This is yet another unusual article under the “Business Mastery Series“, a collection of unusual articles that focuses on helping entrepreneurs answer highly fundamental questions on how to successfully manage both themselves and the businesses they run profitably.

If you are new to naijapreneur or probably haven’t been following this series, I really wouldn’t want you to miss out on any of the unusual articles previously published. So, below are the links to them, the smart thing to do, if I were you would be to read them first, before coming back to finish reading this.

Business Mastery: The Unusual Qualities Of Highly Successful Entrepreneurs

Business Mastery: How should entrepreneurs be spending their time?

Business DNA: Why Your Company’s Success Desperately Depends On It!

Business Mastery: How Should Entrepreneurs Be Profitably Marketing Their Business?

Business Mastery: 4 Smart Ways Of Getting More Profitable Customers Always

How to be your own boss

As the day goes by, more people are realizing that the allure of a secure employment is just a fantasy; one that is often short lived. The search for the next alternative which in most cases is entrepreneurship is growing rapidly. Never a time in human history has there been such a massive quest by many to be their own boss.

Recognizing this growing global trend is what inspired me to create this unusual article to help as many out there who want to embark on this unusual journey of entrepreneurship. It’s important I make this clarification; these are not all the possible FAQs on starting up a new business, there are many more. However, based on my consulting experience with clients, the ones covered here are quite fundamental and will serve as a guide to answer other likely questions you would most certainly need to answer as you progress on the entrepreneur’s journey.

 FAQs About  Starting up A New Business

First here are the questions at a glance on how to be your own boss;

1. What kind of business should I go into?
2. How Should I start; small or big?
3. How Should I fund my business; use my own money or get external funding?
4. How do I choose a name for my business?
5. How do I differentiate my company from other competitions?
6. What do I need for marketing my new business?
7. Do I need to have a business plan or not?
8. Do I need to have an office space or not?
9. Do I need to hire employees or not?
10. How do I price my products/services?

Let’s begin!

1.       What kind of business should I go into?

This might appear funny, but believe me when I say this; “I can’t count the number of times I get asked this question”. The reason is quite simple; many people are clueless about what business to go into. This is because in most cases, the idea of being their own boss had never crossed their mind until when it’s probably too late.

So what kind of business should you go into?

Simple; go into a business you have a strong liking for.  This is what is popularly known as passion. Start a business doing something you would naturally do for free because it is something you love to do. In other words, build a business around what you naturally love doing.

Like I always tell my clients, and have often repeated throughout my writings on entrepreneurship; find a greater reason for living beyond survival [purpose] then start up a business to help make that reason a reality for many. Why? Because your purpose is the spirit of business within you waiting to be unleashed!

For example, my passion [what I naturally love to do] is writing, talking, learning, creative thinking and meeting people.  These are my God-given gifts or talents or strengths; they came installed from birth. I could use them to earn a living doing several things, but I wanted more from life other than just surviving [making a living], I also wanted to leave a mark in the sands of time [make a contribution]. Meaning, I had to find a reason; one that was far greater than just meeting my needs [survival]. So I sat down and asked myself this soul searching question;

“What one effect or impact using my gifts, talents or strengths do I want to have or create in the lives of the people I meet?”

The answer I got became my purpose; my greater reason for living beyond survival and that is to use my gifts, talents or strengths to make a positive difference in the lives of everyone I come across during my stay on earth. Backed with this sense of purpose, I decided to go into a business that will enable me fully utilize my gifts of writing, talking, learning, creative thinking and connecting with people to help make a positive contribution in the world.

The business I created is called MADphilips [Making A Difference philips], a development company that focuses on developing people, businesses and lives to be SIGNIFICANT –different [unique] and making a difference [useful]. By SIGNIFICANT, it means we empower people to lead extraordinary lives and build extraordinary businesses that change the world. My gift of writing is used to craft compelling stories for clients’ businesses, products, services or brands that naturally convert their target market into profitable customers. This is the content development aspect of my company. My gift of talking, learning and creative thinking, I use to provide strategic support to clients as a business consultant and life coach and speaker.

