How to start your business when you know what you want but have no idea where to begin

I’m getting excited about the workshop that Barbara Winter and I will be facilitating next weekend in Las Vegas. The attendees have some phenomenal business ideas and we’ll be working through what’s been holding them back so they can make those dreams happen now.

I’ve heard from a several aspiring entrepreneurs who said they wanted to join us but had scheduling conflicts.  They all said the same thing. “I have this great business idea but don’t know where to get started.”

Here are a few tips to help you begin working on your dream business.

• Research people who have already done what you want to do or something similar.
  Read their blogs, study their websites, listen to podcasts and read books by people who are doing what you want to do. Not so that you can mimmic them but so that you can learn from their journey and do your own version and share your unique gifts.
• Talk to people who have been successful at what you are trying to do or something like it. Ask what mistakes they made in the beginning and what they learned in the process. Most entrepreneurs love to share. We don’t see start-ups as competition but complimentary. When I meet a new self-employment guide, I take note of what qualities they possess that I do not and will frequently refer a client to someone who I think might be a better fit. By connecting with someone who has already done what you want to do, you may not only gain a mentor but a friend who you can do some co-operative projects with as well.
• Don’t let the things you don’t know how to do keep you from beginning. A smart entrepreneur admits what she doesn’t know and recognizes that learning is a life-long pursuit. You can always outsource or barter the skills you lack or don’t enjoy performing.
  Or partner with someone who has complimentary gifts.
• Hire a coach or consultant to guide you. Be careful to find someone who has had their own business, not someone who was trained as a business coach but never started a business. Don’t worry about certification. What matters is that they have learned by doing and can share their experience with you.
• Attend seminars or workshops with other entrepreneurs. You’ll learn from the facilitators and the other attendees will share resources and valuable insight with you. You’ll find your tribe and source of ongoing support. (We still have a couple of spaces left. Find out more HERE.)
• Start with baby steps. Even if your dream is big, start small. I’m not an advocate of the 5-year plan because I believe your business will evolve in ways you can’t even imagine now. It’s great to have a vision of the big goal but it’s easiest to make it happen by taking small steps every day.

What first small step can you take today to move forward toward your dream business?

My 9 Favorite Perks of Working from Home

Yesterday, I read an article about how to work more productively, stay focused and avoid distractions of working from home. A few of the tips were helpful, such as “get an accountability partner” and “leave the house”.  This and other articles talk about disadvantages of working from home and I realized I’d never written an article on the benefits of working from “home”. So

9 Reasons I Love Working from Home

• My home office is my laptop so “home” is wherever I want to be. If my home office starts to feel confining, I get in my van, set up my portable desk and work by the beach.
• I’m able to eat nutritious lunches and honor my grazing with frequent little fresh snacks. Sometimes I have a picnic lunch.
• My (four-legged) co-workers are always enthusiastic listeners and encourage my big dreams and great ideas.
• I can schedule my break times for low tide.
• I have total control of the environment: temperature, music, lighting
• I can choose to run errands while everyone else is at work and work while they are fighting crowds and traffic. Same goes for the gym, bank, post office, movie theaters and restaurants. I can do those things while the crowd is at work and work at home while the crowd is at the gym, bank, post office and market.
• If my family or friends need me, I can be there for them and work from a hospital waiting room, airport or mountain top.
• My socks don’t have to match. As a matter of fact, I don’t even have to wear socks.
• I don’t have to take off work to schedule repairs and deliveries. I can throw in a load of laundry or start a pot of soup in the middle of the day. When others are spending their off-time doing household chores, I’m playing.

Do these things pull me away from my work? Not at all. When people complain about the distractions of working at home, I think they must not love what they do because when you’re in your element, you are 100% present.
What are some of the advantages you find in working from home? If you haven’t started your small business yet, what benefits of working from home are you looking forward to?

Do you know WHY your haven’t started your dream business?

If you’re an idea generator like I am, you know that feeling of “I will never live long enough to bring all these ideas to fruition”. For those of us who have a constant flow of fresh ideas, we choose which to give our attention to first and don’t fret over those that may not be hatched for awhile. (and I’ll tell you a little secret. Sometimes I give my best ideas away to clients, because I don’t know when I’ll find time and I want to see them come to life. Each time, the muse gifts me with several more.)

When I speak with people who have lots of ideas, I suggest they jot down some notes and keep them in a file. Once they’re recorded, the anxiety over possibly forgetting them subsides. The mind is then free to focus on one idea at a time and the file is always there when you are ready for it.

What about the ideas that you thought were brilliant when you stashed them away but when you have time, you never revisit them? Why are you neglecting them? Is it fear of failure?

