Dreams of Independence

You have a dream of independence and a passion that you’re convinced will make you a millionaire.  All you have to do is start your own business and magically you’ll be on a beach, sipping a mai tai as the money rolls in, right?  It may happen someday, but in the meanwhile, are you willing to put in all the hard work, long hours and dedication to achieve your dream?  After all of your hard work, you still may not become a millionaire.  Is it worth it?  While you might not become rich, you may have achieved your independence and become your own boss.

Having a great idea is a start, but it takes much more than an idea to create a dream business.  Do you have what it takes?  First, you need to decide exactly what you are doing.  Are you building a business from scratch, buying a franchise, selling a product or a service?  Will you be home based or rent office space? Is your business going to be virtual or require face to face contact?  And if selling a product, do you need an inventory and require a storage unit or warehouse, or will you work with suppliers that can do the shipping for you, while you handle the orders?  Once you have made these decisions, the next thing you need to consider is what are the start up costs for each prospective area?  While a home based business might be less expensive due to lower overhead, not all business models can function that way.

Another thing to consider is who is your target market?  Who will be purchasing or utilizing your product or service?  Is this something that is in demand?

Once you have determined what type of business you will be starting, the next thing to consider is how you will be financing it and the length of time it will take to get started.  Is it something you need to work on full time, or can you work in your spare time, while maintaining your day job?  Unfortunately, in most cases, starting a new business full time is not feasible for most people, so be aware that you will probably be working both your full time job and your new business at the same time.  Don’t do anything rash and quit your job before you have made the new business financially successful.

You are now moving forward, have determined what type of business you will be starting, where it will be located, and what your start up costs will be.  What comes next?  Usually it is creating your road map of success.  There are some online programs that could help you with this, or you could hire a consultant or coach to work with you and serve as your sounding board.  Of course, make sure you hire a great accountant and an attorney to help you form your corporation if you are moving in that direction, and set up the proper bookkeeping system to deal with taxes.

Now that everything is in place, you need to work out a plan in order to connect with your target audience.  Creating a focus group of your target market is a good way to determine interest.  Your plan should cover different forms of marketing, from social media to print, from written to video.

Now that you have reached this point, you are in the process of creating your new start up!  Are your dreams of becoming a millionaire still in place after all this hard work?  If so, congratulations!  Will you be sitting on the beach tomorrow?  Probably not, but give it a year or two, and you might be finally secure enough that you will be able to start having the freedom you have been working towards.  Remain optimistic and remember anything is possible if you work hard, stay the course and plan realistically.  Will it happen overnight, probably not, but you are moving in the right direction.  If it doesn’t happen, then brush yourself off and start all over again.