Should I Start My Own Business?

This is my first blog and first post. I hope it will be a journey that will help you discover yourself which I think is one of the best things about starting and running your own business. You find your strengths and weaknesses, you also realise most importantly what you can do and most times you surprise yourself because you exceed your expectations.


Should I start my own business? This is a question everyone asks at some point in time or the other. It could be because you haven't been able to find a job, you are tired of your present job, you want to increase your income (make money), you want to be your own boss, and you have a fantastic idea.


The answer to any of these question should always be guided by your ultimate reason.

1.    If you haven't found a job: Your motivation will be both economic and self worth so whatever you decide should be able to fulfill both needs. Will it keep you alive and will you be proud of what you do. Pride does not mean what people think, but what you think. What are you comfortable with? You should also understand who you are. If you do not handle rejection well, making your business work will be as difficult as finding a job and the rejections will be just the same if not worse. So you should maybe change your job hunting strategy. Think of a service business something that requires little or zero capital and you get paid up front. A cleaning business, a personal shopping business for bachelors and busy mothers.

2.    You hate your current job: Your motivation should be something you enjoy doing. You should decide on something you like and have a passion for. Say for instance you love soccer so much you may decide to set up miniature leagues in several different neighborhoods and generate attendance which will generate sponsors. Or you love fashion you may decide to create an online catalogue of fashionable things you like and point them to the stores where they can get them and ask them to use a code to shop at a particular shop where you already get a commission and your clients get a discount. You need to ensure you can still earn the same income you earned while you worked.

3.    You want to increase your income (make money): This is a very popular reason why most people want to start their own business and sometimes in fact it is not that simple and straight forward and all you may be doing is own a job with probably the same income. The key is to understand your motivation. You also need to understand that there are several ways to make money without starting your own business, such as trading in shares, selling information, being a commission agent, trading in property. All these are income generating without necessarily starting a business. You also need to be very analytical and ask critical questions. How much money do I want to make? This will determine if your resources will enable you achieve your goal.

4.      You want to be your own boss: As idyllic as this sounds, you need to understand why you want to be your own boss. Is it because you have natural leadership skills or you hate taking orders from others or you are not a team player. he answer to these questions will determine whether you have what it takes to start your own business and what kind of business to start. Any client facing business automatically means your clients become your boss.

5.    You have a fantastic idea: Fantastic is relative, an idea is only really fantastic when a number of people are ready, willing and able to pay for your product or service. It is important to test your idea among several groups of people to determine how fantastic it really is. But most importantly you need to know who you are. Are you a risk taker; are you ready to risk it all? Are you tough skinned especially when it seems nothing is working? Are you adaptable, sometimes the application may dramatically change? For instance at the advent of mobile phones someone I knew imported mobile telephone signal blockers to sell to banks, since banks had a rule of not  allowing customers to make phone calls in the banking hall. It was not successful because it also blocked the bank’s staff’s mobile phones as well and so had to be turned off so they could receive calls. If he had thought the idea through and had been adaptable the same gadget could have also been sold to Universities, Schools, Churches and event places. You must always keep an open mind.

That is it for my first post. Send in your comments and questions. If you are working on any idea let me know how I can help you. Just send me an email and if you want me to call you send in your number. Calls will only be one way from me to you at a time agreed by both of us.



Please let me have feedback. Thank you.



Tokunbo Benson