In the pursuit of supporting my forum habit, I ran across a poster who asked if it were possible for folks to "cut the ca-ca" as it were and list ten simple steps on starting one's own design business.
First off, I don't think this approach to the question was the best. Simplify the ca-ca of opening a business? How possible is it to break down an entrepreneural process that people devote countless classes and months and years of toil in organizing, marketing, stressing, failing, restructuring and organizing once again in ten sure fire steps? If ONLY it were that easy.
Things may start out well in the beginning. You may already have a few clients and feel, "hey, I can skip a few steps, why form a business plan and market evaluation? Why develop targetted promotional campaigns and attend network functions? I've got a few clients, they'll refer me to a few more..." This is how I started. And for a while, things were great. However my house of cards came crashing down after 9/11 and I had to reorganize, regroup, restructure and start again. It wasn't pretty and definitely not simple. I think the reason why it was so hard to bounce back (among other things) was that I neglected a few basic key business applications that I thought I could afford to skip (which I'll expand on next time). However I learned a harsh lesson as an entrepreneur, in that there will always be peaks and valleys when running your own business. It's a simple fact of life for any business owner whether you own a mom or pop shop or you're an insanely well to do mogul. One of the keys to continued success is preparedness. In truth, my business wasn't prepared to handle the valleys because of it's poor foundation. In hindsight I guess I should've doodled less and stayed awake in my business and economics classes. It could've likely meant the difference between overcoming my obstacles or being trampled underfoot by them.
So instead of culling the proverbial ca-ca in ten simple startup steps, which is darn near impossible if you're a businessman/woman. I'll offer advice. All business tips considered, learn from other's mistakes. Listen to the horror stories, understand them and try not to make them yourself. Not all are unavoidable but if you plan things the right way you'll end up with few valleys that are easier and quicker to weather.
First off, I don't think this approach to the question was the best. Simplify the ca-ca of opening a business? How possible is it to break down an entrepreneural process that people devote countless classes and months and years of toil in organizing, marketing, stressing, failing, restructuring and organizing once again in ten sure fire steps? If ONLY it were that easy.
Things may start out well in the beginning. You may already have a few clients and feel, "hey, I can skip a few steps, why form a business plan and market evaluation? Why develop targetted promotional campaigns and attend network functions? I've got a few clients, they'll refer me to a few more..." This is how I started. And for a while, things were great. However my house of cards came crashing down after 9/11 and I had to reorganize, regroup, restructure and start again. It wasn't pretty and definitely not simple. I think the reason why it was so hard to bounce back (among other things) was that I neglected a few basic key business applications that I thought I could afford to skip (which I'll expand on next time). However I learned a harsh lesson as an entrepreneur, in that there will always be peaks and valleys when running your own business. It's a simple fact of life for any business owner whether you own a mom or pop shop or you're an insanely well to do mogul. One of the keys to continued success is preparedness. In truth, my business wasn't prepared to handle the valleys because of it's poor foundation. In hindsight I guess I should've doodled less and stayed awake in my business and economics classes. It could've likely meant the difference between overcoming my obstacles or being trampled underfoot by them.
So instead of culling the proverbial ca-ca in ten simple startup steps, which is darn near impossible if you're a businessman/woman. I'll offer advice. All business tips considered, learn from other's mistakes. Listen to the horror stories, understand them and try not to make them yourself. Not all are unavoidable but if you plan things the right way you'll end up with few valleys that are easier and quicker to weather.
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