure they make sense. Any serious reader should know that the numbers you put forth are only estimates, but like any other math equations, you must list your assumptions and can not come to any wild conclusions.
Now it's time to develop a business plan around what it is you have determined will be your business. The business plan represents a road map to help keep you in line with relevant business goals, an understanding of your market, financial goals, and how you plan to pull it off. Do an online search for "business plan templates" and look at the SCORE website (see below) for templates.
This can be the hardest step for people and a major hurdle to cross. Please do not let this hold you back from pursuing your passion. Make sure you get help in fleshing ideas out if you need it. Do not wait until you have a complete business plan before pursuing this business venture... put together a shorter plan of action with immediate goals to get started, while working on a full business plan to determine the long-term road map for your business success.
Recognize your purpose in completing the business plan and write accordingly. Purposes include:
- pursuing financing
- adding new partners
- internal operational documentation
- road map for management
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