I want to answer the question “how do I start my own business; what does it take?” These business questions are two of the questions I get asked quite often.

The Good

People start their businesses for varied reasons. Owning your own business provides the flexibility and the freedom you might not get from working for someone! You become your own boss. It helps to discover your full potential and gives you the inner satisfaction of doing what you love to do while being paid. Financially, working for your self could be very rewarding. Socially, business ownership could shoot you into fame and become a source of power, control, acceptability, and respect.

The Bad

Business ownership has its downside too. In your quest to succeed, your business could become your world with your whole life revolving around it. In your desire to succeed you could become more “enslaved” than working for someone. There is a high level of emotional attachment to your own business, which can send you on an emotional roller coaster, especially when things are not going well. This situation could hurt your health. There is a very high possibility that your relationships can suffer when you go into business for yourself. You could also be ruined financially and socially, especially if the business fails. Success in business, most of the time, eradicates your privacy and exposes you to the hazards of being in the limelight.

The Decision

The above arguments are some of the pros and cons of business ownership. If you are thinking of starting your own business, your first consideration should be the pros and cons! Consider your ability to endure the hardships and difficulties of business ownership. Business ownership, also called entrepreneurship, is a unique skill and not everybody possesses that skill. As to whether it could be learned, or you are born with it, is still debatable.

The Attitudes

After considering the social, emotional and financial cost, the next step is to turn and look at yourself! Yes, yourself! Do you have the right attitude to propel you to success? I have a principle; “There are many causes of business failures; you should not be one of them.” As a business owner, you should have a strong will and mentality to succeed. The discipline to stay focused devoted and dedicated to that which you have started. It takes boldness and conviction to take your life’s savings, borrow from the bank, friends or relatives or even pledge your house and plunge it into an enterprise with no certainty that you will succeed! It takes a firm resolve to make it succeed. I have seen relationship broken, marriages torn apart, homes lost, credibility shattered and reputations smeared over this. A good business owner needs emotional stability and patience to make rational decisions. A business owner must be proactive with a great sense of urgency, a person who pays attention to details! One who does not take things for granted and learns to be thrifty without coming across as cheap. Find out if you can relate with people, manage people and can stand them. A business owner must be a doer, not just a talker, and a person who knows how to say no! You must be creative, have vision, goals and a direction!

The Question

So my question to you is, do you have what it takes? So many businesses fail not because of lack of capital, market, proper management or good product; but because the business owners do not possess what it takes to succeed! That is why I ask if you have what it takes to succeed.

The bottom-line

The reality is that venturing into a business of your own could be an excellent source of satisfaction, pride, wealth and a feeling of accomplishment. It could also be a source of misery, emotional turmoil, a source of disdain and social rejection, broken relationships and financial ruin with legal consequences. It is a challenging venture, which demands hard work and sacrifices. It calls for certain attitudes, which must be present and exhibited by the business owner to ensure success. To enter requires a comprehensive self-assessment to ensure that you are up to the challenge

Dr. Ken Barnes is a Management Consultant with Specializations in Entrepreneurship and Business Management, Marketing and Human Capital Development.