The 5 Actions to Take When Starting Business

This website contains affiliate links and sponsored posts. A small commission is earned when you click and purchase via my affiliate links.

The 5 Actions to take when starting a business

Everybody wants to start their own business.

Most people do it on a whim. They think they are some kind of snowflake that has the perfect idea and can make it work. All they need to do is put a sign up with their product, and customers will come running.

People do not realize the level of sacrifice it takes to be an entrepreneur, to get up every morning and not know if you will make enough to feed yourself.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that there are people who have jobs where they don’t make enough to live—that sucks.

However, I’m referring to people who wake up every morning striving to make it big through their own endeavors—not knowing if they will accomplish what they set out to do.

My issue with most people who want to start a business is that they don’t really want it bad enough. They think they want it; if you ask them, they will say they want it really bad. However, they don’t really know what working for yourself entails.

With that being said, let’s discuss the secrets to starting a successful business.

What it takes

You have to hate what you are doing currently more than you love money.

You would rather be broke than work your current job ever again. Take me, for example, when I started off in my business, my mantra was and still is: I will never work for another man ever again.  

I don’t like people telling me what to do and I don’t want people telling me how to behave. Conforming to someone else’s idea of how society works doesn’t sound like a good life to me.

I would sell off everything before I would work for someone again.

If my life were to shatter right now and I was all alone, I would get the cheapest car, and move into a studio apartment and start over. I don’t want a girlfriend and I don’t want to hang out. I don’t want to spend money I don’t have unless it is to help me build my business all over again. Whatever business I decided to do, my whole life would be filled with working and building my business.

Keeping with this, here the 5 actions I would take to start my own business.

1. Reduce expenses
2. Save, Save, Save
3. Research
4. Get a Starter Mentor
5. Implementation

#1 Reduce Expenses

I would reduce everything! Sell it off. I would move into a studio apartment where the neighborhood makes me nervous but not scared and I would have the internet and the most basic phone I could buy. I would shop at goodwill for my clothes. Why not? I have no one to impress. Man, I would knock it down to essential needs only.

The one thing that drives a lot of people out of business is their living standard. Mark Cuban once said that he would have nothing so that he would have nothing to lose. If you have a family, maybe try to live off your spouse’s income and save your income for a year. Practice, financially, as if you already had a business. That way, when you start, if you only make a $1 profit, you and your family will still be fine.

#2 Save, Save, Save

Any time there is a significant event in your life, and you can plan for it, you should. If you know you are starting a business, then you know you need to cut your expenses down. You should save money so that you have almost two years of savings. That way, your business doesn’t have to make any money for two years, and you can keep your commitment to your family goals. If you are really passionate about your business and don’t want to wait, nothing is stopping you from getting a part-time job or driving an Uber to save some extra money.

Save an adequate amount of money beforehand and this will allow you to focus on your business more because you are not stressing about keeping a roof over your head. If you save enough, you won’t have to work a part-time job when starting your business—it’s all about being prepared.

Any business worth keeping should make some money after a couple of months anyway.

#3 Research

Please don’t allow the research to keep you from taking action. Some people research forever. You don’t need to do this. However, if you are looking to open a McDonald’s, you should read about franchises and compare McDonald’s franchises with other franchises. Maybe Burger King is a better franchise. If you know the difference between the two, it will, at the very least, help you better understand McDonald’s vs. Burger King.

If you are really serious about opening a McDonald’s, you should work at a McDonalds. There is nothing better than on the job training (OJT). There is no such thing as pride when you are trying to open a business. Leave your “PRIDE” on the nightstand when you wake up in the morning and be laser-focused on your goals. When you are working at McDonald’s, pay attention to your surroundings. What you like and what you don’t like. Whose managerial styles seem to work best? How is the location? Do you see the owner a lot? Who is stealing, and how are they getting away with it? Work your way up to manager. Tell them you want to learn about the business. Learn on someone else’s dime, if possible.

#4 Starter Mentor

Usually, when you start your career as an entrepreneur, unless you are attempting a complete start-up business with a new and original company, there is a training program out there somewhere to help you. PAY FOR IT! My god, please pay for it. You are not that smart. I certainly wasn’t that smart.

The best thing that I could have done was to join a training program that helped me run my business and reach my business goals. I even joined a training program before starting a blog. It is by far the best thing that you can do to build your knowledge base. At the very least, if you decide not to listen to your trainer, you will have a baseline to help you with your decisions. I still do probably 90% of what my mentor told me to do during those early training sessions. I have deviated a bit from some of the earlier teachings, but if you want a strong business foundation, a mentor is the way to go.

#5 Implementation

Just start!

Move forward!

Please implement what you learn!

I cannot stress this enough. Figure out what you need to do and then do it. Just do it. There is nothing life threating about starting a business. If you make a mistake, learn from it, and make the necessary corrections and adjustments. More than likely, you’ll live. You just have to take action and implement a plan. You don’t have to be perfect. It isn’t that big of a deal. Anytime I took a training program or have had a mentor, at first, I would just do what they told me to do.

I would implement their plan immediately. As we went on, I would make adjustments and attempt to improve, according to my mentor. Maybe there are no improvements to be made, but just a different way of doing things. My advice is, do what they tell you to do to the teeth, at first, and don’t just do it one time—do it for months. Following a proven process could make your life a lot easier.

Reduce Expenses and Save Money

At the end of the day, starting a business takes a lot of sacrifice and preparation. Please reduce your expenses and save your money beforehand. Get yourself some OJT and a mentor to help you navigate through the twists and turns of your business. When your mentor tells you to do something, try to implement those things as much as possible. Your future self will thank you. So, go out there and be your own boss.

*Investing involves risk. Depending on the types of investments, there may be varying degrees of risk. Investors should be prepared to bear loss, including total loss of principal.

If you haven’t already, buy The Financial Effect e-book to get more insight on how to make financial decisions for your family, also subscribe to my blog.

*Investing involves risk. Depending on the types of investments, there may be varying degrees of risk. Investors should be prepared to bear a loss, including total loss of principal.

Photo by Bram Naus on Unsplash