Why Am I Sharing This Risky Ideas With You?

With all the changes, in South Africa and around the world, more and more people are taking the risk by starting their own small businesses. And taking this risk can be liberating for some and debilitating for others . Today I am talking to the others. It’s important that people, who consider a small business, be aware of the risks.

Why Did I Decide To Take A Risk?

As I grew up I was told to get something behind my name before I start a business. This is what I did and I got involved with corporate; the guys who pay you regularly but just enough to keep you quiet, they give you a pension and a company car. You think you have all the security. Unfortunately; while there you cannot see through the illusion.

There’s freedom in starting a small home based business and therefore taking risks.

Let’s consider a few risks when you start your own small business like Coffee News South Africa.

• Lack of financial security: You will not be receiving a regular salary each month and your small business income will initially be smaller in comparison to what you received in your corporate job. This can change depending on your tenacity and drive. Today some of the largest and most profitable businesses were first small home based businesses. Therefore reward is always in direct proportion to risk.
• Do You Have Enough Cash To Take You Through The Start Up? No business will ever be successful if you do not have the cash to survive the first couple of months. In order to do that you need to carefully consider your own cash flow forecast before you start.
• You Are Solely Responsible For Your Own Time: This may seem like fun but when the going gets tuff you are on your own. The tuff times are directly proportional to the time (discipline) you spend working towards your goals. Discipline becomes your second name. Unfortunately many home based business operators become Mrs. Comfortable. And it’s easy to become comfortable; remember you are at home. We have noticed that friends pop in unannounced and stay because they can’t relate us running a business being at home.
• Not Setting Goals Is The Downfall Of Many Home Based Businesses: Decide today if you have enough time, can create a schedule, set goals and stick to it no matter what. If you cannot then don’t even consider a home-based small business. However, if you are willing and able to set your goals and work towards them, then having control of your own time is an incredible advantage. Because you will have more freedom to do the things you would never have done working for your boss in the so called secure job.
• Isolated From Your Social Network: Starting a small home based business requires you to be sociable but you are not forced to. This is the danger, even for seasoned pros. The real problem comes when you are shy or over conservative. Most of the small businesses I know depend on social interaction and you have no choice but to allot a significant portion of your time to socialise with contacts and to meet new (business) people. If you start spending more time behind the computer than out there your business will suffer.

As I said; this advice is not shared to discourage you from taking the small business plunge! Life is all about risks but you need to be aware of them. Being aware prepares you with knowledge allowing you to compare your own ability, personality and skills against the risk factors before you get involved.  It’s also important that you start a small business that has a proven record .

Unfortunately most people won’t take risks and then end up thinking of what may have been. I want you to consider the list and decide how you intend to overcome these obstacles in your path to freedom.

Like anything else, any work from home opportunity comes with pros and cons. All you need to do is decide what you really want in life; do you want to travel to work and face the boss daily or do you want to earn income working from home? Then focus on you goals because it will motivate and move you closer and closer to be successful at your home based business while enjoying the benefits and the liberation it brings.

Regards

Johan Horak

P.S. Here’s a list you can use to plan the start up of your home based business .

LEE

Initial excitement accompanied by nervousness, anticipation and hope of having a great lifestyle and / or making heaps of money. A solid foundation needs to be laid at this stage to ensure future growth.

FEE

Growing awareness and sensitivity to profitability issues,when writing out regular licensee fee cheques. Level of satisfaction starts to drop of and apprehension of business potential creeps in. Open communication between licensee and support net work is needed.

ME

Success is attributed to licensee hard work and initiative. If not going well the licensor and the business system is often blamed and criticised. Clarification of activity and obligations from both parties is often required here.

FREE

As confidence grows in the business, independence starts to assert itself. The genuine value of the system is often questioned here e.g,value of system,branding and back up services etc. and deviation from proven systems becomes tempting.

SEE

Importance of system and branding value is acknowledged. Realisation of the competitive edge gained by not doing “own thing.” More open minded,inquisitive and empathetic.

W E

The real power of licensing kicks in here. Realisation that a business relationship must be worked at. Licensees make ideas and assistance freely available to other licensees.

“Profitable Partnerships” is a book by Greg Nathan which details these aspects in great detail.

For more information and a slightly different South African flavour have a look at here.

Creating A Business Plan

A business plan plays a crucial role in the success or failure of your business. It is designed as a means of setting specific long term goals and mapping out a plan to achieve those goals over a set period of time.

1. Be sure to take some time to chart your course.
2. Set short and long-term goals.
3. Know where you want to be in your business over the next 5 years.
4. Weekly goals are the most important in the beginning.
5. Decide how many hours per week you want to work.
6. Decide how many hours per week you can work realistically.
7. Set a schedule and stick to it!
8. Keep a record and track your activity against your schedule and your goals.
9. Find ways to stay motivated.. .you don’t have a boss anymore.
10. Treat your business like a business!

Important First Steps

1. Do your homework.
2. Check out your attitude – why & how.
3. Prepare yourself financially.
4. Prepare a solid business plan
5. Prepare your work space – phone,fax,computer,files,etc.
6. Get business cards.
7. Network, network, network!

Decisions To Make

1. Will you register a company or not?
2. When will you begin publishing?
3. Printing – who,where,how much?
4. Will you or someone else do the design and layout?
5. What brochures, rate cards, and sample issues will you need?
6. How much should you charge for ads?
7. Will you give discounts?
8. How will you invoice customers?
9. What method of payment will you offer your advertisers?
10. Will you accept credit cards?
11. Will you sell double ads?
12. Should you barter for ads?
13. How will you rotate the ads in the publication?
14. Should you list restaurants where Coffee News can be found?
15. Will you run / partake in competitions?

Image via Wikipedia

Local is great! But when we are trying to make money, with a local publication like Coffee News, we need to ensure our advertisers get local attention.

1. How can they get attention if readers cannot remember the advertiser’s phone number?
2. And what can you do about it?

Let’s consider the following idea:

• Each advertiser has a phone number on his/her advertisement and these numbers are different from ad to ad. Would it not be nice to have one number for all the advertisers.
• We know that people may not need a plumber today, the may need one tomorrow. But tomorrow is another day and they don’t have the plumber’s number. If you had one easy to remember they could phone that number and get the plumbers number.
• Or they can phone the easy to remember number, and you have someone call the plumber and ask him to phone the person who called.  This allows you to make contact with the plumber and remind him of how well Coffee News works for him.
• You can also advertise Local Yellow Pages number that share information with visitors for free; from where to shop, where to have lunch or dinner. And every time you take the callers number and you call the place you recommend. Again you tell the place you recommend that you are from Coffee News and that you have recommended them to people. And they should phone the people who needed info.
• Every time we do this have an opportunity to buy goodwill and we can sell our services. 
• You can now tell your advertiser that you will provide an additional services where people can call you (because of the single Coffee News  number benefits). You may even ask more money for the service.
• You can also advertise that all current advertiser details are available on your local Coffee News website. Therefore you make publish your website wherever you can. Even on the advertisers advertisement.

Would you consider a Local Yellow Pages Service for your Coffee News?