Commit to Your Business Model

Are you Ready?

And I mean really commit to your business model!

Starting a small business is hard. The hours are long, the responsibility can be overwhelming, and you will probably have to deal with it all alone!

Before you jump in feet first, take the time to really look at why you want to start you own business. What are you really trying to achieve?

• Freedom from a 9-5 work routine,
• Being your own boss,
• Being able to do what you want to do, when you want to do it,
• Escaping the boredom of your current job,
• To buy or build yourself a job (i.e., you don't have one, and can't seem to get one),
• You have a brilliant idea that is just what the market needs, or
• You wanting to earn more money than you can as a wage slave.

None of these reasons are 'bad' reasons, but they are not necessarily indicative of a real passion for your business idea.

But unless you really look at why you are doing this, you may just end up far worse off. For example, if your primary objective is to escape the 9-5, you need to think very carefully about how you structure you business because you may end up working even longer hours, particularly during the start up phase!

And as for doing what you want, when you want; small business operators find themselves doing many, many things that that don't like doing, but must still be done. Don't like selling? Don't like bookkeeping? Don't like dealing with complaints?

If you don't have the capacity to hire someone else to do these things, you will end up doing them yourself!

Give your Business Model Meaning

You may find it easier to commit to your business model if you build in some meaning, meaning for you, meaning for your employees and meaning for your customers.

What do I mean by meaning?

As Guy Kawasaki (2004) said in The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything:

"Meaning is not about money, power, or prestige. It's not even about creating a fun place to work."

Making meaning through your business model is making the world a better place, or improving someone's quality of life, or righting a wrong. Sound hard, but it doesn't have to be!

Think about what you want to do in terms of the benefits you will provide to others, instead of what you personally will gain from starting your business. Think about how your product or service can improve the quality of life of your customers, will it (they) reduce the cost to the customer, improve their experience, save them time, reduce red tape, etc.

If you successfully find the meaning in your business model, you will be in a better position to motivate yourself and others and to really commit to your business!

Self Analysis

Do you have the temperament and personal characteristics that make you an entrepreneur? These questions need to be asked and answered before you risk your career, money, family or your health!

• Are you a leader?
• Are you reasonably self-sufficient?
• Can you make the hard decisions?
• Do you plan ahead?
• Do you have self-discipline (can you stick with it through the rough patches)?
• Are you competitive?
• Do you like dealing with people?
• If you answered no to any of these questions, maybe working for someone else would be a better choice for you.
• Are you being realistic?
• Are you fully aware of the risks you are taking starting your own business?
• Do you have the resources behind you to really do this?
• Are you aware that running your own business may require working 60 - 70 hour weeks including weekends and holidays?
• Are your friends and family ready to support you while you are building the business?
• Can you live on less than you do now - because you may have to until the business is up and running!
• Are you physically and emotionally fit enough to cope with the stress of starting a small business?
• Are you prepared to lose everything?

Think about all these issues very carefully and make sure your are ready to commit to your business before you take the leap as an entrepreneur!