What Do You Need To Know As A First Time Business Owner?

Being a first time business owner is a transitional time in your life. You’re striking out on your own in a way you never have before, taking your career into your own hands, and placing a lot of responsibility on your own head. Frankly, it’s a lot easier to return to your old office as a subordinate, and do some of your best work toiling away for someone else!

But when you want to start a business, you don’t want easy. You don’t expect it, and you don’t prepare for it. You know it’s going to be a challenge to get up and running, and you know it’s going to be a fight to be recognised by your peers and customers alike. You know the chances of failing are greater than the chances of succeeding, and you’ve steeled yourself for any disappointments and criticism that come your way. And you already know there’s going to be a lot of those!

Which is why there’s some things out there you need to know. You want to go into starting a business with a clear head and a realistic vision. You want to give yourself the best chance to make a profit, and then continue to do so, without failing before you reach your fifth year.

It’s something a lot of people aren’t ready to do, but you’re not going to become just another small business statistic! With that in mind, here’s just a few of the most important things to always keep in the back of your head as you go on this journey.

How to Effectively Use Your Focus

Starting a business is going to require a lot of focus. You’re going to need to always keep your eye on the ball, and you’re going to need to keep to a strict schedule to make sure your grip on success is never slipping. Even just an hour longer in bed than usual means you can miss catching the worm.

If you’re going to start a company, your focus needs to be trained on multiple areas all at once. More importantly, you need to have the same kind of focus for each area, and to rarely treat any one as more of a priority than the other. For example, you need to be researching the market, constantly and extensively, whilst you continuously network with potential investors, walking into meetings with all the right facts and figures in your pocket.

One slip of your focus and you could give the wrong impression, or you could note down a gap in the market that doesn’t actually need filling, because you lacked the energy to read through your materials properly. Tasks like these need to happen concurrently. After all, if you can’t show an investor some real time figures over the need for your product in the market, they’re not going to be very interested in your product!

How to Be Concise in Your Communication

Communicating effectively is something you’ve got to learn to become an effective business owner and leader. You need to be charismatic and confident in all your correspondence, whether it be written or spoken, whether it be public or private, and you to always at least look like you know what you’re talking about!

And that’s done via keeping anything you say to a short and concise statement. A couple of sentences here and there, or only a minute or two to get your point across properly. And if you can hammer home the use of your business in the current economy in only 30 seconds or less, the more’s the better! When you can be short and sweet, you can be adaptable, and get your company message across even when just in conversation at a networking event.

In order to do this, you’re going to have to practice. You’re going to have to look in the mirror for a few minutes every day and speak to yourself; use this time to perfect your sales pitches, and to see how your body language and your expressions match up. You are your harshest critic, at the end of the day, and that means you’re the perfect judge here.

How You Can Use Your Vehicle

You’re just starting out in your business, and for the time being, you might just be classed as a self employed entrepreneur. You might not have your company up and running yet, and you might not know when you’re going to be able to register your business with your local government. It’s a bit of a grey area for you, and you’re not sure how to note it down on the records. But in the meantime, you’re not on anyone else’s payroll, and you might just still be churning out a profit.

So, not only do you need to be aware of your status as a worker for tax purposes, but also when it comes to the use of your car, which is the crux of this point. After all, you can’t claim gas money on your vehicle if it’s only used in a private manner, and the insurance policy you already have might not cover you under business purposes either.

Not to mention, it can be a bit of murky legal area as well. Being involved in a car accident is hard enough when you’re on the road for your own means, let alone if you’re driving to an investment meeting or a networking event. It can even be a lot more expensive depending on the type of car that’s involved with yours; for example, you might to need to fork out for a lawyer or service that’s knowledgeable in special laws regulating semi-trucks. Would you be able to manage that, and the repair or write off costs, based on your limited income in the time being?

Being a first time business owner can be quite daunting, but it’s something you’ll warm to. After all, it’s a time where you can prove what you’re capable of!