Interesting Advice For First-Time Business Owners

Starting your first business can be fun, exciting, and challenging, but in a good way. There are no guarantees for business success, but certain mindsets and skills indicate potential for success as a first-time business owner.

How do you know you’re ready to be a first-time business owner?

What types of businesses are lower risk for first-time business owners?

In this business blog, we answer these questions and provide some insights to prepare you for your future as a budding business owner.

Be Prepared

Robert Baden-Powell, an Army officer and first chief scout, made “Be prepared” the Scouts’ motto. It means always being ready in mind and body to do one’s duty.

To determine if you’re ready to own a business, consider your skills, knowledge, and experience. Here’s our take on what budding business owners need before they open.

Motivation

Passion and drive are much-needed qualities to see you through the tough times of owning your own business for the first time.

One way you’ll know you have what it takes to succeed is to work out how long you’ve spent researching your career change to become a business owner.

For example, the early stages of a new business are challenging—have you tested your resilience when faced with setbacks?

To ensure your commitment to your goals, experiment with some challenges and gauge how you respond with solutions. This experiment could be fun when you ask a friend or family member, especially if they’re in business or, better yet, a business mentor, to create a scenario for you to test your resolve.

Learning

Getting into business is a steep learning curve that will test your knowledge and skills from marketing and sales to finance and management.

Prepared budding business owners are continuously seeking opportunities to learn and grow. They invest in acquiring new skills, staying updated on industry trends, and seeking mentorship or guidance when needed.

Financial Investment

The amount of financial investment and personal sacrifice that a business owner is willing to make can be a good indicator of their level of preparedness.

Highly motivated business owners are typically willing to invest their own capital, take on financial risks, and make personal sacrifices to ensure the success of their business.  Buying a business as a going concern requires investment; buying a franchise will also require deep pockets of your capital and the rest from a business loan.

Starting your own business by commercializing an idea will also require investment.   There is no such thing as free – everything worthwhile involves investment.

Goals

Set goals while researching your business idea. What type of business do you want? Find out what you need to buy a business, franchise, or start a startup.

During your research, set SMART goals to determine which type of business is right for you. Remember that ambitious goals require actionable plans to be achievable. You will learn very quickly if you know how to create SMART goals. Practice makes perfect—well, nearly perfect!

Before you commence operating your business, it is a valuable skill to know how to set and achieve goals using a proven methodology.

Vision

Be clear about what you expect from your business over the long term. One sign of being prepared is having a clear vision for the business’s future and being committed to making it a reality.  You’ll also need to know how to communicate your vision to staff, suppliers, and customers.

Use your mentor as a sounding board to test the clarity of your content.   Are you articulating what your is and what you from it?  How does your business solve problems or add value to your intended customers?

Seek To Understand

Knowing it’s needed is a significant component of being prepared to own your first business.  Entrepreneurs actively seeking customer feedback, mentors, advisors, and peers are likelier to improve their business before launching it.

Seek out constructive criticism and use it to identify areas for improvement. Additionally, having a solid support system of friends, family, or fellow entrepreneurs can help reinforce motivation during challenging times.

Lower Risk Businesses For First Timers

All businesses have risks, especially startups and unproven small companies. However, some types of businesses are considered lower risk for first-time owners.

Factors that make a business low risk include the investment amount, whether the business model is proven, and whether it operates in a stable market. These considerations give some businesses an edge over others.

• Franchises – well-established brands with support and guidelines from the franchisor make this type of business less risky than startups.
• eCommerce Stores – especially those using dropshipping platforms like Shopify, Squarespace, and Wix, have the infrastructure, so there’s less set-up cost for new business owners.
• Subscription-based Services – Subscription-based businesses, such as online communities with membership fees or meal delivery services, can offer consistent revenue streams and relatively low risks when attracting a loyal customer base.
• Home-based startups—with lower overhead costs, services such as freelance writing, software development, or online tutoring are relatively low-risk.

Summing Up

There is a saying: fools rush in where others fear to tread by Alexander Pope.

Starting a business, even buying a going concern, will require you to work long hours and hard.

Being resourceful and adaptable may mean wearing many hats and solving unexpected problems. However, training and trial-and-error scenarios will prepare you to succeed.

Furthermore, a healthy investment fund, a strong appreciation of financial management, and a head for digital marketing and sales strategies must also be part of your entrepreneur’s tool kit.