Читать книгу Start & Run a Bookkeeping Business - Angie Mohr - Страница 5

Every business owner/manager has to learn three major skills: building a business, managing a business, and doing what the business does. You may be interested in doing only one of these three things. For example, you might get great pleasure out of hairstyling, but have little patience for managing the day-to-day operations of such a business. In that case, you might want to reconsider your decision to open a hair salon. No matter how much joy it gives you to “be your own boss” while doing the thing you do best, you will come to despise all the other tasks that go along with owning and managing a small business.

On the other hand, you may love building the business: designing the office space, putting together the marketing plan, forecasting, and building the customer base. You may, however, be thoroughly bored with the management aspect or with doing what the business does. Entrepreneurs who feel this way tend to build a business, get it up and running, sell it, and start all over again. The thrill for them is in the creation process.

If you plan to build your business, manage it, and be its chief employee, make sure you have the energy and the skills to do all three things. If not, you will have to hire other people to do the things you do not wish to do yourself — or rethink your business plan entirely.

Once you have assessed your strengths and weaknesses in terms of building, managing, and operating a business, it’s time to look at your personal goals. Why do you want to start your own business? You may want to start your own business to make more money than you could if you were an employee. You may get a rush from building something from nothing. There are a myriad reasons why entrepreneurs start businesses. Let’s look at three of the main motivators: money, freedom, and “empire building.”

(a) Money. Owning and running a business has the potential for providing you with a higher level of investment return and remuneration than you would receive working for someone else. The profit potential is definitely there, but high profits are a trade-off for high risks. Starting a small business is a risky proposition and you, as the owner, face the potential for financial loss as well as gain. It’s important to keep this in mind as you build your business. Make sure you not only have the financial ability to survive failure, but also the ability to tolerate risk.

When small-business owners talk about money, though, they don’t usually mean they want money for money’s sake. Money means something slightly different to each person, but in general, it represents financial independence, prosperity, and security. Think about what money represents to you. The more time you spend planning your business model before you begin, the more likely you will be building a profitable enterprise that will meet your personal financial goals.

(b) Freedom. Many small-business owners like the freedom that comes with not having a boss and being able to make their own decisions. However, with this freedom comes ultimate responsibility for the business, including responsibility for customer satisfaction, working conditions, supplier shortages, product failure, and the economic well-being of your employees. Look at whether you are the type of person who can handle these responsibilities while simultaneously making considered, but quick, decisions on a daily basis.

(c) “Empire building.” For many small-business owners, the most important consideration is that they are building something that will outlive them and perhaps provide income and stability to future generations. If this is an important consideration for you, it will be critical to make sure that you are building a business that has value, and that the value can be transferred to others through sale of the business or inheritance. The unfortunate reality is that over 80 percent of small businesses do not survive into the next generation but die with their owners. Planning ahead for the eventual transfer of ownership will help preserve the value of your business.