Here are 7 Rules to Follow When Starting a Business:
1. You must have the vision to succeed
Your business idea should make sense as a business now and in the future. It needs to be sustainable, scalable, and stand apart from your competition explains Vito Proietti. This is harder than it sounds because you need the discipline to stay on track when everything is going well and the money is rolling in. Millions of businesses go under every year because the owners get excited about profits and rest on their laurels.
2. You must have passion for your business idea
Passion provides the fuel needed to keep you motivated through thick and thin. Passion allows you to see opportunities where others see roadblocks, enables you to handle adversity better, gives you courage when things are bleak, and helps you to better communicate with your team.
3. You must have perseverance to succeed
Running a business is not easy. It takes years of hard work to get off the ground if it even makes it off the ground at all. The first few years are the hardest because there is so much uncertainty about whether or not the business idea will work out. The first few years are full of challenges as you build up your brand, acquire customers, and put systems in place to ensure success. If you have a good product or service that people need then eventually everything falls into place once your business is established because this keeps customers coming back. There is a saying that goes something like this:
“If I fail more than you do it doesn’t count.”
4. You must have serious commitment to succeed
Some entrepreneurs think starting a business can be accomplished with little effort but nothing could be further from the truth says, Vito Proietti. To make matters worse, some entrepreneurs start businesses thinking they can run out on an errand and come back later without any consequences to their employees. This is a big mistake because it’s not as easy as you think. Not only do employees need to know what to do to keep the business moving, but they need to know why you are doing what you are doing so they can take ownership and stay motivated.
5. You must have enough money saved up and available for emergencies
Some people think that once their business takes off they will make more than enough money to pay them back and give themselves a comfortable lifestyle – this is rarely ever the case. To be safe, expect your first year or two of earning income from your business idea to go to overhead costs such as employee wages (if any), rent, utilities, taxes (self-employment tax), equipment purchase/repair, insurance, licenses and permits, and marketing. If you don’t have enough money to cover your overhead costs then your business idea won’t make it past the first year or two.
6. You must surround yourself with a great support team
It’s not as easy as 1-2-3 to start a business and it’s even harder to do it on your own because there is so much that can go wrong. Many entrepreneurs fail because they try running their business by themselves and end up burning out after a few years of stressful work (if they’re lucky enough to last that long).
To reduce stress and be more productive you should surround yourself with like-minded people who share similar goals and values to yours – these are the people who will form your support team. If you have your support team in place then it will be much easier to accomplish the 2 most important things for any business owner: #1 Train, equip, and empower your employees so they can run with their role in the business. #2 focuses on sales because this is how you will pay yourself back (if you decide to take money out of your business).
7. You must hire a good accountant
You might like doing taxes but nobody else does – not even accountants! Taxes can be stressful enough but when you’re trying to run a business at the same time there’s no way anyone would want to do that task themselves (except maybe Messy Mya or some other rapper). The trouble is that hiring an accountant isn’t as easy as you think because not all accountants are the same explains Vito Proietti. There are some good accountants that have a lot of experience and there are other bad ones that will do more harm than good if they aren’t qualified to handle your tax obligations (which mean making sure they have a state license to prepare taxes, for example).
Conclusion:
Running a successful business takes a lot of work and it’s not as easy as you think says Vito Proietti. If you want to be successful then you should start by educating yourself about the basics of running a business, taking action on your ideas, acquiring customers/clients, training employees (if necessary), and conserving money for expected and unexpected emergencies.