Starting A New Business Is Easy And Other Myths

You’ve got your business ideas, you know what you want to sell and to whom. You’ve even got enough money to survive for six months. The next bit is easy then. Sorry no it’s not – now the hard grind starts. Here are some business myths that you should be careful not to believe.

Starting a new business is easy: Well you have done a lot of the hard work if you’ve done your planning but now you are working for yourself and need to be your own boss. You will need to set clear objectives, work towards them and keep yourself motivated.

I won’t have to work so hard: Sorry but entrepreneurs generally work harder and longer hours, particularly at the start of their business life. The difference is that they generally enjoy it and get rewarded for their effort.

I’ll be the boss: To a certain extent you will be BUT please remember that your “customer is king”. Look after them and, apart from your bank manager – you are in total charge of your business!

If I need more money – I just put up my prices: Should be true, but unfortunately the economic laws say that as prices go up usually the amount of items you sell goes down. There is a limit to what people will pay for an item before they start looking at alternative products or alternative suppliers. You are better to do one or more of the following:

1. Make your company more efficient so that your profits go up.
2. Increase your sales by up selling.
3. Sell again to existing customers.

I only have to work with people I like now: Sorry again – but any experienced entrepreneur will tell you some customers are awful, demanding and unreasonable – but if you make a profit out of them – sometimes they are worth it. Anyone working in a service industry such as travel or hotels will have some wonderful tales to tell about impossible customers. You just learn to grow an extra skin to cope with their demands.

I’ll have more time to do what I want to do: Sorry yet again – but at the start of your business you will be very busy. BUT you will be able to decide what to do when – well subject to your customers again.

I’m in charge and can work how I’ve always wanted to do: True to a certain extent, but some people find that they are the worst boss they ever had! Yes you can decide to manage things the way that you have always wanted to do. Just remember that sometimes the way other people did things may be as a result of having more experience than you do.

I’m good at this so I am going to be a success: Hopefully if you have talent, work hard and have designed and planned your business well – you will succeed. Just don’t forget all those unplanned and unexpected things that may happen and for goodness sake don’t spend what you don’t have as yet.

So why do people start their own businesses? Simply because they want to and they want the kind of lifestyle that a successful business brings. Good luck with your new business.