You want to be your own boss. You want to have unlimited income potential with limited time requirements to make it. You want to work when you want, for as long as you want. Basically you want to own a business. Well how do you decide what business to start?
First let's focus on what NOT to think about when picking a business. Most people make their decision based off $$$. They see their cousin making money doing something, or their neighbor bought a new car because they were in a certain business, or seeing the get rich quick schemes all over the internet entices them to just copy these people. The truth is there’s over an 80% chance that you will fail as a small business owner, fail miserably! The reason is because it’s so incredibly hard, stressful, draining, emotionally difficult, requires sacrifice, and takes a long time to reap the rewards. This brings me to my first and most important criteria for deciding what business to start.
You have to absolutely love what you are doing. The question you should ask yourself is what’s the one or few things you’d be willing to do for the rest of your life if money were no object? What’s something that to you is not even considered work, and you’d like to do everyday? This is most important because running a business is so hard, and there are so many crazy unforeseen obstacles that will pop up, that if you don’t love what you are doing, you won’t be able to make it through the ups and downs. Having a stress free lifestyle with a high income, great work life balance, and residual cash flow doesn’t just happen overnight. If you don’t truly enjoy what you are doing, you most likely will never see any of the benefits as an entrepreneur.
The next step is understanding yourself. Having self-awareness is crucial in business. What are your strengths and what are your weaknesses? If you can’t change a light bulb, starting a construction company probably isn’t the best choice. If you can’t plug your TV in, a technology company most likely isn’t going to make you rich. Now you can absolutely learn skills along the way, and should always be developing yourself to be more versatile, but in business it’s key to double down on your strengths. The competition is so fierce; you need to use all your best qualities to stand a fighting chance. You can easily outsource your weaknesses to others that specialize in those fields.
So you found what you love doing, you’ve marked down some skills you believe most people don’t have, now what? Now it’s time to start experimenting. Find people who run the business you feel you’d be great at. Search LinkedIN to locate people in that industry. Ask your friends or family if they know anyone you can speak with. Search your business on google and see if there are any local businesses in your industry. You may not find the perfect business for you on the first try. Before quitting your job, and investing your entire life savings, go out and get educated on the business you want to start and talk to people who actually run that business already! If you like what you see and you really feel it’s right for you, then do your homework and take a small leap into beginning your first business venture!
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