The prospect of starting a business can be frightening. It is a risk and a tremendous opportunity, equal parts challenging and, hopefully, rewarding. Given the enormous risk that's inherent in entrepreneurship, many potential business owners will ask very difficult questions of themselves: Is this worth the risk? Do I have the right personality type to be running a business? And perhaps the most frightening: Is my business idea any good? These questions, while potentially disheartening, are important ones to ask. The following offers a few basic cuts, a checklist of sorts, to help you determine whether or not you truly have a good business idea.
Founding and running a business is like writing a book. It's impossible to write a book that doesn't come from your personal experience. You can't push something out of you that is not inside of you to begin with. The best business ideas come from what's inside you. Henry Ford was an avid mechanic before he developed the assembly line. Bill Gates was a programmer at a young age. Experience is key to a strong business. When evaluating the merits of your idea, it's very important for your personal experience to intersect with a passion you have. This can be trivialized and glossed over because it seems so obvious, but it's very important. Also, this may seem obvious, but as a function of your interest in something, it helps if you're actually good at that thing. In order to successfully run a lawn cutting company, you probably need to have cut a few lawns before. Subject matter expertise is a tremendous asset and, in most cases, a crucial part of starting a successful business. Specific knowledge is needed.
The "why" behind your business idea is absolutely crucial. It's important to have a vision for your company- -a strong internal driver of why it is important for you to be successful. A sense of purpose will help carry you through the unavoidable periods of trial, doubt, and struggle. It helps if, as previously mentioned, you care about what you're doing. When the inevitable tough times come, the ones who hang onto the tree are the ones who are passionate about what they're providing to the marketplace. Otherwise, they will not have the gas to make it through inevitable travails.
Lastly, successful entrepreneurs are always trying to make an argument against the equilibrium of the market. They're arguing that a certain process or service isn't being performed in the most efficient, streamlined, and effective way possible. They're introducing a new entity that will either outperform the current entities or cut them out completely. Remember that every time you start a business, you are adding one more unit of supply to the marketplace so your argument must be a strong one.
Advisement in these aspects of the lower middle market can be made easier when you work with SA Capital Partners. They can take your idea and introductory business plan and assist you in creating a path forward with good-fit investors and a plan for growth. Reach out to SA Capital Partners today for a successful start to the next big idea: your idea.
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