HOW TO START A BUSINESS

PRE INVESTMENT EVALUATION

SELF ANALYSIS

REWARD OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The Potential and capacity to earn the kind of money you want certainly exists when you have your own business. Your earnings will be commensurate with the time and effort you put in to the enterprise.

Literally, you make the amount of money you deserve. All around us, we find many examples of individuals who have achieved material prosperity for themselves, and their families from a thriving small enterprise.

As an employee, you are at the beck and call of your superior or employer. As an entrepreneur, you own your business so nobody tells you what to do. You make the decisions and take full responsibility for them. The quality of this decision will be translated in to a gain loss for your business.

To most, being your own means dictating the time and amount of work of tour convenience. However, this is seldom true for start-up businesses. A new enterprise normally struggles to secure its place in the market place and the tangible payoffs of the things done today may be realize in months or even years ahead. Being your own boss is simply being in control of your own future. An entrepreneur has a better grasp of what he wants to be. In terms of making money, he is only limited by a quality of work he is willing to put into the enterprise.

The business begins as a mere idea. The entrepreneur simply turns his ideas to a fledging venture. A paid employee, on the other hand, follows orders issued within an organizational hierarchy where he usually shares his ideas only when asked and rarely takes credit for them.

On his own, the entrepreneur can turn his ideas directly into products and processes then watch as these ideas make it or fail in the market. A creative entrepreneur generates more productive ideas. With his creativity will be crucial to the long-term competitiveness of his enterprise.

Starting a business is by itself an accomplishment. It shows a person's capability in securing and managing resources. The business reflects the owners' ability to face challenges and overcome them. Naturally, a flourishing enterprise is a crowning fulfillment of a lifetime. The satisfaction will come with the recognition from peers, employees the community at large. The more modest and self –effacing achievers, the small business may simply be a good source of livelihood for the family and money to send the children to the school.

 

RISK AND TRIALS

THE RISK OF FAILURE

It is in the nature of small business to prone to risk and the possibility of failure. A single bad decision can potentially reduce a business to bankruptcy. A study made by the U. P. Institute for Small Scale Industries reveals that approximately one of five new businesses are doomed to fail.

UNPREDICTABLE BUSINESS CONDITIONS

Like any enterprise, a small business is vulnerable to the sudden changes in the business environment. In a fast growing industry, a small firm may not have the financial capability nor the organizational capacity to respond adequately to new opportunities and their concomitant problems.

On the other hand, in a slow-moving industry, the enterprise may encounter cash flow problem. Considering that their limited capital will require quick turnover to keep the company liquid, slow business could mean a gradual dissipation of resources.

LONG HOURS OF HARD WORK

A prospective entrepreneur must be ready to spend most if not all his waking hours immersed in the business. Some entrepreneurs tend to be preoccupied with business at the expense of time they should spend on the family and private affairs. Successful entrepreneurs will be the first to admit that hard work has been the major key to their success.

Some even spends half their lifetime before they begin to realize return on investment. This is particularly true for products or processes whose time has yet to come and the entrepreneur, aside from competently managing the business, must work to nurture his market.

UNWANTED RESPONSIBILITIES

The entrepreneur may have started the business simply to earn a living on his own terms. But he may eventually himself saddled with management responsibilities he did not bargain for. In which case the entrepreneur may have to step aside in favor of a skillful and strong manager. Often, he will not admit his inadequacies and insist on running the business. This can lead to internal problems for the enterprise.

Entrepreneurship also means responsibility. You are responsible to the people you employ and the community you serve. You are committed to pay decent wages, to provide value for the customer's money in terms of products or services, and to compete fairly.

PERSONAL ENTREPRENEURIAL CHARACTERISTICS (PECs)

There are several key characteristics that separate successful entrepreneur from the less successful ones. Through are extensive research effort worldwide, we have isolated 10 personal entrepreneurial characteristics ( PECs) that appear to make a big difference. These are identified below. Look over the of PECs and try to identify your entrepreneurial strengths and weaknesses.

ACHIEVEMENT CLUSTER

1. Opportunity Seeking

2. Persistence

3. Commitment to Work

4. Risk Taking

5. Demand and Quality