If you’re risk adverse, let me ask you this. Which is scarier to you? Trying and failing or the regret of never having tried? I’m sure you can guess which frightens me. Regret, for sure. I take risks because I am more afraid of regret than failure. (and for the record, I have no regrets.)

It wasn’t until recently that I realized there are people who fear success. Some worry about having to live up to others’ expectations of them if they succeed. For some, it’s uncomfortable to be in the spotlight. Well, contrary to popular thought, I know that a private person can be successful without having to show up on Oprah.

Another excuse I hear for leaving a good idea by the wayside is the fear that someone will steal your idea.  Of course it’s possible that someone will copy your great idea, manufacture it cheaply in China and it will outsell your original. But you know what? You can’t do anything with your great idea if you never take it out of the closet.

Fear is definitely an obstacle to bringing ideas to life but the most common reason people give for not moving forward on their dreams is overwhelm. When I speak with aspiring entrepreneurs about what’s been holding them back, they most frequently site overwhelm with not knowing what to do first. They just have no idea where to begin so they freeze and do nothing. One of the best ways to overcome that overwhelm is to get a clear vision of the whole project and then break it down into actionable small steps.

For some guidance on how to lay out the big picture of your dream so that you can figure out where to start, scroll down to the January 13, 2012 post titled  “Are you limiting your dream to the size of your desktop?”.

What’s happening with YOUR neglected ideas? If you’re ready to put it on the table and give it the attention your great idea deserves, check out what Barbara Winter and I are doing to help a small group of aspiring entrepreneurs break through the barriers and start their dream businesses NOW. HERE’S the SCOOP

Do you have so many ideas for starting a new business that you have trouble focusing on any of them?

Do you have so many ideas that you have trouble focusing on any of them? If so, you have a lot of creative company. This past week, I’ve spoken with each of the attendees of the upcoming Inspired Livelihood Obstacle Busting Mastermind.
Every one of them had more than one idea, some had many.

“I have too many ideas” is a common complaint of creative entrepreneurs. Being an idea generator is a gift but it can have you running in place if you aren’t able to effectively launch any of them because you are too scattered. It is absolutely possible to run several businesses successfully but just like juggling oranges, you have to start with what you can handle and add more as your confidence and competence grow.

I helped each of the attendees choose one idea to start with and we focused on fine tuning the vision of what that one business will look like. When they show up at the workshop in Las Vegas, we will focus on making that one idea a viable business. Once that business is running and they are seeing profit, it will be easier to launch the next idea, and the next. It’s kind of like when you have a baby. You give that first your undivided attention. Then, when that first child is a couple of years old and you’ve kind of got the hang of that parenting thing, you’re more able to parent a second. Maybe add a few more? Imagine if you gave birth to all your children at once? You’d be like the old woman in the shoe, right? Well just like kids,  you shouldn’t launch all your ideas at the same time.

If you’ve been sitting on a few projects or business ideas for awhile and haven’t been able to make any of them profitable, you are probably suffering from “refusal to choose” syndrome. But you know what? You did choose. By choosing to try to do them all, you’ve chosen to dilute your energy and get nothing done, right?

I know this first hand because the last several months, I’ve been thinking about several new businesses I want to launch. I’ve done research and some initial steps on all of them but mostly been ineffective moving forward with any of them because my attention was too scattered.

Then a few weeks ago, I realized something. If three months ago, I had chosen to focus on just one new project, I’d now have it successfully launched and be starting on the next. Instead, I haven’t launched any of them.

If you’ve been sitting on several ideas for the past year and feel frustrated because you’ve launched none, I’d like to offer you a challenge. Give yourself permission to put all but one on the back burner. Not forever. Just right now while you get that first one crystal clear and moving forward. Try it for three months. Remember, you aren’t neglecting the other ideas. You are just giving each idea the attention it deserves. Once that’s rolling, spend three months on your next idea. Imagine where you’ll be at the end of the year if you do that. You’ll have launched four new ideas successfully.

Do you need some guidance and support birthing that first idea? If so, check out what Barbara Winter, best selling author of “Making a Living without a Job” and I are doing to help a small group of aspiring entrepreneurs break through the barriers and start their dream businesses NOW.  Find out more HERE

Are you limiting your dream to the size of your desktop?

Is your dream too tidy? When you sit down to plan out your next business moves or other creative project, do you work on your laptop or a legal pad? You could be limiting the scope of your imagination or stifling creativity by trying to fit a big idea into an 8.5 X 11 inch space.

The past few days, I’ve been chatting with attendees of the upcoming  Inspired Livelihood Obstacle Busting Mastermind. The purpose of the pre-workshop call is to help them gain clarity on their idea so that when they arrive in Las Vegas we will focus on how to make it happen.

