Starting a business is one of the most stressful things you can do. It will affect you mentally, physically and emotionally. You need to be strong to deal with this kind of stress, and you need to have someone to turn to for support.
Are You a Survivor?
There are some people who always seem to make it in the end, regardless of what life throws at them. You need to be the kind of person whose response to things going wrong is to work harder and get it fixed, not someone who cries and goes into hiding.
Many entrepreneurs say that this, more than anything, is the secret of success. You need to be a ‘never say die’ kind of person. You need to be always ready to try again, no matter what gets thrown at you. Remember that it’s not when things start to go wrong that you fail – you haven’t failed until you’ve given up.
Be Prepared to Work Hard
If you’ve been doing a standard nine-to-five job, you’re probably used to a world where it’s someone else’s responsibility if the work doesn’t get done – you work as fast as you can for the hours you’re told to, and if it’s not done on time then it’s the manager’s fault for not hiring enough people. When you work on your own, though, there’s no-one to blame – the buck stops where it starts, with you.
Do you have a Start-up Plan?
A Startup Plan is basically the list of everything that must happen to get the business up and running from the initial idea to scouting locations to securing vendors to getting licenses to stocking the shelves to opening the doors to marketing and advertising to managing growth and on and on.
A Startup Plan is not as detailed as a business plan. It is essentially the “to do” list for starting a business, though it is every bit as important as a business plan because the Startup Plan serves as the blueprint for getting the business up and running.
Trying to launch a business without a Startup Plan is like taking a trip along a curvy, mountain road without a map, driving at high speeds, while wearing a blindfold. You will eventually arrive at some destination, but it’s likely to not be the destination you had in mind and your trip will be anything but smooth.
Create you startup plan with a simple spreadsheet and build out from there. Start by simply listing everything that you can think of that must be done to launch the business. Once you have the list break down each task into individual action items, assign each item to a responsible party and set a target completion date. A task without a deadline will not get done.
You Need to Satisfy The Customer.
When you run a home business, you can’t afford to lose any customers. You need to always be nice to them, trying to meet their needs. You have to remember that you’re the most senior person they can talk to in this organization, and you have to act like it – when there’s no-one other than you to handle complaints, you have to either give in to customers at every opportunity or watch them take their business elsewhere.
Do You Really Love Doing Voice Overs?
If you don’t love what you do, then sooner or later you’re going to want to stop doing it – and when you run a home business, that’s difficult. Besides, you can’t run a home business if you’re always sitting and thinking about how great it’ll be when it’s the weekend. The only way to succeed in home business is to be absolutely sure that you really love what you’re doing. If you can think of another job you’d rather have, then you’re in trouble.
