Are You Ready To Be An Entrepreneur?

Bill Warner Friday, May 29, 2009

In reading Michelle Goodman’s article in nwjobs, it reminds me how important it is that any would-be entrepreneur do a “self-check” to make sure they are ready for it. With more and more people thinking about starting a business, a good self-examination is needed. This is not for the faint of heart.

The checklist

Ask yourself certain questions about your readiness to be an entrepreneur. Here are the must-haves:

  • Do you really have the passion for the business you are about to get into? Above everything else, this will determine your success. You have to want to get up every morning and work on the business.
  • Are you the entrepreneurial type? Entrepreneurs are curious, outgoing, risk taking and persuasive people. They see the art of the possible before others do. They are great problem solvers and have the determination of a bull dozer. They are also the best sales people for their ideas and have the self-confidence to do most anything. In other words, they don’t know of anything they can’t do.
  • Do you have the business knowledge and market understanding to successfully start and grow a company? You really need to create a plan for your business and determine if there is really a business worth pursuing and test your personal ability to create it.
  • Do you have the drive and energy to pull it off? You will be working 12-14 hour days with little free time otherwise. Sleep will be at a premium. The physical and mental demands are tremendous.
  • Is your family ready for this? You will be spending more time with your business than your family. Will they support that? This will put significant pressure on your relationship with family members.
  • Do you have the finances to get it started? Before you put another mortgage on your house, make sure you and your family are ready for the risk and understand exactly what you are going to do with the money. Statistics say that you have a big chance of losing it.

Go after this with discipline

Now that you have proven that you are ready. Go after your business endeavor with focused business discipline:

  • Research your market and determine if your idea makes business sense
  • Understand your customer in detail
  • Know how to beat your competitors
  • Create a winning product and/or service
  • Absolutely know how you are going to take it to market
  • Project the financial dynamics of your business
  • Pull together an “A” number one management team

If you are going to put the kind of energy that it takes to create a successful business, do the right planning up front so that you know that you have a good chance of succeeding.

Filed Under: Business Strategy and Planning, Starting a Business



Bill Warner is the Managing Partner of Paladin and Associates, a business consulting firm in the Research Triangle Park area of central North Carolina, and is the Chairman of the Triangle Accredited Capital Forum, an angel investor network with over one hundred members throughout the southeast.

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