How to know that you are ready to start your own business

Several years ago, at one pretentious investment forum, during a break between sessions, I tried to feed cool investors my new project for the production of shoes, which my friend and I were opening. The presentation was bright, emotional, but no one was interested. Almost crying, I asked for feedback, what is wrong with my project? The answer both jarred and surprised me. The reason for the refusal was strange and absurd: “This is about a real small business, about trade. That would be something about high technologies or about IT. And the amount you are asking is ridiculously small."

A good acquaintance generally advised me to give it all up and asked why I needed all this? And really, why is all this entrepreneurship needed? I thought about it and continue to think about it regularly.

With this short article, I would like to help make a decision to those who are just thinking about entrepreneurial activity or are at the beginning of their journey.

What are the criteria by which you can objectively assess your strengths and abilities, which will allow you not only to open your own business, but also to stay in it? How can you know that you are ready to start your own business?

1. Make sure you want it

In business, as in love. No one can tell why you fell in love. Simply because the stars converged or a chemical reaction occurred. Yes, that's right, you opened a news feed and read a new business article, or you just went out into the street, looked around, and the realization overwhelmed you: you have a desire to do something, start working for yourself and change the world or your life.

Be sure to check your desire: is it really yours or you have fallen into the trap of a "false desire". Often someone else's story from a glossy magazine captures and creates the illusion that you want it too. So before you start with a healthy dose of skepticism, ask yourself, "Why?" This is a good exercise. Ask yourself, and after each answer, ask the same question again. Until the answers are either absurd or crystal clear. Only after that does it make sense to move on and look for an idea for implementation.

2. Find the very idea

A good entrepreneur can constantly generate business ideas. It doesn't matter that most of them are not implemented. It is important that he is constantly looking for new directions and new ways of earning money.

If you're out of ideas right now, develop this skill. Try the simple exercise “Idea for a Million”. Every day you have to come up with three ideas from which a business can emerge. Create a special document where you will submit your ideas. Even if they seem empty or delusional, just capture them. At the end of the week, analyze ideas, feel how they respond to you - you like, annoy, inspire. Write down your feelings. Highlight 2-3 of the most significant ideas. Continue to exercise for 4-5 weeks. Then just collect all the ideas and choose the very one, exactly the one that takes your breath away and you already want to implement it faster.

What if the idea did not come, but the desire remained? Keep practicing this exercise. Perhaps your idea is already close! If the exercise causes persistent disgust, do not torture yourself. Perhaps your desire to become an entrepreneur was false or someone else's. It happens, and it's quite normal.

3. Cultivate Perseverance

We have smoothly moved on to the next character trait that an entrepreneur must necessarily need. It is persistence and perseverance.

Businesses, especially small businesses, are very similar to professional sports. To achieve a result, you need to constantly practice, set a goal for yourself, achieve it and set a new one. Any stop or break in training instantly throws you back to the start line.

Why is it so important?

Every day of an entrepreneur is a way out of the comfort zone and the search for new solutions. Constant emotional swings can seriously undermine your emotional health and self-confidence.

Ask yourself, are you ready to get rejected 1000 times from potential buyers? Do you think so? Sure? Then check yourself. Just walk up to a stranger on the street and ask him for money "how much you don't mind." Do you think this is stupid, immoral, unethical? Perhaps. But in real business, situations await you, no less strange and stupid, in which you just need to act.

If you managed to complete this exercise the first time, without reasoning and reflection, congratulations, you are almost ready to start a business.

4. Be prepared to fall and rise

Do you know how to fall and get up? Something always goes wrong. A happy and rich businessman remains only in the picture on your desktop and in your dreams. The original rosy business plan is being toughly adjusted by the realities of the market. Creditors are knocking on the door, the tax office is interrupting telephones.

Are you ready for this development of events? Provide in every detail the worst outcome. Write it down on a separate sheet. Next to each "fear" write your thoughts and feelings. Set it aside for a few days. Read it again. If the desire to move forward has not disappeared, then sit down and think over your own plan for getting out of difficult situations.

Of course, business life is much more miraculous than our plans. Why then do you need to invent them if the reality is different? It is believed that when you, even mentally, live the most terrible situation, it will be easier to overcome the troubles - after all, you have already thought in advance about what to do next.

5. Take care of your reputation

Fidelity to the word and responsibility are the most important qualities of a businessman. A reputation is built on these qualities. Therefore, before making any fateful decisions, check them for "reputational risks". If you want to create a business that you can proudly inherit, then behave responsibly from the start.

You can write for a long time about the qualities that characterize an entrepreneur, but it is better to stop and summarize.

If you want to work less and stress-free, don't go as an entrepreneur. Small business is working 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Your business will become a part of your life.

If all this did not intimidate you, then assess your strengths and weaknesses, determine your superpowers, draw up your first business plan and start! Remember, there is no innate entrepreneurial gene. If you believe in your own strength, go and do it. Don't be afraid of the circumstances. They are never stronger than us. Only our own weakness, which is disguised as circumstances, is stronger.