As I listen to all these exciting ideas, my possibility cogs spin and I realize how we limit our dreams by confining them to the size of our desktops. That may work if you are a  linear thinker but a lot of us, particularly artists, think in more dimensions and need to give our dreams room to grow.

If you have an idea for a project and want to get crystal clear on what shape it will take, try this:

• Get several pieces of poster size paper or a roll of craft or butcher paper and some markers. NO erasable pencils because for this exercise, there’s no such thing as a mistake.
• Spread them out on the floor rather than a desk. (If you can’t get down on the floor, use a large table but let the papers overlap so that you KNOW you are not limited to the size of the table.
• In the center of the paper, write your topic or project name. (This doesn’t have to be the permanent name.)
• Then jot down a word or symbol for everything you think of. At this point, it doesn’t matter where on the paper-When one idea sparks another, record it somewhere near that-just get it down-quickly. Don’t analyze it.
• Don’t worry right now about the order or whether or not you even know how to do whatever idea pops into your mind. This is about “WHAT IT IS” not how to do it. (that comes later.)

Nothing you do in this first exercise is a commitment.  These are just random thoughts and ideas.
I suggest you say to yourself, “If this business (or project) could be anything I wanted and I didn’t have to think about whether or not I have the knowledge or resources to do it, what would it look like?” This is the dream stage. Don’t try to be realistic or worry about if you could sell this idea or the logistics. Just get your ideas down.
If you get near an edge of the first piece of paper, tape another piece to it. Don’t limit yourself to what fits on the paper. Even if you have to go out the room, down the hall and through the front door, make sure you don’t let running out of space on the paper stop you.
You’ll be amazed at how your ideas will expand into the space they are given.

If you have a BIG idea but don’t know where to begin to make it happen, there are still a few spaces left in the upcoming Mastermind in Las Vegas. Join Barbara Winter and me as we guide a small group of creative entrepreneurs through the obstacles to make their dreams into a viable business. HERE’S THE SCOOP

How are you doing with the action steps you planned for the new year?

We’re now into the second work week of the new year. Are you on schedule to reach your goals for 2012?

If you’re like many aspiring entrepreneurs, you have great ideas but find it difficult to take action on them. Or do you get it rolling but have difficulty staying on task because you know what you want the end result to be but the sequence of necessary steps is unclear? Sometimes, it feels overwhelming. Other times, an idea that seemed brilliant at first begins to feel unattainable or you lose confidence in your own ability to make it happen.

Particularly if your friends and family member are not entrepreneurs, you can lose momentum when you don’t have anyone to run your ideas by or be accountable to. Dreams wither in isolation and if you share them with the wrong people, the seeds are squashed before they’ve had a chance to take root.

That’s why I am an enthusiastic advocate of mastermind groups. Being part of an entrepreneurs mastermind is like having an advisory board  for your business and a support group for your dreams. In his book  “Think and Grow Rich”, author Napoleon Hill defined the mastermind as a “coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.”  My experience has been that while having one other person is helpful, having a group of 4 to 6 feels more like putting 8 or 10 heads together.

If you tend to lose confidence, procrastinate or have trouble staying motivated, the accountability of a mastermind will keep you moving in the right direction.  Participants brainstorm ideas, share resources, challenge each other to create and implement goals, give honest input and feedback and fresh perspective.

There is nothing like being in a circle of other entrepreneurs to create forward momentum so that you achieve your goals. That’s why Barbara Winter and I are offering an opportunity for a select group of creative entrepreneurs to join us for a mastermind weekend in Las Vegas. You’ll bring your dream to the circle and get the benefit of our combined 7 decades of self-employment plus the feedback and ongoing support of your tribe. You’ll arrive with questions and leave with answers.  HERE’S THE SCOOP.

What to do about those ideas that keep re-surfacing no matter how many times you bury them

Do you have an idea that you keep putting  off until “someday”, feeling that the time isn’t right, you aren’t sure how to go about it or if it would make money? I have lots of these that sit on the back burner. Some, I pull out, recognize that it isn’t the ideal time and I pop back in the “later” file.  Others, I revisit, evaluate and determine that the profit potential isn’t enough to spend time on or that my passion for the project has dwindled. Then there are ideas that just won’t stop coming back to me. Even when I am immersed in another project, they continually pop up and beg for my attention. I call those “boomerang” ideas. Barbara Winter calls them “neglected ideas”.

If you have an idea, however vague, that keeps popping back up no matter how deep  you bury it, it’s probably worth your time to finally take it seriously.

