What an explosive start to 2016 we have had! The highly charged atmosphere at the beginning of the year was a continuation of the prior explosive end to 2015 when massive outflow of funds left our shores, the outcome attributed to “surprise” leadership changes in the government’s finance ministry.

The recent repo rate hike may spell doom for some. To those planning to become new business owners in partial fulfilment of their 2016 New Year resolutions, do not allow unpleasant events like these deter you from your resolve. With the dawn of February, this is a good time to reflect on progress achieved against your entrepreneurship New Year Resolutions.

By Nimroth Gwetsa, 31 January 2016.

You might have already done your homework on becoming a new business owner. Or you might still be contemplating doing so later in the year. Either way, use this article as a checklist to assess your readiness to owning a business.

1. FOREWARNED – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Ensure that your motives for starting your business are grounded on the value you would add to others, as that is the essential fuel sustaining businesses and making them relevant. Take heed of the following warnings before embarking on your business ownership journey:

Do not start a business for vain reasons

Owning a business is not about prestige, but “servant-hood”, more like a calling similar to what Mother Teresa was to the people of Kolkata (Calcutta). Unlike Mother Teresa’s efforts, the difference is that you would be creating a tangible asset that could be monetised and allowing you to earn significant income from it.

Unless you regard owning a business as an important role allowing you to fully express yourself without much hindrance and where you could serve specific needs of people targeted, you would soon realise that owning a business is not that glamorous after all.

Do not start a business if you are only interested in the money you would make

Some people wrongly misplace priorities and related objectives of owning a business. They focus on income they wish to earn and the lifestyle they would lead. Once the business achieves significant success, the owner’s lifestyle would equally be dramatically improved. Thus, some people make the mistake of owning businesses mainly to gain social status. They see it as a path to improved social standing because they have realised that not many people would be brave enough to start new businesses, especially under the current difficult economic climate.

However, making money should not be the first priority a business owner should focus on.

Do not start a business because you are unhappy where you are

Some people wrongly start their businesses because they are unhappy with their current jobs or situation. Although pressure is necessary to push you into taking more calculated risks for a better life, starting a business without having any tangible offerings or capabilities is suicidal. Owning a business is not a vocation for the emotionally or financially wounded. Those starting their businesses because they are running away from pain without considering the problems they would solve, would soon find that the grass was not really greener on the other side.

Therefore, do not start a business to settle scores or to prove others wrong. Do it because you have something special to offer.

Do not start a business because you have fear of missing out

Just because people known to you are business owners, you are not obliged to also own a business. Peer pressure is good if it invokes a spirit in you of improving your best and in developing your capabilities further. It is bad for you if it is about competing with others and invokes bad feelings of envy, covetousness and conceit. The latter is more destructive in that, you would not actively contribute in the success of others and you would not be happy seeing others succeed more than you would be doing.

Start a business because you too have something tangible and valuable to offer others in need.

Do not start a business because you are desperate

Although circumstances might put us in a desperate situation and cause us to consider all options, we should not start a business because we have tried and failed to succeed in all other options. Desperation can be good in “forcing” us to heed our calling and overcome fears of starting businesses. It would be much better if desperation comes when good ideas have been known but “suppressed” owing to the comfort of our current circumstances or in fear of missing those comforts. In which case, desperation would be to your life and career, what an electric jolt is to an erratic heart.

2. CONDITION FOR STARTING A BUSINESS

By now, you should have realised that I place more emphasis on the value to be added to others as a prerequisite for starting a business. It should be obvious to a discerning mind that unless there is a problem or issue bothering people targeted for which your offering would be the answer, running a business would be more painful.

When the prerequisite is met, all other Business Plan 101 imperatives would easily fall in place. Answers to questions such as price, product, and place would be easily provided. That’s because in knowing what problems you would be solving, you would immediately identify people suffering from such experiences, including the size of that market, their sensitivity to change, price and so on.

With this in mind, it becomes obvious that owning a business is nothing but an opportunity to serve the needs of people. And in so doing, you would be earning income that could last generations if the core principles of starting the business are well maintained.

If you are the owner of a business already and now realise that you might have started your business based on wrong reasons such as those mentioned, you need not despair. Neither should you close shop. Quickly go back to the drawing board to see what capabilities you have and what problems you could solve with those capabilities. You might even have to “buy” or “hire” that capability from others so you could remain in business.

This could be the reprieve you might need to get going while building your capabilities and tangible offerings for your target market.

