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When you build a business from scratch, you will start with nothing but the tiniest grain of an idea. You will spend months or longer mapping out that idea, running cash-flow scenarios, doing market and competitive analysis, writing a business plan and a management operating plan, and working on the business’s vision and mission statements. You will be meeting with bankers, accountants, lawyers, and financial planners as you build your external advisory team.

You will probably open your doors before you take in the first dollar in revenue, and you will take the enormous leap of faith that customers will actually want the services you are selling as you had envisioned in your business plan.

The process may sound scary, but designing and building the business that exists in your head can be an extremely fulfilling and gratifying experience — so much so that many successful entrepreneurs design and build businesses, then sell them once they’re up and running. Then they start all over again and build another one.

Here are the pros of building a business from scratch:

• You can design internal systems the way you want them to work right from the beginning

• It can be less expensive than buying an existing operation

• There is no risk of acquiring the previous owner’s liabilities or having to satisfy pre-existing warranties

• You can manage staffing needs more carefully (i.e., you don’t inherit employees that are sub-par and/or difficult to fire)

There are also some cons to building a business from scratch:

• Attracting investors can be more difficult and expensive. Because the venture doesn’t yet exist, investing will be a riskier proposition.

• Generating profits can take longer than with an existing business

• Building name recognition and goodwill with customers can take a long time

• There is a much greater risk of failure than with a business that has a proven track record