While I never make a major business decision without weighing it intellectually with facts and figures, I am a true believer in tuning into the subconscious. When an idea returns even after I have dismissed it, I know it’s time to give it serious consideration.

Because boomerang ideas can be pesky for a reason, Barbara Winter and I have planned something we’ve never done before. We’ve reserved a suite in Las Vegas to sit down with a select group of aspiring entrepreneurs and bring those neglected ideas to what I call the “possibility circle”. That means you put your concept out there and we all put our “problem solver” hats on to bust through the obstacles and create a viable business.

This won’t be a lecture and it isn’t for you if you are looking for a “what do I want to do when I grow up” seminar. It will be a hands-on, hats-on how-to-make-it happen NOW workshop. If you’ve been sitting on an idea that won’t leave you alone until you do it, if you are ready to roll up your sleeves, dig in to the details and bring it to life, click HERE to learn more about how you can be part of this powerful mastermind. And if you do it NOW, you’re still in time for a pre-workshop phone consult with me. Here’s how you can join the circle.

Where you should never put your limited start-up cash (and the one thing you mustn’t skimp on)

One of the most frequent questions aspiring entrepreneurs ask me is “Where should I spend my limited amount of start-up money?”  My answer is that it depends on the type of business you are starting.

A brick and mortar retail shop does need more start-up cash than an online information product business. There is inventory, rent, security deposits and possibly some fix-up/build-out work to be done. There are ways around spending on these items with barter, consignment, trade and other savings options which I have implemented myself and have written about on this blog. I have started successful businesses on very little cash and that is my number one suggestion for anyone starting a new venture.

There is only one thing I would borrow money for at start-up, but first, I’ll tell you what
I recommend you do NOT spend money on:

• High priced legal and accounting services. Yes, there will be a time when these are vital to your business but a l lot of new entrepreneurs waste time and money on establishing an LLC or Corporation and setting up expensive accounting systems long before they need to. Unless your business involves liability, just get started. Get whatever licenses you need, start as a sole proprietor and start making money. Of course if you are selling physical items in a state with sales tax, you will need to obtain a re-sale license right away. Keep your business money completely separate from your personal money.  Then, when you are generating revenue, contact an attorney and set up a legal business entity to protect your assets and a good accountant to help you avoid unnecessary tax.
  *note:I do highly recommend you purchase insurance if you have a brick and mortar location where you could be liable for injury to a customer. If you have inventory you will need to insure it for fire and theft as well. If your stock is on consignment. check with the artist or supplier to see if their insurance covers it while in your possession.
• Fancy office equipment, fixtures or build-out. You don’t need state-of the art technology unless you are starting a tech-based business. I’ve started every business with a pen and legal pad, off-the-shelf receipts and a cigar box for cash. Wouldn’t you rather hit your break even point and start building up a reserve than have a snazzy cash register? If you are doing your business online, you do need a working computer you can depend on but you do not need a lot of pricey software, nor do you need the fastest, best technology. Try to work with what you have until your business is generating enough to pay for it.
• An expensive website. Too many new entrepreneurs wait until they have the perfect website to start their business. That’s a huge waste. What you think you want in the beginning is almost never what ends up serving you and your clients best once your business is up and running. Do pay for a self-hosted domain and use a free WordPress theme to begin. I am absolutely not a techie and even I can set up a WordPress site in a day. Later, when you are generating enough income to pay for it, hire a WordPress expert to help you fine-tune the site to suit your needs. Have them teach you how to do it so that you can keep it updated yourself. Ideally, barter for their services. ( I learned this the hard way. I paid a Silicon Valley way too much money and wasted weeks waiting for them to create my dream site. I wasn’t in business long before I realized it did not fit my needs and replaced it with a WordPress blog which I  can make changes to myself as my needs change.

The one thing I would spend money on, even if I had to borrow it, is education or consulting. I’m not talking about an elite platinum group coaching club where you pay $20,000 to $100,000 to spend 4 days a year with a coach in a group of people. (Yes those do exist and people vie for a spot in them.) Rather I am suggesting that if you know what you want to do but not exactly how to go about it, you hire someone who has done it successfully to guide you through the obstacles. It will pay you many times over to get it right the first time.

If you can’t afford one-on-one consulting which can be quite expensive, find a small group mastermind led by someone who is experienced in helping people work-through solutions. It doesn’t have to cost a bundle and it will be the single best investment you make in your start-up. If you are ready to take the first step toward making your dream business happen in 2012, go HERE to learn how you can get your ideas in front of 2 life-long entrepreneurs and problem solvers.

Are you getting business advise from a coach who has never started a business?

