The right business for you

There’s an old adage in business that “if you do what you love, success will almost surely follow”.

Nothing could be truer. The secret to success is to find something you’re passionate about. It can be a product you’ve created, someone else’s product or service you think is terrific or an idea you’ve come up with that is so unique, the world will readily beat a path to your doorstep.

We can’t emphasize this enough. If you don’t love the idea, product or service, you will soon grow tired of it, probably before you even get your business up and running. You’ll end up hating going to work, just like the 80% of other Americans who are dissatisfied with their jobs. But if you do love it, rest assured that you won’t be able to wait to start your workday.

In the start up phases of your new enterprise, you will be putting in a lot of time to get everything organized, making sure your business is set up correctly and getting ready to accept your first order. You will need to think about how your business is structured, get some basic licenses, create a solid business plan and put some basic systems in place to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Don’t let these things get you down. Every serious businessperson has to jump through these hoops and the procedures are fairly easy to follow. From Martha Stewart and Bill Gates to the dry cleaner on the corner, everyone has had to do the same things to get their businesses started.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

If you’re going to be in business, then you need to decide what it is you’re going to provide your customers. There are three basic things you can sell:

1. A product.
2. A service.
3. Knowledge or information.

You can, of course, decide to focus on one or more at the same time. For example, if you love to crochet you can sell crochet supplies and a book on the subject. On the other hand, you can sell the book and back it up with a consulting service, helping neophytes to learn the craft through videoconferences or phone calls. Just be sure that you don’t take on too much at the beginning. You can always expand your offerings once you have your business up and running.