You will NEVER

have enough money

to start a business!

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard this before,” your stubborn venturesome self may say by way of dismissing the ugly truth, but dismissing reality doesn’t make it go away. Your offhandedness will inevitably come back to nip you in the tush. UNLESS! Unless you can get yourself to accept reality unconditionally and plan (that nasty entrepreneur word again) accordingly.

Ah, and one other very important asset you need to bring to your business startup table: PLUCK! [No, not as in fingering a banjo!] Pluck as in backbone, bravery, courage, daring, fortitude, gameness, grit, guts, mettle, moxie, nerve, zest, spunk. This is not to suggest recklessness in talking money. It is rather to suggest being realistically bold and fearless.

“Realistically”?

If you grow your business idea to the point where a major infusion of someone else’s cash or equipment is needed in order to survive and/or continue to grow, you’d better be prepared to give up total control in exchange. This translates to the need for you to be prepared to hedge your bet, and possibly diversify your interests (if your investors allow you to!).

Starting a business is not a task for the meek. It is not a retirement or corporate escape. It is not a hobby. It is not simply taking advantage of a spur-of-the-moment opportunity. It is not a one-night stand. When you start a business, you marry your idea! Without some grand inheritance, how many marriages start out with enough money?

No matter how carefully you budget and think through where your idea is headed, no matter how much arm-in-arm support stands with and around you, no matter how many promises you get from vendors, suppliers, ancillary services, and government agencies, you can be sure of only one thing: You’ll never have enough money to start a business.

So? So assess yourself first. Don’t dwell on it, but do be honest. Determine exactly how much pluck is inside you, and how realistic your attitude is. See where and who and how to plug the openings. If you don’t, your startup efforts are destined to fall apart and your financial exposure will be crippling.

You need to substitute for being under-capitalized by rallying your strengths and surrounding yourself with the reliable strengths of others whose skills and experience can fill in your gaps! It CAN be done. Many have succeeded. But many more have failed. The difference is pluck and a realistic attitude. How much of each have you?

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Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US

National Award-Winning Author & Brand Marketer – Record Client Sales

Open Minds Open Doors

“I am me . . . 

in all the world,

there is no one else

exactly like me.

I am okay!”

 — World renown family therapist VIRGINIA SATIR

[What? You came here looking for that all-time great 56-year-old recording hit “Only You,” by the Platters?]

People around you may sometimes prompt you to think –because you own or run or manage a small business or professional practice– that you are Mr. or Ms. (or Dr.) Awesome in the flesh. And perhaps that’s warranted, especially if you are what’s commonly referred to as “self-made,” in which case: congratulations!

If, however, you can’t even begin to think about your business success because right now you’re down there in the trenches with America’s other 29,999,999 small business owners who are struggling to survive the fanatical progressive/socialist/liberal agenda that has steered government into a trample-free-market-competition mode.

Then the time has come to step back and take personal stock of who you are and where you’re going. And I’m sorry to tell you I can’t help you with where you’re going; only you know that answer. Godspeed!

So let’s explore the real you, the only you, the you that only your inner circle of family and friends knows. I can help you with that. I have lots of experience guiding people (especially business people) to find themselves. It’s not always easy. Some entrepreneurs thrive on making themselves be needles in a haystack.

Begin with accepting the awareness that you are unique.

There is (if you check with your friendly local DNA expert, and as Virginia Satir’s quote above says), no one else exactly like you.

Next, consider that if in fact this is true for every human on Earth, then HOW employees and customers respond to the messages you put out is never exactly the same twice.

Now that should tell you something right off the bat. What you want others to know about you, your products and services is very likely to be not what they are getting from your messages. But let’s return to you.

Government has cultivated dependency among the brain-dead, who make themselves too busy with life to bother with work. Who needs a job when you can get it all (food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, education) for free? There are others who work just enough to get by, but most of them seem to have RDD (Responsibility Deficit Disorder).

You are not among those who live off of others or you wouldn’t be reading this.

But some questions for you are in order: Do you choose to make yourself too busy with work to live life? Is it essential to your survival or are your business priorities simply wrapped around “what if” worries? Do you take enough breaks and pat yourself on the back enough for the good things you do? Do you eat and sleep right?

Have you ever “almost died”?

Do you get enough exercise? Are you answering these questions truthfully? Do you realize that because you are unique, so are your needs, so is your activity level, so is your spunk and gumption, so is your faith, your sense of patriotism, and your entrepreneurial spirit? When did you last stop to think about those values and variables?

What can you do right now to give your unique self a boost?

We do, in fact, become what we think about. Have you been thinking about what you really want to become, or have you been preoccupied with being the person you think others want you to be? There’s no such thing as working smarter and not harder. The issue is one of balance. There is a way that you already know . . . and, there is prayer.      

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116 

 Open minds open doors.

 Thanks for visiting.  God bless you. 

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

GOTTA HUNKA SPUNK?                                                                                                                               

NEGATIVE REALITY: “In THIS economy? Nah, now’s not the time to be thinkin’ about starting or expanding a business. You’d have to be nuts! Besides it costs too much for stuff like that, and –if I were gonna do a big new push, I’d want to do it the right way, y’know? Big-time!”          

POSITIVE REALITY: There will never be enough money available to start up or expand a business the way I want to make it happen. Never. So waiting won’t matter. I’ve always believed that CONTRARY to the famous quote: 

NOTHING comes to he who waits!     

That leaves spunk . . .  

1.  Spunk,

2.  determination,

3. tenacious persistence, 

4. belief in yourself and your ideas,

5. commitment,

6. and a burning desire to make your ideas succeed. 

When all six of these ingredients are front and center 24/7, odds are you will succeed by just putting your head down and charging toward the goal of making your product or service ideas come to fruition. 

When you can do that, the money you need to put things over the top will come to you from sources you least expect. Every truly successful entrepreneur will attest to this. If you doubt it, then consider these two points:

• If you have doubt, then you do not have all six criteria (noted above) going for you. Back off and shore up the weak spots before you go charging off. 

• If you are close to having the six criteria above, but still have a smidgen of doubt, talk with someone who has been successful as an entrepreneur, someone who started a successful enterprise on the proverbial shoestring, and you will hear back the exact same kind of chatter.                                           

In other words, people who worry about their ideas making money will not make money; they will, instead, make worry. 

Those who turn their backs on the making money goals and focus their energies instead on getting their ideas to succeed, will make money. 

Weird, huh?  Perhaps, but it’s true.

I have helped over 500 successful businesses and business expansions to get started. I have never seen a single exception to this thinking.  I’m sure there must be some somewhere, but not in my experience. 

You can take advantage of my experience if you’re thinking about launching a business or expanding one. For a modest consulting fee, I will serve as your temporary coach and advisor until you get things off the ground. I work with clients by phone and computer and occasionally, when realistic and appropriate, personal visit. 

You can tap into what I have learned the hard way and spare yourself considerable stress and expense. 

If you’re interested, call me direct at 302.933.0116, and let’s set a time to talk. No fee. I’ll give you 20-30 minutes to get me interested.

If you can’t afford me or I can’t help you personally, I’ll steer you in the right directions –as a courtesy– because my life’s mission is to help small businesses succeed.                                                                                                        

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!