It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur—in the last decade, technology has leveled the playing field and propelled an entrepreneurial revolution. As an entrepreneur, you now have more access to information that enables you to make more intelligent choices more quickly. You have an advantage over big businesses in that you’re lighter, more flexible, and faster on your feet. You can target new markets more quickly, and you can turn on a dime.
When you’re starting your own business, it’s important to have a clear vision and follow a plan from start to finish. Rieva Lesonsky, editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, provides some practical guidelines that can help you when beginning your own enterprise:
1. Inintialy You Shouldn’t Choose To Resign Your Job
If you’re thinking about starting your own business, don’t quit your day job just yet. It’s a good idea to start off part-time, especially if you’re going to be running your business online. This way, you’ll have a steady income coming in while you’re working on getting your business up and running. It usually takes six months to a year to get a business going, so you don’t want to put yourself in a position where you can’t make your house payment if your company isn’t an overnight success. Start with what you can manage, financially and time-wise, and scale up as your business grows.
2. You Need To Find Your Niche.
The days of general stores are over. Particularly online, consumers are looking for stores that specialize. You have to find a need—something a specific group of people want, but can’t get at the big chain stores—and fill it. Advises Lesonsky, “You can’t compete with the big guys by trying to be like them, so you have to find where the big guys aren’t and go into your niches.”
3. Create Personal Visibility Online
It’s important to have an online presence for your business, even if you’re not planning to do any online selling. The internet can still be a valuable tool for promoting your company and letting people know that you exist. Having an online presence eliminates the limitations of physical location and broadens your potential customer base by millions. It’s also a great way to promote yourself and let people know what you’re doing.
4. Overcome From Loose Momentum
The key to success in entrepreneurship is to never give up. You have to be creative, driven, and determined to keep going even when you fail. Bill Gates is a perfect example of this – before he created the successful Microsoft 3.0, he created Microsoft 1.0 and 2.0, both of which were failures. But he didn’t give up and that’s what separated him from other entrepreneurs who weren’t as successful. As Lesonsky says, “Optimism is key to getting beyond the ‘no’ or the trouble. Failure is nothing to be ashamed of – just don’t make the same mistake twice!”