Money
All businesses need two types of money - start up capital and working capital. Start up capital is the money you need to get your business from concept to day-to-day operation. Working capital is money you need to stay in operation. People tend to underestimate how much it costs to get going, whilst overestimating their customers’ willingness to pay. If only I'd known the importance of having a tidy sum tucked away for that rainy day!
Friends
They’ll give you the best wishes and be sincere in doing it, but if only I’d known that when it comes to directly helping you, few will want to risk their own careers by awarding you work until they are satisfied you are so well-established that you don't need it!
Needs
When you're working for someone else, it’s easy to overestimate the work you are doing. If only I'd known how much I had depended on others!
Loneliness
I thought that people who started their own business and then ended up working full time for a client were never serious in the first place. If only I had known before starting my own business how much is involved in achieving comfort in your personal space when working alone.
Marketplace
I started out as a business coach because I thought my skills would be invaluable to my target market. If only I’d known that I had chosen such a popular ‘niche’.
Motivation
I thought that starting my own business and being self-employed was all the motivation that I needed. If only I had known that even coaches and consultants have days of doubt.
Partner support
I thought that being self-employed meant automatic wealth and the comforts that financial security bring. If only I had known that success, like everything else, has a price – the burden of which your partner needs to be willing to share.
Time
I thought that self-employed people, no longer having to report to others, had lots of free time! If only I had known that all the above takes time!
Quality of life
If only I’d known how wonderful it is to not have to sit in endless meetings about nothing, to not have to be nice to someone just because you have the same boss – in fact, as an adult, to be your own boss – I’d have done it ten years earlier!!
What would you like to have known before starting your own business?
“ If only I’d known how wonderful it is to not have to sit in endless meetings about nothing ... I’d have done it ten years earlier! ”
Grant Hyman is a specialist Sales Consultant whose company, Sales Central, is dedicated to maximising the sales successes of clients by assisting in the areas of Training, Recruiting, Automation, Motivational Speaking and Coaching.
