Starting up your own business – you need friends in business
This restaurant in Kyoto needed friends in business to help with English translation
Building a small business is difficult to achieve all by yourself. You need friends in business as well. Indeed you can be self employed and put in a 10-hour day contracting your labour and expertise. But that is not building a business. It is buying a job. While you continue to do nothing but sell your own time, you place a limit on your income because there are on 24 hours in a day and seven days in a week.
Building a small business is a leveraging process that requires many inputs – human and otherwise. As your business grows, you move away from doing everything to orchestrating everything yourself. When you reach your ‘solo’ capacity limit, you can only create more time and capacity by engaging the services of other people.
If you don’t grow as demand continues to grow, you either turn away customers or cut corners, thus sacrificing product quality and service in an effort to keep up. It is at this point where the downhill slide to failure begins. It is also at this point where you are working under considerable pressure and stress.
To survive, you have no choice but to move your small piece-meal operation out of your back bedroom into an environment of improved efficiency where you can make more products in less time to fill your ever increasing orders. Of course this requires a commitment to additional resources and to a higher level of expenses, usually at a time where you are not brimming with cash.
Try to solve the lack of people problem before starting up your own business. Don’t launch alone. Gather a few helpers around you. Look to friends and family. You are seeking help to get you going. You aren’t necessarily looking for a full time commitment. In most cases, people will lend a hand if asked and if they are able.
Another point worth remembering is that every helper you find is an inbuilt marketer. If they believe in you and what you are selling, they will tell everyone they meet. It is a lot easier for your friends in business to recommend your business than it is for you.
For more tips on starting up your own business visit http://www.garyweigh.com
Until next time!
Gary