Can you do the Groundwork?
Are you ready to chuck your job and become an entrepreneur with your fantastic product or service idea?
Giving up a job in this economic climate can be a decision with no return. Millions have lost their jobs in the 2008/2009 economic melt-down, and competition for each job opening is fierce.
Perhaps you are among the millions of laid-off workers, and you have given up hope of ever finding employment again. You are ready to go into business for yourself with an innovative product or service that has been rattling around your brain for quite some time.
In either case, an entrepreneur needs to have a number of character traits for success. The most fundamental one is the discipline to do the groundwork for getting a business started. Even if you have access to significant sums of money yourself, you’ll need to write a business plan. As they say, if you don’t know where you are going, you’ll never get there. Most fledgling entrepreneurs have to find a business loan or equity financing. In that case, your business plan must SING! It must be so persuasive that it convinces your banker or a potential angel investor to actually fund your business. And you need to keep in mind that they will not look at your business in the same way you do.
Formatting a business plan is not that difficult – there are loads of templates and free resources available on the Internet. But putting some real meat on to that template will require a lot of work on your part.
The Executive Summary is the overview of your business plan and explains the what, why, and how of your proposed business. Be careful not to overstate your first-year revenue estimate, and make sure that your estimate is based on solid market research. Nothing will kill your chances faster than pulling numbers out of the air. You need solid information on your direct competition and on why you think you can compete successfully. But there is also indirect competition from similar solutions that may solve the problem just as well. Investors will respond most favorably when your business addresses an existing hole where the market is crying for a solution.
Adeshola Afolabi is a business coach and mentor that assists serious entrepreneurs in building a profitable online business with multiple incomes streams. Adeshola and his team have assisted hundreds of people in generating an executive level income or more in their first year. For more information and to contact Adeshola, visit: http://abiolasola.com
W. Chris a young entrepreneur and businessman. Be a professional blogger since 2007 to share with her community and internet people for sure. 
