Seven Steps to Entrepreneurial Success

For the past 25 years, I have been actively engaged in a
variety of entrepreneurial opportunities.

I worked from my home, operating a successful catering and
bread baking business. Outside of my home, I was the owner
of two prosperous businesses, a weight loss center with
individual counseling and several coin operated Laundromats.

Looking back, although both of the businesses outside the
home presented many challenges and were fulfilling in many
ways, working from home has been the ultimate luxury.
Anyone can be their own boss and if you are considering a
home based business, here are seven tips that I hope will
help make you successful as you begin your new enterprise.

1. Select the right business: There are many business
opportunities available. There are freelancers working from
home as coaches, writers and marketing specialists for
example. The positives about this kind of business are it
has very low start up costs; a disadvantage is you have to
set up your own marketing and operational structure. There
is usually no “turnkey” operation for these types of
businesses.

The catering and bread baking business allowed me the
flexibility to spend as much time with my three young
children as I needed and was an outlet for my creativity.
But I didn’t consider the physical labor involved and the
storage space I would need when I decided to go into this
business.

2. Organization is necessary: Working from home required me
to be very organized. I had to plan deliveries around the
time the kids were in school and did my baking at night. I
had to keep track of my customers, billing and receivables.
Planning my days in advance is one of the many things that
helped me to stay organized.

3. Self-discipline: Being a self-starter is a pre requisite
for being an entrepreneur. No amount of organization is
enough if you don't have discipline. There are many
distractions when you work from home. Creating and sticking
to your daily plan provides boundaries for you.

4. Self-confidence: Trust yourself; know that even on those
days when things don’t go exactly the way you expect them
to, do not take it personally. Having a mentor or someone
who is familiar with your business to talk with can be
helpful in boosting your confidence when things go a bit
awry.

5. Willingness to work hard: Working for yourself requires
hard work especially in the early stages. You may need to be
a jack-of-all-trades to get everything done. There’s going
to be a learning curve for you with some of these tasks.

6. Understand the financials: I didn’t think through the
financial aspects of my first venture and as a result, I
didn’t make any money. Since then, I’ve learned to do much
more research into a business before deciding if it’s the
right one for me. I determine what the starts up costs are
going to be as well as the ongoing costs and how long it
will take before I make a profit.

7. Marketing and selling: No matter what business you are in
you will need to connect with people in order to sell
yourself and your business. If you have no prior experience
in this area, someone in your network may be able to
recommend a company or organization that can assist you.
Again, having a mentor or a coach is useful in this area.
Being an entrepreneur has been challenging and rewarding for
me. After many different ventures, I have found the perfect
business for me - it has a minimal initial investment,
allows me to work from home and provides support and
mentoring. I sincerely hope these tips will assist you on
your way to finding the perfect business opportunity that
will create abundant personal and financial rewards.

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