I Want To Be An Entrepreneur, But How Do I Start?

Before you ever set out on your journey, you should know the answer to these ten questions:

1.    What do you want to be best known for?  In your niche?  In life? 

2.    What does your business offer people and what is its mission?

3.    Is it a retail business or service oriented?

4.    Do you have a clear vision of your goals?

5.    What major, unique advantage does your product or service offer that your competitors don’t?

6.    What is your biggest passion in life, as well as the most important thing in your universe?

7.    What are your top four strongest skills?

8.    What is your unique, money-making advantage?

9.    Are you planning to expand your business to include staff or outsourcing? On what scale? When?

10.  How much money would you like to make by the end of the year? At the end of five years?

If any of these questions have caught you short, go think about them now. Write the answers down.

Writing things down helps "ground" them -- make them part of your reality; of who you are and where you're going. Simply reading or thinking about them keeps them floating around in the realm of possibilities to be tackled "someday."

Make no mistake about this: The number one reason most new entrepreneurs fail is because they don’t have fundamental systems in place and no real plan to work with. Most entrepreneurs and small businesses are losing money or even failing because they focus on tactical methods to grow their business with no form of strategy in place.

You should always have a Strategic Plan in place before utilizing any kind of tactic.