Self-Awareness and Evaluation
Begin your business career with a careful self-examination. Make sure you realize what you are getting into. Do not be afraid to ask questions about things you do not understand. Do not accept every statement at face value. You need to know what you are doing. Remember that a business – large or small – is a BIG responsibility.
To help you along, consider these questions:
- Do I get along with people and inspire confidence?
- Am I willing to shoulder the responsibility of meeting a payroll and paying debts on time?
- Do I like the business I want to enter so that I would not mind working long hours and making other personal sacrifices?
- Do I understand that business is speculative, and am I willing to take the risk involved?
- Do I like to sell?
- Can I keep the financial books?
- Can I make decisions and can I weather wrong ones?
- Am I resourceful in emergencies?
- Am I a good organizer?
If you can answer most of the above questions affirmatively, you can feel quite certain that you have the personal aptitude you need to start a business.
The importance of the questions may vary, for example: Question one is exceedingly vital. The success of many a business has hinged on the way the proprietor dealt with customers and employees. The idea that you can get business merely by opening a shop is an outdated notion. There is plenty of competition to face, so plan on dealing with your customers just a little bit better than your competitors.
You will find that courtesy and understanding are important factors in handling the public. The main thing is to get along with people, understand their needs and inspire their confidence. From the time you sit down with your banker to negotiate a loan to the time you try to convince a customer to buy your product or service, your personality and reputation for honesty and reliability can make the difference between success and failure.
Business owners who lack tact in dealing with people and who do not love their work probably cannot stay in business long. No doubt, you may recall many persons who have started new businesses and attracted customers by their geniality and warmth, and others who have driven customers away by their negative attitude. Your employees, too, will reflect your way of doing business. Be pleasant even when you must say “no”.
When you become your own boss, you alone are responsible for what happens. Your earnings are not guaranteed; they will be what you make them. Some weeks will be big, some weeks very lean, and other weeks they may be non-existent. You must be ready to face these facts as they arise and meet them without worrying. That takes good sense, as well as confidence and courage.
As an employer, you will also find that hours do not stop at forty (40) per week. Long after others have gone home you may have to stay on the job checking odds and ends, getting books in order, going over inventory, rearranging stock, seeing that repairs are made, and a thousand and one other details. You will find early in the game that anyone who launches into business will not be able to keep golf appointments at three o’clock in the afternoon.
Selling, to varying degrees, enters into all business practices. Sales skills are related to your ability to inspire confidence, but it also involves an understanding and enthusiasm for selling. You will need to convince others that they need what you offer, whether it is in the form of goods or services.
If you are keeping your own books, consider taking courses in these subjects before entering into your venture. The State Education Department has course outlines and other materials on a variety of business subjects. These become the focal point of local adult education programs, which are sponsored by schools throughout the state.
SCORE,
The New York State Small Business Development Center, and
The State Division of Veterans’ Affairs all offer guidance and assistance. Veteran counseling centers are conveniently located in every county of the state.
Some people have the ability to make wise decisions quickly, while others learn decision making the hard way – by experience. If you possess decision making skills, you will be able to apply them successfully in business. It is a quality closely related to resourcefulness, the ability to adjust and re-adjust rapidly.
Finally, as a business owner, you must be a good organizer and administrator, even if you have no employees. You must be self-disciplined and able to arrange your own time profitably. You must coordinate the parts of your business so that they fit together and operate at maximum efficiency. You must gear your buying to your selling, and your selling to your customers’ needs.
When you hire employees, you must plan their work in order to obtain the full value of their services. You must arrange to meet payments and wages on time and to avoid, as much as possible, having a surplus of funds at one time and a shortage at other times. You must maintain your credit rating, since credit is as good as money and there is much more of it (credit) available.
Business is not a “bed of roses”. Basically, it is a great adventure and calls for initiative, integrity, good judgment, courage and determination. You probably have some or all of these qualities or you would not consider going into business for yourself. You may have to grit your teeth many times and perhaps survive disappointments.
