Hey! So you are taking the big leap and starting a new business. Congratulations!

If you haven’t already, check out PART 1 of this series- it’s all about mindset for business. Many entrepreneurs don’t realize how much their attitudes, existing habits, and preconceived notions about running a business may affect their eventual success and outcome. Once you’ve decided if you are right for entrepreneurship, the next thing to do is a big picture assessment of your business idea. There will be plenty of time to work out the details of your business- and in Part 3 we’ll talk about creating a business plan- but for now, let’s take some time to assess your new business idea.

Define your business offering
Exactly what are you offering? Is it a product, a service, or a combination? Does the business solve a problem or address a real pain point?

Determine that there is a market for your service.
An idea for a business isn’t quite enough. You need to make sure there is actually a market for your idea. Surveying and informally talking to people who you feel like may be your idea customers is a good way to get feedback. You can also test the product or service with a test client.

Have an idea of how much money you want (or need) to make.
It’s good to go into a business with an expectation of the intended outcome. Do you need to replace a full time income or make some par- time money? Is your business more of a hobby where you’d like to profit enough to have an occasional dinner movie?

Assess how much time you have to commit to your business.
If you have constraints like another job or business, family or school, make a realistic assessment of how much time you have on a daily, weekly or monthly basis to devote to business endeavors.

Determine roadblocks that could hinder your success.
If your business requires you to be available in the evenings, but you have to pick up your children during that same time or period, you may have to rethink your ideal or plan. If your idea requires a lot of startup money and you have little, that could potentially be an obstacle, too.

Think about what success looks like to you
There are always struggles and challenges and business ownership so it is good to determine what you actually need to happen for you to feel like a success. Is it a certain amount of income? Flexibility and freedom? Is it seeing your name in lights? Helping others? There may be one or more milestones you want to achieve on your path to success.

I hope these points get you excited and thinking about steps to starting a new business. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but I promise this journey will be fun, and you read Part 3.

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