What are some of the key ingredients for success in business and questions you should be asking yourself.

We live in a time where there are more opportunities available than there ever has been.
With a new business comes a lot of excitement, energy and buzz.
Also on the other hand starting a new business and actually making it work requires more than just declaring you are open for trade.
It requires time, money and commitment.
Below are a few tips to help you in your journey.

Identify a market.
What will you sell? Is it in demand or going to be?
Is the product or service original? Who will use it?
Is it consumable (ie like gasoline or electricity or paper or a regular service like lawn mowing? or just a one off purchase like a refrigerator?)
Are you going to develop your own product or service or perhaps identify one that is currently growing and become a part of it - this can be an excellent choice if you do your research.

Secondly, decide how much of your resources you can devote to your new business before you start (all businesses require time and money and you'll need to devote some to both get started and continue to build your business).
How much money are you willing to invest in your business?
Set clear boundaries on how much cash you are going to spend on getting started.
You have a couple of alternatives here - either have a buffer of cash saved to keep you going though the slower times when not a lot of income is flowing or operate your business part - time while you work a job to keep the bills paid.

I personally use the part - time model because it allows me to get well established first before launching everything.

Are you willing to give up some things now (like some TV for example) in order to build your "income generating machine"?
We all have the same amount of hours per day - the choice is how we use them.
(Do a quick calculation of how many hours of TV you watch per week - you may be amazed to find how many spare hours you can free up just by reducing this to direct to your business instead).

Do you have a vision of where you want to be in say 5 years time?
Goal setting is essential.
Set some goals and write them down and work out the steps you need to take in order to get there.
Having your vision in front of you will help you keep going when it's tough (there are moments when you may feel like giving in).
Determine to succeed and invest in yourself by developing good habits and reading quality books on marketing and good business practices.

I trust these tips will help you in your success.
More posts coming soon.
Mark.