How To Start Your Own Business: Prepare To Launch

Table Of Contents

• Introduction
• My story
• Do you want to be an entrepreneur?
• Are you ready to start a business?
• Will people buy what you want to sell?
• Can you make enough money?
• How can you get money to start your business?
• What is your next step?

Introduction

You’ve probably spent some time thinking about starting your own business, like a landscaping service, a new food truck, a hair salon, or a web design agency. Becoming an entrepreneur – a person who creates a new business – can build important new opportunities for you and your community. It will also demand a big chunk of your time and money. Before rushing in, it is important to think deeply about whether entrepreneurship is right for you and whether your business idea is likely to pay off.

Each chapter covers a step in this decision-making process, with questions to answer on the included worksheet. Think of it as adding details to a dream. As you work through the guide, you’ll come to one of three conclusions:

• You’re ready to start your own business and your idea has a good chance of success.
• You do want to start a business, but you need a different idea.
• You don’t want to start a business right now.

Each conclusion is a good outcome. New businesses often fail because the entrepreneurs didn’t think through all the details that come with starting a new business. With research and reflection upfront, you can save yourself the trouble and expense of learning these things the hard way. If you decide to wait, you can always come back to this guide when you’re ready. If you decide to move forward, you’ll have a strong foundation in the worksheet. It will help you to talk to potential customers, vendors, and partners with a clear vision for your business.

My story

Hello, I’m Lisa. I’ve always been inspired by entrepreneurs. I studied finance and entrepreneurship in college in order to understand the ins and outs of running a business. I also have an MBA (Masters in Business Administration), which helped me expand my business skills from finance into other areas like technology, customer experience, and corporate strategy. Over the course of my career, I’ve worked with many different kinds of small businesses to help them figure out how to get started or to improve their business. 

I’ve worked for investment banks and MTV Networks. I helped start a grocery store in Brooklyn, New York, and worked with a furniture business to grow their revenues substantially. I’ve worked with an urban farm in Miami to organize their bookkeeping and decide how to invest their profit. I even helped a friend launch a company selling tempeh at a health food store in Washington State. 

From these experiences, I’ve learned that with the right idea, hard work, and persistence, anyone can start a successful business and obtain financial freedom. The key is to take it one step at a time, be flexible, be open to feedback, and make adjustments as you learn.

I hope this guide provides you a starting point to do just that.