Start Business Obstacles

Obstacles essential for starting a new business

Whenever I tell someone I’m in my own business they almost always say I’d love to go into my own business but I can’t because :

Wrong time, no money, no product or product idea, too risky, too scary, no knowledge

Creating a list of reason why you can’t do something is a great start for defining what you need to address as part of the process for starting your own business. Rather than dismissing these issues you need to use YOUR list as a launching point for steps necessary to start your own business.

Many people have a MUCH easier time listing why they CAN’T do something rather than why they can. But imagine you’ve created your list of reasons for not starting your own business and then one-by-one over came your obstacles. You would LEARN the really critical skill of overcoming problems right as you launch your new business.

To make sure you have a complete list of reasons you can’t start your own business you may want to ask your spouse and other close friends. Have them BE HONEST. But instead of being discouraged by that list USE it to define where you issues are and what you need to over come to truly start your own SUCCESSFUL business.

I know this sounds crazy but it works; have everyone list for you why you shouldn’t do something and you will likely learn everything you need to address as part of your business planning process. For some reason we humans have a MUCH easier time listing why NOT to do something rather than why we should do it.

Creating the list gives you the opportunity to turn it around and create a business plan that truly addresses the majority of you major issues and obstacles.

Example where list of obstacles was useful

One of my friends, Sue, wanted to leave her job as a nurse and start a chocolate candy business. She had made candy for her friends and family and had sold quite a bit as gifts as well. Her candy was FABULOUS but her husband was skeptical and listed the reasons she shouldn’t do it:

- She had NO business experience and no nothing about accounting

- They needed her salary and this business would cost money rather than make money

- She ALWAYS spent much more time on her candy and sold it very CHEAP, he felt she would LOSE money

- It worked at Christmas but it wouldn’t work throughout the rest of the year

- Businesses would be a good customer but she didn’t have any contact with local businesses and she NEVER had a business as a customer.

She knew her husband was right so for the next year she worked on overcoming his issues.

1. She knew a lot of people and she began to network to get them to give her ideas for business customers she could attract.

2. She had her friends REFER her to those businesses at Christmas time and began to fill orders for businesses that needed gifts with their name and logo on the candy boxes (she did very well even in her first year)

3. She hired a local accountant she knew and got her business set up correctly from an accounting standpoint and began tracking her costs and profits.

4. Her accountant also helped create a pricing and financial plan for her business so that she would be able to make a profit and replace her nursing salary.

5. She named her business Suzy’s Chocolates and began using more word-of-month promotion to get business customers. She included real estate agents in her customers because they gave out her chocolates at every sale rather then just at Christmas.

Sue did all of this before she left her job as a nurse and to make sure she covered all of the reasons she might fail BEFORE she invested very much money.

Suzy’s Chocolates is now going strong and many local business RELY on her to give delicious chocolates to their favorite customers.

Rather than being discouraged by her husbands concerned Sue realized that he probably had some VALID concerns that she would need to address to be successful in the candy business.

Therefore, if you’re thinking about starting your own business find out WHY the people closes to you don’t think it would work, overcome those issues and you should have a great plan for your new adventure!

Once you've completed your Start Business Obstacles list click here for business planning.