The Do's and Don'ts of Starting a Business, Starting a Business Article

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The Do's and Don'ts of Starting a Business
© 2006 by Bill Albright
This article about How to Start a Business highlights the top ten do's and don'ts of
starting any kind of business. Starting a business is not complicated if you are aware of
what to do, and more importantly, what to avoid. It is my hope that these two lists will
work together and serve as a guideline when you start your own business, no matter what
industry you’re in.
Top 10 DO's of Starting a Business
In the planning stages of any new business, optimism usually gives the new business
owner plenty of drive, but it can be very easy to become misdirected. This top 10 list was
developed for business owners to stay on course and maintain proper direction in the
beginning stages. Every business is a little different, however, so you may need to make a
slight modification to these Top 10 DO'S of Starting a Business when you apply them to
your own business model.
1. Live frugally and begin saving up money to put into your own business.
2. Learn how to start your intended type of business by working for someone else in
the same line of business first.
3. Consider the benefits of starting a business on the side of your main-paying job
first, such as after hours, so you can still eat and pay rent while learning how to be
successful in your business.
4. Consider the advantages of starting a family business. (24/7 help, cheap labor,
employee trust, etc...)
5. Objectively measure your skills and training against potential competition before
your start your own business.
6. If you're starting a business manufacturing a product, consider subcontracting to
low-cost suppliers. (China can make anything for less money than you can.)
7. Test market your product or service before putting any substantial money into the
business, even when just expanding.
8. Make your own "pros" and "cons" list, describing all the positive and negative
changes to you and to your bottom line, including everything you can think of
related to the specific business you are considering starting.
9. Talk to lots of people in your intended industry for advice before starting a
business. –Sometimes sub-suppliers to your industry have good advice, too.
10. Make a serious comparative analysis of all opportunities you are considering.

Top 10 DON'Ts of Starting a Business
Like the list above, the following are suggestions to consider when starting any type of
business. They are designed to work hand-in-hand with the first list so that you can avoid
the most common pitfalls of starting a new business.
1. Don't think about leaving your job until you have started to see some monetary
results and fully completed your full start-up plans for the new business.
2. Don't consider starting a business in a field you do not enjoy.
3. Don't risk all of your assets. Limit your liabilities to a predetermined amount
when starting a business. It can be a percentage of your worth of a dollar amount,
but the point is to pick it from the start and to never cross that line.
4. Don't compete with your employer when you start your own business, especially
when moonlighting!
5. Don't be in too much of a hurry to get your business started. When learning how
to start most any business, there are no real penalties for missed opportunity.
6. Don't start a business that involves too high a risk, or has to major a hurdle. Take
on ten 2-foot hurdles, never one 20-foot hurdle!
7. Never start a business in which you must have the lowest price to succeed,
established competition can always under-price once it’s in their best interest.
8. Don't be afraid to learn about the negative aspects of your intended business when
you are first learning how to start it. You can’t start a business with blinders on.
9. Don't let your entrepreneur self-confidence outweigh careful due diligence.
10. Don't let the promise of a conceptual high reward deter reality testing. You can
never guess what people will actually pay for anything until they do so.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Bill Albright is a consultant to several fortune 500 businesses in Chicago & Seattle. His
personal website offers timely, free advice to businesses that are starting up and can't
afford his standard fee. It's kept at: http://www.how-to-start-a-business.info

This article was submitted by - Bill Albright


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