Many Americans have business dreams they nurse every day, dreams they want to turn into reality one day. A dream remains a dream until it comes to fruition, and setting up a business is no mean feat, more so for someone who has never established a business before.
A lot of steps need to be taken right from the start and in the course of actualizing the dream of setting up your own thriving business.
In a chat with successful entrepreneur, Joseph Jedlowski, he shared strategies on how to set up your dream business.
Joseph Jedlowski is the founder of two successful businesses. Prior to starting Distinctive Living, he was President and Owner of Milestone Retirement Communities, LLC.
Joseph, is there a proven strategy on establishing a successful business?
Most of the time, this is the all-important question being faced by most, if not all: how to start, what to avoid or do.
I come across this kind of question a lot. As someone who has dabbled into my fair share of businesses myself and achieved relative success, most people expect me to have a sort of manual to establish a business successfully.
Many resources exist around, and I highly suggest in finding a mentor.
Okay, is a business coaching course really worth it then?
One of the most important things being left out is individuality, they may teach all the proven methods, but the buck still stops on your table to make the decisions yourself. Success manuals won’t make the decisions; they may only guide you with better information.
So, to go into a bit of detail, the first and most crucial step should be self-reflection, evaluating what you have constantly thought about as the process of establishing your business.
For someone who is contemplating into quitting their jobs in order to set up a business, what should be their first step?
Before deciding to quit your job to focus on your business, think things through, ask self-reflective questions, I will list a few here:
- Is it worth quitting my job for?
- Is the market readily available, or do I have to do the extra work to find and create my market?
- How fierce will the competition be, and how ready am I?
- Do I have access to the required funding to establish my business fully?
What are the current trends in the business, and how do I set it up to guarantee success?
After reflecting on these questions, you are set to make decisions based on the clarity of information they present, not out of naivety. It helps you to separate the grains from the shafts because no matter how long you’ve had the dream, things change and using past information to make present decision may end up bankrupting you.
What should be the priority of the first-time entrepreneur?
The next vital step should be your implementation plan, and if you don’t have one from the onset, it would be good to come up with one once you are clear on what path to follow.
This includes a strategy on how to determine your target market and coming up with a detailed business plan. Others include; branding and marketing strategy, sourcing and disbursing your startup capital to set up your business, formulating a profitable five, ten years plan that would be your go-to guide along the line, making your first hire(s), serving your first customers and ensuring they come back again.
These and many more should be your priority.
What are your parting words to your readers?
It is my dream and desire to see as many successful businesses as possible, you can take these strategies to the bank, they are proven to work through several applications.
Mistakes were made too, but I guess, we will have to talk about those in the future.