# Color your Career #: Own a Business ..

Some people say, "Give the customers what they want." But that's not my approach. You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, "If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, 'A faster horse!'" People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page - Steve Jobs

Do You Have What It Takes ?

Not everyone is cut out for the challenge of starting their own business. There are several personality traits that are common among successful Business People, including discipline, frugality, self-confidence, good communication skills, humility, honesty and integrity, pretty good record-keeping skills, motivation, good health, optimism and more ..

Planning - Mission & Vision
Execution - Art of getting things done
Marketing & Sales - target markets, pricing, new products
Finance & Accounting
Operations - Purchasing, Inventory control
Supervision - Hiring, Training, Performance

Create A Business Plan :

One of the major reasons new businesses fail is poor planning. If you are planning on starting up a business, you must have a business plan. This will serve as a road map to guide you, and communicate with your bank and/or investors what you're doing and why they should invest in you. It should include a mission statement, executive summary, product or service offerings, target market, marketing plan, industry and competitive analysis, pro-forma financials, resumes for the company's principals, your offering, and an appendix with any other pertinent information.

Build your Support System :

Starting your own business can be an isolating experience. You're working all hours of the day and night, often all on your own. It's all about 'finding the right people to help you with every step of your startup journey'. Finding the right people to surround yourself with can be a challenge. But there are a few way to build a support system. You can check out an incubator or accelerator, or you can find a mentor. You might also consider building a board of advisers, who can bring expertise in a wide variety of areas ..

Create mutually beneficial relationship in your network
Join local social clubs/associations
Create a small group of like minded entrepreneurs and be active
Host a dinner or happy hour each month and invite new people
Participate in conferences and panels

Find a Mentor :

A mentor is a person with more experience in business, or simply in life, who can help an entrepreneur hone her or his abilities and advise him or her on navigating new challenges. A mentor can be a boon to an entrepreneur in a broad range of scenarios, whether they provide pointers on business strategy, bolster your networking efforts or act as confidantes when your work-life balance gets out of whack. Too often, we think we have all the answers and are the only people who can really get things done. The reality is that another set of eyes can work wonders for how you operate both on and in your business. An outsider can also make sure you are getting the numbers you need both on the top line and the bottom
line to survive.

Don't discount, Add value :

Whenever you discount, you are taking money directly out of your pocket and directly from your bottom-line profit. So don't do it. Instead, create added value propositions all the way up and down your product or service line. Focus on the benefits and quality of your product, not the price. Look for ways you can add value - it's all about 'perceived' value.Offer added value services to encourage customers to buy from you. These could be something like a free first service with each used car sold, or half-price scotch guarding on lounge suits etc.

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so - Mahatma Gandhi