You’re ready, you want to build your own business.  That’s terrific.  Millions of Americans are successful business owners.  Before you begin, however, it’s necessary to answer some telling questions.  Your answers can make the difference between a great success, barely breaking even or a complete failure.

Whatever it is that makes you sure your new business will be a success – whether it’s capitalizing on existing knowledge, transforming a well-honed skill into a money-making venture, profiting from an exceptional contact base or another unique asset – the power of your success rests in how carefully you’ve crafted your business idea and how well you know yourself.

Why do I want my own business?

Your first important question to ask yourself is “why?”  Why do you want to start your own revenue-generating firm?  What are your personal goals?  Do you want to:

• Do something you enjoy?  
• Get Rich?                 
• Have a flexible lifestyle?    
• Help others? 
• Show the world the hot new product you’ve invented?     
• Be your own boss?
• Fulfill your competitive drive?       
• Be home with your children?  
• Bring your dog to work? 
• Prove to yourself that you can do it?
• Prove to others that you can do it?

As you start to outline your business plan, these are the first questions you’ll want to ask yourself.  As you answer this first question, look to see if any of your personal goals are contradictory.  For example, flexible lifestyle and high income may or may not work well together.  Working in a field you enjoy may or may not fit with your competitive drive.  What are the implications of your personal goals?

How can I shape my business to my strengths and vision?

Successful business start-ups require self-knowledge.  Consider how your personal strengths, weaknesses and working style will help or hinder your business.

Know thyself.  Strong entrepreneurs know success stems from effort.  Take a careful personal inventory:

• What describes you in a working environ? 
• What are your greatest strengths? 
• What about your weaknesses?
• What work absorbs you so fully that you lose track of time? 
• What do others say are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

What is your working style? What are your working assets and detractions?

• Are you a workaholic – and proud of it?            
• Would you prefer modest hours and a commensurate income?            
• Are you aggressive and competitive or easy going and accepting?           
• Are you a people person or do you prefer a quieter work life?           
• Are you an idea person who is not as good at making things happen?            
• Do you love making things happen, do you delight in the detail?           
• Do you enjoy using your hands?           
• Are you at your best when your mind is challenged?           
• Are you a presenter? A performer? A teacher? A student?           
• Are you inventive? 
• Do you have a head for numbers? 
• Are you flexible?

If you find yourself to be a mystery, if you are just not clear about your greatest strengths or weaknesses, there are tools to help you.  In Is It Time for A Career Makeover?, you’ll find an array of tools including working skill, personal strength, character strength and career interest assessments.  The takeaway, that capitalizing on your strengths and managing your weaknesses is imperative when conceiving your own business.

What is my professional vision?  How do you see your professional self?  What is your vision of you at work?  Do you see yourself selling? Counseling others? Teaching? Building things? Providing medical care? Offering personal services? Writing? Making music? Leading others? Informing others?

Imagine yourself ten or twenty years from now.  What will you want to say about your working life?  Do you want to make a difference?  What about a sizable profit?  You can do both if they are both in your plan.  The important point is to recognize the vision you hold for yourself while you are shaping the organization and not years down the road.

Should it be a solo practice, a partnership or a franchise?

When conceiving your business, consider whether you’ll prefer to do it on your own or with others.  This is crucial.  A firm with one or more partners has the advantage of merging complementary skills.  A firm with partner(s) spreads the workload, the risk and the rewards.  How would each of these business styles change the business?  Will it have a positive effect on the firm’s potential success?

Deciding to go the partner route means finding the right partner(s).  Whether a professional associate, a friend, a spouse, a son or a daughter, it’s necessary that each partner make an equitable contribution.  Find a balance for each partner’s investment whether their investment is in skill, contacts or financing.  Equally important, consider how working as business partners will change your relationship.  Some relationships can flourish with business as a component; others may deteriorate.  When deciding on a partnership, explore the professional and personal implications.

You may decide to go it alone.  Carefully consider the full range of demands you will face when going it alone.  Even when going it alone, you can spread the workload by hiring staff or services to handle certain facets of your business.  Going it alone puts the entire load on your shoulders; here you retain the risk and reap the rewards.

Alternatively, you might consider a franchise.  While you’ll retain the risk and the heavy workload, you may find an advantage in buying into an organization with an existing product or service base.  As with partnerships or solo start-ups, franchising requires careful research to prove the merits of the business for you.

Will costly equipment be necessary?

Whatever your idea, a new business requires an investment of resources.  Sometimes, the start-up investment is merely your hard work.  More often, some kinds of equipment will be necessary.  As you consider what business to start, carefully enumerate equipment costs as well as all other significant but necessary costs.  If you don’t know precise costs, google them to find estimated costs. 

If you aren’t certain what costs might be involved in starting the business you have in mind, be sure you do your research carefully – business start-up costs can often be surprising. To begin, you can google “cost to start” and then fill-in the kind of business you are considering.  Whether it’s “costs to manufacture shoes” or “ costs to start a restaurant” or “costs to start a hedge fund”, you’ll find plenty of resources on the internet. 

How much capital do I have to invest?

You’ll need to start your business with enough capital to carry you to a viable, revenue-generating organization.  Remember, too, that it’s likely you won’t recover your start-up monies immediately.  For these reasons, take a realistic look at the start-up costs and the funds you expect to invest.  Remember that you may never recover the money you’ve invested.  Can you afford to risk the money?  Is it money you are counting on for other purposes?  What are your alternative financing sources? 

What do I already know?  Who do I already know?

Be clear about your knowledge base.  While many of us are quick studies, learning while risking investment capital in an unknown and untried field compounds the risk.  Before leaping into the unknown, find inventive ways to capitalize on your existing skills and strengths. 

Speak with people who own similar businesses.  Ask them about what is most satisfying, most disappointing and most lucrative.  Oh yes, be sure to ask about their biggest mistakes.

Continue asking yourself these questions throughout your planning process.  Digging deeply in the planning phase will help you build an organization with a strong foundation.