3. HOW TO GET STARTED

Decisions, Decisions

It starts with a decision. You do not stumble into it nor rush it. The decision needs to fester in the mind and be tested before being finalised. You’d know you are ready to get started because the conviction, note resolve not feeling, would be overwhelming. You would start to believe more value and fulfilment could derive from your new career than staying put in your current role. You would also realise that your skills or capabilities are not well utilised in your current role, much less in another organisation, but that they could be well employed if you were to start your own business.

One could say this is similar to following your passion. Passion alone is not good enough. Whatever you produce from your passion should be able to solve other people’s problems. Then, following your passion would be more rewarding.

Conversely, without passion, you may as well close shop, for your clients or customers would catch the negativity and would shop elsewhere. Therefore, passion is one of the essential ingredients for success in owning a business. But passion goes with other essential considerations as already alluded to.

Know Who And What You Are

I have heard someone say, “There are at least three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who don’t know or are ignorant of what’s going on.”

To be a business owner, you should be willing and passionate to be in the former group of people. Wailing about the poor state of current affairs and the economy is not what successful people in the former group do. The “Make-It-Happen” group do not watch events unfold, but anticipate and factor them in their plans. When such events occur, they are not perturbed by them but confidently march on to their next challenge. They are not and do not see themselves as victims. They see opportunities in adversity. They make adversity work for them and thrive under difficult times. They do not wait for someone to change conditions for them to get moving. This does not mean they are passive and do not lobby for conditions to change. It is simply that difficult and negative conditions do not paralyse them into inaction, but spur them to overcome and achieve their envisioned goals.

Such business owners tend to achieve more, are more resilient and are more content than others.

See difficulties as necessary “evil” meant to strengthen and discipline you. You need to respond with a positive mind-set to challenges.

Have Strongholds

There would be times in your business ownership journey where money, relationships, resources, therapy, knowledge, health, physical and mental strength, principles or capabilities seem unable to help you overcome some difficulties you would be experiencing. You would wish you were luckier and luck would seem far away.

Your endurance would be tested and principles challenged. By then you would develop “tunnel vision”, seeing only the need to survive the onslaught. If all the above would be insufficient to help you overcome, what then could help you in those difficulties?

Every person has faith in something, be it themselves, their knowledge or something external. Our beliefs shape our actions. Therefore, there is no person without faith. Even those who claim to have nothing they believe in, do believe in something, if not themselves. Even in not having anything to believe in, that in itself is belief that there is nothing out there. Whatever we believe, directly or by implication, is our “god”. The difference among these gods is whether they help or empower us or “take away” from us.

They would be considered taking away from us if we first have to work or do something for them to receive from them. They would be “giving” to us if we do not have to do anything first to earn their “gifts”. Such “good” god would be alive if there is evidence of past providence, for such would make it easier for us to believe promises about the future.

Therefore, if we have the right kind of “god” with us, one who gives without prior conditions (grace) other than our trust, then placing our faith in that god would not be misplaced. For when we experience difficulties that money or any other resource or relationship could not solve, we can trust that our god would come through for us and fulfil the promises made.

Discover what your god is about, so you could lean on in times of hardship and despair.

My stronghold and therefore my god has been and is the truth, rectitude and integrity. With this kind of god, I do not “firstly have to do” to gain from them. The first thing I need is to know what the truth is, then accept it, build my life around it and live it. In just knowing what the truth is, I have gained from my god before I could start doing. Doing comes after I have gained from knowing. And in appreciation of the benefits gained, continue wanting more knowledge and gaining from it.

I believe in these because history has shown that “truth sets you free”; righteousness (rectitude) produces goodness and there is no evil in righteousness; and living up to those principles (integrity) in public and private life unbeknown to others but yourself, results in inner peace, freedom and contentment.

When you know what you know, and you know that it is true despite the circumstances, then no amount of adversity would discourage you from persisting towards your goals. For you know, in accordance with the truth, that the end can only be good. Only faithlessness would dissuade you from proceeding in your course.

Therefore, decide for yourself what you would like to place your faith in so it can help you pull through in dire circumstances. Nothing beats the truth, righteousness and integrity, for anything to the contrary results in one being restless, fearful and prone to being anxious.

Have a Buffer

A prudent person would estimate the cost of the project before embarking on that project. And when the costs are known, it would be suicidal going ahead without a buffer to withstand anomalies.

The second and third years of starting a business are the most difficult. The first year is difficult, but the momentum of excitement of pursuing own business dream overshadows all other difficulties. The first year would seem to be going out quickly. But it is in the second year when you start evaluating successes achieved in the first year and whether you have enough to overcome those of the second year that you would start feeling the pressure. It is in the second year when new business owners begin to choke and some abandon their dreams. By then, pressures and realities of life intensify. Difficult decisions about the next steps would need to be made.

It makes sense to build reserves to help you overcome difficulties in the second year of business activity.

