There is a lot to think about if you are considering starting your own business. It takes time, effort and sacrifices of your personal life. It is not for everyone. If you do an honest self-evaluation and decide that owning a business isn’t the right fit for you, you’ll save yourself a great deal of trouble (and probably money) by moving on to another career path.
The first step is to carry out a market study. This allows you to determine whether there is a clientele for your activity, the market environment and competitors that have already established themselves. Then you can define your commercial strategy, draw up financial forecasts and choose a legal form.
For some entrepreneurs, success in business comes down to pride of ownership – seeing their family name on the corporation and, as a result of successfully confronting problems, discovering abilities and strengths they didn’t know they possessed. For others, it is about producing a substantial return on their investment and providing for the future stability of their families.
Business creators, in turn, can give their contribution to the ecosystem by taking on a role (mentor, advisor, board member etc.) within the broader start-up sector and by making connections with other start-ups, especially if they are serial entrepreneurs or business angels. This helps them build a reputation for their own business profile, for the related support functions and for the ecosystem as a whole.