There appears to be a growing trend in online business that disturbs me and it should concern you too.

In the past couple of years, all these “how to make six and seven figures by working harder, not smarter” have cropped up. It goes like this:.  A recent corporate refugee, let’s call her Suzie,  attends a large seminar where another recent corporate escapee tells her story of hating her job and being broke until she took these specific steps to create her dream business and ideal life and she can teach you to do the same to create your six or seven figure business. She sells a membership or coaching program or series of live calls, CDs and transcripts teaching you how to do what she did. Suzie and sixty other recent corporate refugees purchase the program and put some of the steps into practice. A hand-full of those seminar attendees do have a an area of expertise and may go on to use the techniques from the seminar to leverage and make more money. But the majority of them will create joint ventures with others they met at the first seminar to interview each other in a free tele-class during which they sell a program based on what they learned at the seminar and within a short time, they are teaching others how to create a six figure business by teaching others to create a six figure business by teaching others to create a six figure business. But have any of those people ever really started a business other than selling the idea of creating a six figure business?

Now, I’m NOT calling this a pyramid scheme but it does have the feel of those letters people used to send out that said, “Send me $19.95 and I will send you my secret program that will teach you how I made almost $200,000 with less than a twenty dollar investment.” The program actually told people to send out letters asking people to send them $19.95 to learn how to make $200,000 with a $20. investment. If they sold 10,000 of these people, they would make $200,000 with a $20. investment.

Here’s the difference: Suzie and her pals from the seminar are NOT trying to screw anyone. They truly want to help others do what they did and make more money with this formula. They aren’t shysters. Most were successful in their previous corporate careers. But they were employees. The only experience they’ve had in self-employment is selling this formula. Yes, many put their own personality or brand into it but they are primarily all doing the same thing. No one is doing anything innovative so how can they possibly be creative and solve your business problems if they are simply following a formula?

It feels very much like a franchise and while there is nothing dishonest about most franchises, I wouldn’t go to someone who purchased and successfully ran a Subway for advise on how to start a business unless I wanted to open a sandwich shop.  If I wanted business coaching, I would not seek the help of someone who took a course in how to be a business coach but has never started their own business other than business coaching.  If I wanted to start a new business but needed help figuring out how to go about making my idea into a viable money making venture, I would seek advise from someone who has created businesses.

Barbara Winter and I have each started several successful businesses. We both love guiding aspiring entrepreneurs on the journey from idea to inspired self-employment. Neither of us use formulas and we don’t teach you to do what we do. We listen to your dreams and help you figure out how to make them into your own unique enterprise. If you’re ready for personalized, innovative problem solving, there’s still time to join us in January for an intimate 2-day mastermind where we’ll focus on your business your way. Find out more HERE.

Are you sitting on an idea that you haven’t nurtured because something else always takes priority?

Did you ever notice how when you have an idea and you tell a supportive friend about it,  the options double but if you share the same thought with 2 friends the possibilities multiply and the product is more than the sum of it’s parts?

Well, imagine yourself in a roomful of creative thinkers who all hold the intention of propelling their own dreams into reality and are also excited about your ideas and have suggestions and solutions for you as well.

You can read books, take home study courses, hire a coach, participate in tele-classes and webinars but there is nothing as powerful as being in a room full of supportive people who share a common goal and the desire to make it happen.

Are you sitting on an idea that you haven’t nurtured because something else always takes priority? Do you find your enthusiasm for it waxes and wanes, the idea keeps coming back but you just don’t know where to begin to make it happen?
Georffrey James in a recent Inc.com article titled “14 Easy Ways to Get Insanely Motivated” says, “Seek out the similarly motivated. Their positive energy will rub off on you and you can imitate their success strategies.”

Most people need supporters to birth a new project and advisors to bring it to fruition. As small business owners, we don’t have a board of directors. The advantage is that we get to captain our own ship. The downside is that we have no sounding board and often feel discouraged if we don’t surround ourselves with a tribe of inspired entrepreneurs to brainstorm and problem solve with.

If you’re tired of putting your dream on the back burner and you are ready to move forward , what better time than the New Year to commit to making it happen.

What if you could sit down with two lifelong entrepreneurs and focus on your idea, address the challenges and obstacles that have held you back,  brainstorm solutions and design concrete steps to make it real? What if in addition to two self-employment muses and problem solvers, you also had a small group of enthusiastic supporters who were committed to nurturing their ideas while also helping you grow yours?

Well, that’s exactly what Barbara Winter and I will be doing in January and if you register right away you’ll save with the early bird special and qualify for a private phone consult to get crystal clear on your idea. If you want to be part of this select group, find out more HERE

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