Enterprise

There is never perfect time to start a business

biz

Sometimes you need to practically test various strategies and look at things from different angles to find your way. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Many people who own homes will tell you that when they starting building their house they did not have enough money to complete it. They had only little money to start and did not know when they will get money to complete.

But they will tell you something more interesting – after starting it took shorter to complete or make it habitable than they had anticipated.

In business many people who aspire of starting their own business never do so because of one reason: waiting to be ready.

The urge to continue learning more, consulting more and gathering enough resources to ensure your business succeeds is endless. It leads to feeling inadequate, unprepared and procrastination.

I know many people who are very talented and have what it takes to succeed in business. They have a burning desire to start their own venture but they are always analysing things, planning, researching and wondering what business to venture into.

Planning is good and is a prerequisite for success but overdoing it and expecting a perfect situation is folly.

The best approach that many successful people have used is to dive in headfirst and take action.

Find something that you can offer that addresses a genuine need to people who are able and willing to pay, and start with what you have. As long as you are convinced you have something to offer and you are ready to pay the price, go for it. You will get resources as you go on.

Learning when you are in the market will make you obtain the most useful skills, timely and practically. you will learn and even discover you already have some necessary skills and there are other opportunities you never knew they existed before.

My friend Catherine ventured into business of selling clothes. At the nascent stages of her business she visited China to buy stock. While in China, she realised she could make more money by selling children toys and switched immediately.

Another reason why you need not procrastinate until you get the best idea is that trial and error, or trying different things until you get the one that works is an effective path to success.

Sometimes you need to practically test various strategies and look at things from different angles to find your way.

The business arena is always changing and responding differently to various stimuli. You may have read in various books, articles or even from business gurus how to succeed in business.

Most of those tips may not work for your type of business. It is your responsibility to test out many different strategies, approaches, and systems so that you can identify the ones that are effective and get rid of ineffective ones.

The Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule states that roughly 80% of the positive results comes from about 20% of your most productive actions.

Try and find out what works for you and what does not work. Eliminate what does not work and through your weight on what works.