The key thing to note is this, think about the processes [work] you love to naturally engage in and find out the different services or products that can be created from those processes. That’s how you build a business around your passion and purpose. I have written all about how to discover your purpose as an entrepreneur and how to build a business that fulfills purpose profitably in my free ebook; “The Entrepreneur’s Journey”. Enter your name and email in the box at the end of this unusual article to grab your copy now!

Also, here are three more unusual articles on why you should start a business that allows you to profit from purpose by doing what you love;

Business: what’s love got to do with it?

How to change the world as an entrepreneur

The almighty formula for business success

 2.       How Should I start; small or big?

This is another question I also get asked a lot. Here is the simple truth, you can take it or leave it; dream big, but start small.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Every great achievement began by accomplishing several smaller ones. I have met several entrepreneurs who have refused to start up their own businesses all in the name of waiting to start big. The fact is; you will keep on waiting if you never seize up the courage to start small.

I am not against big dreams, I am against delayed actions. You see, you need to realize one universal truth; we are never perfect, everything we do and create is not in their final states; they are all work in progress. Meaning, there is always room for improvements. So stop waiting to take perfect actions, start taking imperfect actions that will help you fail faster from your mistakes and gain the necessary momentum to succeed.

Apple was started in a garage; Facebook was started in a university dormitory; Wal-Mart started with one shop, so did McDonalds. The problem with waiting to start big is that you will never know the joy of growth. When you start out from the top, what story, lessons and memories do you fall back on when the going gets tough?

It is in the early stages of your business that you develop the foundation on which your big dreams will be built. This is when you develop the winning team, the winning culture and the core ideologies that will lead your business to greater heights. Starting small means you can take on more risks, you can experiment and adapt to market changes faster than the big names in the industry.

Business is not a sprint race, but a marathon. Start from where you are with what you have, as the needs arise, grow!

3.       How Should I fund my business; use my own money or get external funding?

This is very much related to starting small. The reason why many never start at all is because the funding needed for their big dream is often out of their personal reach. I am not going to say it calmly; put your money where your mouth is!

Meaning, start with your own money. No one is permitted to give you any money to start up your own business if you the pioneer haven’t put down all your own money to make it work. I often hear a lot of entrepreneurs complain that banks won’t offer them loans, here is the fact; loans are given on the basis of track records and not on lofty speculations.

If you think your business idea has great potentials, the best way to convince banks or any other investor, is to execute your idea with the little you have and can gather from family and friends then go to them with some results. Like I said about starting small, there is always room for improvements. It is better you approach banks and investors for expansion rather than coming to them for startup.

One other way to get funding if it is bigger than what you alone can raise to start small is to partner with others. Be willing to give up some share of your new business with reliable partners if you ever want to see your idea thrive. Your major concern should be about bringing your dream to reality rather than bothering over who take what percentage. If you so care about your dream, you will not stand in the way of its actualization in the name of being the founder!

Your turn

So far, I have been able to discuss only 3 out of the 10 FAQs about starting up a new business. This is a series as I have mentioned above, so stay tuned by entering your name and email in the form at the end of the article to ensure you get the other concluding articles of the series.

Again, here are the 3 FAQs About  Starting up A New Business discussed in this edition;

1. What kind of business should I go into?
2. How Should I start; small or big?
3. How Should I fund my business; use my own money or get external funding?

Kindly share your thoughts and comments on any one of three with the community. As always, naijapreneur is a platform for entrepreneurs to support one another through collaborative sharing of knowledge and best practices. So, it’s your turn to contribute as I have done my part by opening up the discussion. Over to you, use the comment section below and don’t forget to share this unusual article with your friends on facebook, twitter, google+ and via email!

Thank you for your anticipated corporation!

PS – One Last IMPORTANT Thing!

This is a series you really shouldn’t miss for any reason, and there’s ONLY one smart way of ensuring this don’t happen, enter your details below to get the newest additions of the Business Mastery Series.

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