Introduction
Small and Medium size businesses are the backbone of the free market system and thousands of people each year try their hand at entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, statistics show that up to 95% of those that try will fail. A lot of people will try and tell you that the failure is because you did not follow a good 'system'. That's nonsense. That person's 'system' was based on his skills, interests and knowledge - not yours. I believe that there are three basic reasons for so many failures:
- Those people have never taken the time to learn HOW to run a business.
- The business idea that was tried could not create a positive cash-flow soon enough.
- Many people do not realize how much work starting a business is and quickly quit.
The purpose of this course is not to provide you with some special system that will make you rich. If you believe there is such a thing, you will probably be very disappointed. What we do hope to accomplish is to provide you with the framework of how you can determine your own best path. To help you learn how to access your current skills and use those to create a cash flow large enough to build whatever your dreams may be.
Entrepreneurship
en-tre-pre-neur
--noun
1. a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.
2. an employer of productive labor; contractor.
--verb (used with object)
3. to deal with or initiate as an entrepreneur.
--verb (used without object)
4. to act as an entrepreneur.
Origin: 1875-80; < F: lit., one who undertakes (some task), equiv. to entrepren(dre) to undertake.
Entrepreneurship is the single largest source of wealth in the world. Running a business not only has the potential of making you a lot of money, it can provide you an immense satisfaction of achievement that working for someone else never can. But, there is one point that must be made first. Your first business will probably not be your dream business. That is because your first business should be structured to provide you with a business education and a cash flow. With those under your belt, your chances of success in your ideal business will increase substantially. To help you create those objectives, we will be discussing these basics:
- Your business must be legitimate.
- You must create a proper legal structure (We cover this in the next course.)
- It must use a skill set that you currently have.
- We need to find a similar business to base it on.
- It must be something that can be developed within weeks.
- It must involve building a team
- It must generate immediate cash flow
With these objectives taken care of, then the work -- or fun -- really begins as you learn:
- Management Skills
- Marketing Programs
- Sales (not the same as marketing)
- Operations (Legalities, Accounting, Databases)
- Finances (Tax strategies, P&Ls, Balance Sheets, Cash Flow Statements)
- Focusing on the Big Picture