The 10 Commandments of Survival for the Entrepreneur

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The Dos and Don'ts of Starting Your Own Business

It seems as if everyone wants to have their own business these days. With so many large companies permanently downsizing, Entrepreneurialism is attracting many people. Having our own business for the last 28 years has given us a tremendous amount of freedom and opportunity. However, there were some tough times that we could have avoided had we been smarter.

One of the easiest ways to start your own business and get up and running as soon as possible is to associate with someone who has already done a lot of the preliminary work for you. Network marketing is offering tremendous opportunities for many people who would otherwise waste time looking for a business or be stuck in traditional jobs with all the limitations thereto.

For those of you who are thinking of stating your own business or already have, I offer the following thoughts for your consideration.

1. Don’t Re-Invent the Wheel
   Take advantage of all of the resources that are available to you. There is very little that is new to the world anymore. Seek out those resources. Especially when you are organizing your company, use the already proven methods.

   If you are a franchisee or something like that, your sponsoring company has done this before, listen to them. They want you to succeed, study their success stories and see how you can organize and develop the skills necessary.

2. Keep Overhead Low
   Show fiscal responsibility. When people start their own business they sometimes go a little bit crazy and skew their thinking. For example, I know of several individuals who began living off their gross income instead of their net income. This results in new cars, more staff, a bigger computer system, a fancier brochure., etc. We all realize how exciting some of those deals can sound, but remember, if you live off your gross, life in this business will be very short. The Tax man cometh!
   
3. Don't Get Into Debt
   Get rid of the debt you have. This is part of fiscal responsibility as we just mentioned. But it is so important that it gets its own category.

   We are often asked by college students, other young people, and fledgling entrepreneurs how they can start their own businesses. What we say is not exactly what they want to hear. First, we say they should NOT buy the fancy car, stereo system, take an exotic vacation, etc. but get their financial house in order. Many of the college students we talk with seem to think that graduation should be followed by a really exciting (and expensive ) vacation.

   Guard your credit rating at all costs.

   The reason is, most of us spend more than we make right now. If you are going to take a risk and go into your own business, you will need to have the ability to financially cover the time when cash flow is short or non existent. If you live from pay check to pay check you have no options. Incidentally, if you are not familiar with the term “cash flow” you will know it real well as soon as you start your business.

4. Put Money Away
   Keep an attitude fund. This comes along with #3. As your business begins to make money there is a very strong tendency to want to reward yourself. After all, you risked, you worried but “gutted it out” until the sales started and now that you have some “extra money” you deserve something nice. Besides, it is fun to let your friends know that you have finally made it!

   This is the time to put away some “attitude money” as one financial adviser used to call it. This is the stuff that will let you sleep through a whole night. It is amazing how having $30,000.00 or $40,000.00 in a money market fund changes your perspective on the world. Incidentally, never touch your “attitude money,” unless it is an emergency.

5. Dont Burn Bridges
   It’s all in the relationships. There is an old saying, “be nice to people on the way up, because you are bound to meet them on the way down.” You don’t necessarily have to be on the way down to meet up with those people. I think it is always important to be courteous and honest with everyone with whom you associate, regardless of what they do.

   Always do what is right! That means pay your suppliers when your are expected to pay, or sooner. Get a good reputation for integrity and guard it with your life. That way you never have to watch over your shoulder. It just makes your life a lot easier.

6. Sell Constantly
   Prevent peaks and valleys (and sleepless nights). Most people think that companies fail for lack of sufficient capital. It is my observation that they fail because the person running the business is not prospecting and selling on a regular basis. Incidentally, lack of sales leads directly to insufficient capital!!
   
7. Learn
   All that you can about your business and business in general. I am constantly amazed at the business people who have horrible corporate organization, estate planning, lousy and expensive benefit plans, terrible accounting and tax work, and are just plain bad managers. Yet they are always griping about how hard they have to work. Remember #1? Don’t Re-invent the wheel, keep your house in order, people have been doing it right for years use your advisers wisely. I look at this just as really dumb management.

   When I recommend meeting with and getting a good small business attorney and/or accountant too often I get the response “we are too small” or “I can’t afford it.” This is just stupid. In every situation that I have pursued this with friends I have found that good professional advisers were no more expensive than lousy ones and are a lot cheaper than non at all. Add to this, the fact that they will get you headed in the right direction if you are off course and you can’t afford not to have them. But get good ones, not friends simply because they will cut their fees!

8. Learn from Doing!!!
   Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. “You can’t make course corrections, if you aren’t moving.” We hear this often, but few people understand what it means. My thoughts are that you have to be willing to try a multitude of new ways of doing things in order to find what is best for you in almost everything. (Don’t confuse this with Re-inventing the wheel, this refers to your specialized skills needs.) You did it in golf, tennis, bowling, or whatever, why not budgeting, work hours, marketing, prospecting, selling, etc.? Within reason nothing should be ruled out until you have tried it correctly and for the right length of time and then found that it didn’t work.
   
   
9. Set Goals
   Chart your course. This is one of the oldest adages of recorded motivational wisdom. From Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie to Denis Waitley we hear of the importance of Goal Setting. Yet, most people still do not have written goals, or indeed any real goals at all. This is one of the primary reasons people do not achieve the success they feel they “deserve.”

   SET and WRITE down:

   • your specific goals
   • when you plan to achieve them
   • and how you plan to go about achieving them.
   This should be done early in the planning of your new business venture. It will help you to focus on what you will really need to be doing every day in your new business. This is also a great way for you to see whether this is the business for you.
   
10. Maintain Flexibility
    I entitled this article “The 10 Commandments…” Unlike the original 10 Commandments, you will probably need to add to these rules for the specific industry in which you will be venturing. Flexibility in these 10, however, will get you started on the road to success.

Remember, not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur despite what you hear and read. If you have something that you love to do, but you don’t want to be bothered with sales, marketing, and the administrative work required to run a business - don’t waste the time, effort and money. Find a job that let’s you do what you love to do and leave that other stuff to people who want to do it.

If these 10 Commandments are too much to swallow in one bite, here is one that is easy to remember, DO WHAT IS RIGHT and DO IT WITH INTEGRITY.

Sell Well and Often. | Bill Truax Bill@BlitzCall.com 800-253-1214 | © Copyright 2006 WJ Truax | Bill Truax is a Sales Management and Field Operations Consultant living in Cleveland, Oh. He conducts Sales Team Assessments, trains Managers and Leaders, and Field Sales Professionals both in the field and in workshops. He has written 3 books on Prospecting and Making Cold Calls and conducts a variety of skill based seminars, workshops, and train the trainer programs. Visit his website at http://www.blitzcall.com

6-Week Start-Up
This is a step-by-step program that can help you start and make money with your business. It's like having someone looking out for you - with weekly checklists, workwheets, questions to ask, tax laws and employment rules you need to know, how to make smart purchasing decisions and lots of resources to go to for help.