By Debbie Gregory.

Part 2 of 3

It is never easy to start a business.  It involves very careful planning, evaluation, and a money to begin. The mindset of the entrepreneur beginning the business is one of the most important parts.

There is not any test or certification out there that states you are prepared to become a business owner or that you will start and run a successful business. Your mindset determines how motivated, driven, happy, and focused you are on making your business successful. Education is always valuable, but it will not fully prepare you to become an entrepreneur.

How do you improve your mindset to be successful?

-Your Responsibilities: You need to know and accept that starting a running your own business is a 24/7 job and that is going to have a major impact on your personal life. You will need to make sure that you are ok with missing events, holidays, weekends, evenings, etc. while you get your business up and running. Find out who you can lean on to take up the slack in your personal responsibilities.

-Your Personality: To run a successful business you need to be i flexible, patient, and prepared for the completely unexpected. If you tend to become overly stressed and/or irritable at the drop of a hat, you will be challenged with the turbulent nature of running a business.

-Your Motivation: Even though you are the “boss” of your new business, you still have customers, partners, lenders, and investors to answer to and they are your focus and priority.

-Your Willingness to Work With Others & Your Management Skills: Regardless of the type of business you begin, you will need to work with many other people including customers, employees, vendors, suppliers, partners, lawyers, accountants, engineers, and others. You can find strength and success in those people.  Take the time and energy to develop your people skills and your relationships.

-Your Network: As the saying goes “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” Carefully cultivating a wide network of other entrepreneurs and professionals can help your business dramatically. Take the time to form relationships with successful people in like-minded businesses as well as differing business services – such as lawyers, lenders, influencers.

-Your Competitors: Knowing who your competition is and how they do business can help you determine what makes you different and how you will stand out. Use this information to build your brand and better your offerings.

-Your Relationship with Money:  Your financial management skills can make or break your business. If you spend money too freely, you will have cash flow problems with your business that can ultimately lead to closing. Make sure that you have the capital in place and you do not overspend.

-Your Scalability: Successful business owners simply cannot do everything on their own.   If your business cannot survive without your presence, you may need to rethink your business structure.

Working on yourself is the best way to ensure you are ready to run a business and make it successful.

Stay tuned for Part 3 – Online resources and tools to help you start your business and run it.