• Having no debt becomes an imperative buffer, for it eliminates one of the deadliest of pressures of having creditors chasing

• Starting a business at an earlier age, especially when there are no direct dependents such as children and family to worry about, becomes a serious advantage and a good buffer against challenges (Lamentations 3:27). Even though you might be inexperienced as a relative youngster starting to own a business, the opportunity and ability to learn and adapt faster would be much higher than if you were older. Being older might give you experience, but the desire to make up for financial opportunities lost could result in desperation and intolerance, leading to wrong decisions being taken.

• Working part-time to start and build your business and clientele before leaving your current job could be the buffer you need. Just ensure that you do not overstretch yourself, for that would deny your current employer the required productivity. Then, that would be cheating and a violation of sound principles to live by (truth, righteousness and integrity). Even when you have saved enough to cover your expenses over the most difficult first two years, you might be better off leaving those savings in a money-market account and using your part-time employment to build your business. And when your business gains traction and needs increased momentum, you can then quit your part-time job and use those savings to sustain you as you focus on your business full-time.

• Be focused, for that is the crucial buffer you would need to achieve your goals. Even when you would need to divert a little and work to earn income, ensure that such work is within the same field or domain of your business interests. In that manner, nothing goes to waste, but could be reused in developing and refining your offerings.

Be Teachable

Learn from the past and from others. Be prepared to take advice and do not be immediately dismissive of ideas or suggestions from others. Avoid being defensive, for that would result in people refraining from giving you advice. Being a good listener does not imply doing everything you are told. It means taking information in and reflecting on it to see if there is merit in considering it (discernment).

Ensure that you have sound and good reasons for not accepting the advice. Read and keep yourself abreast of current affairs and developments in your business area of interest. Learn and adapt fast and be willing to act quickly in your delivery. Be willing to learn from obscure places or things.

Collaborate

You cannot know or do everything on your own. Even if you are “Jack of all trades”, there would be a need for some specialisation in producing better quality of your business offerings. By collaboration, I am not referring to having “bloated” structures as it is the case in large Corporations.

As an emerging business owner, you might not need secretarial services or butler to make you tea and so on. However, you would need people who can improve your skills or competence in your core capabilities and offerings. You need to identify those specialised skills for your needs rather than hiding or ignoring your weaknesses and hoping no one would notice your shortcomings.

Be Generous

Just because your business is small and earns no or little income does not mean you should not be a giver. Even though everything can be translated into cash value, there are many ways to give other than directly giving money. You could give your time to others in need of some company, or your expertise to help those struggling with understanding difficult concepts. You could offer words that comfort grieving souls.

We should find it difficult to have nothing to give to others in need. Giving to people and seeing them overcoming their difficulties is uplifting. It also widens your perspective on life and could expose you to other opportunities you never thought existed.

Be Vigilant

Not everyone meeting you and saying the right things is good for you and is your friend. Be discerning. Keep some secrets and do not fall in the trap of being praised, for this could easily invoke a spirit of pride in you and cause you to overshare what should have been kept private.

Do not be easily distracted by people bringing you urgent opportunities, or opportunities you cannot miss. Do not let the pressures and material needs of your life cause you to compromise on your focus and priorities. Consider the saying “easy come, easy go” and time wasted chasing fables might not be recovered.

Be Resourceful

Do not wait for things to come to you. Go out there looking for them, if not creating them. Be prepared to move away from convention and to leverage and improvise more. Be prepared to do most work by yourself, even menial work.

Be Frugal

Learn to live without luxuries and other costly conveniences. Be disciplined and not be easily swayed by so called “offers you cannot afford to miss”. Manage your resources prudently.

Be Prepared

Knowledge is power. Empower yourself through knowledge. Learn from other successful business owners tips about business ownership and management. Do not make decisions emotionally, but reflect on issues and make decisions based on your deep-seated knowledge.

Be Professional

Just because you are a small-business outfit, do not assume your customers or clients would tolerate sloppiness. You are competing with others and large enterprises for customers and client attention. Do not make it easy for customers and clients to ignore you. Sloppiness could be one major reason the market is indifferent to your offerings. You should know that customers or clients seek your offerings to answer issues or concerns affecting their lives. It follows that no right-thinking person would be willing to solve issues bothering them by applying sloppy solutions.

Enjoy Yourself

As the right kind of work is often an expression of your being, ensure that you are content about your identity. Enjoy yourself and take every opportunity to fully express yourself while maintaining relevance to the needs of your target market.

Whatever you do, let it reflect your beliefs and soundness of your principles. Your life is faith in action.

Now then, go out there, multiply and prosper. And in so doing, glorify and honour your living god.