Personal strengths

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 351.

TEXT 3.1. STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS

If you are not yet in business and are seriously thinking about it, you are probably imagining yourself in two or three years' time as the proprietor of a successful business, paying into your bank useful sums of money obtained from your customers or clients, looking for expansion of your business, and feeling some satisfaction or even exhilaration at how you have got it all off the ground and up and running. To get to that situation you will have to answer a very «simple» question: how can you achieve this as safely as possible and with the least risk?

So before you plunge in with more enthusiasm than thoughtfulness, sit down quietly for an hour and give yourself an honest check over. Ask yourself: why are you going into business, what do you expect to achieve? You are going to be the driving force behind this idea of yours. Nobody else will tell you what to do, how to do it, when to start, what you have forgotten, and when to finish. So this situation is definitely not for everybody. You will need to have some particular personal strengths and supports and no serious encumbrances. Let us help you to take stock.

§ Do you worry a lot when things go wrong, or do you recover quickly, analyze the causes and work on the best solution?

§ Do you have initiative? Can you think up new ideas or solutions to problems and make them work?

§ Is life uncomfortable without the security of, for instance, nine-to-five job? Running a business can be lonely. Can you work entirely alone?

§ Do you give up on difficult tasks and wonder why you ever started; or do you have the confidence and perseverance to see things through, however gritty the situation gets?

§ How good is your judgment? Think about past problems and decisions you have made. Were enough of them the right decisions?

§ Will you be prepared to sell your product or idea? If you are not sure whether you could sell, think about whether you get on well with most people, and whether you could ask someone for money owed to you.

§ Can you handle several things at the same time without getting confused?