Things you need in starting a business from a scratch.

1. You need guts to start a business

                “The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week, but today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” – Nolan Bushnell

Launching a business out of the planning board require guts; quitting your job to start your own business require guts, believing in your business idea even when everyone says you are nuts requires guts and facing business challenges also require guts. That’s why I listed guts as number one. Guts, chutzpa, boldness, brevity, courage; they all mean the same thing. Without entrepreneurial guts, just forget about starting a business.

                “You are nuts and you should be proud of it. Stick with what you believe in.” – Trip Hawkins

2. You need business skills to start a business

The next thing you need to make your business idea a reality is skills. What are you bringing to the table? This is the question you must answer when seeking joint ventures and business partnerships. Your possessed entrepreneurial skills are very important to the realization of your ideas because your skills can be a strength or competitive advantage for your business. Skills are a necessity when searching for a business team.

                “The ability to sell is the number one skill in business. If you cannot sell, don’t bother thinking about becoming a business owner.” – Rich Dad

Have you heard the phrase that “entrepreneurs are generalists.” I think there is an atom of truth in that statement. Entrepreneurs are generalist, they need to know a little of everything that pertains to business. That’s where your business skills come in. As an entrepreneur, you need to know a little of accounting, investing, sales, marketing, operations and business management in general.

Before ever starting a business; be sure to hone your sales skills, marketing skills, communication skills, negotiation skills, accounting skills, leadership skills, people skills and every other entrepreneurial skills that’s required to succeed in business.

                “Skills make you rich, not theories.” – Rich Dad

3. You need the right mindset to start a business

You probably must have heard this over and over again but I think it’s worth repeating. You can’t build a business if you lack the right mindset. Entrepreneurship is not really about starting or building a business.

Starting a business is like building a ship and embarking on a voyage, armed with a plan, a map and a team. You will have to sail against storms, unpredictable weather and uncertainty. If your ship sinks, it’s either you quit or you swim back to shore, build a new ship and sail again.  

Entrepreneurship is simply a change in perception or core value. It’s the process of developing your mindset from being job dependent to being financially independent. It’s a shift from being handicapped in the face of challenges to being a problem solver. In all, entrepreneurship is simply a change of mindset.

4. You need capital to start a business

I believe you know that no business idea is worth a pinch of salt without capital. I don’t want to stress much on this because I believe you know the significance of capital to any business. But in retrospect, I always advice my protégés not to be deterred by lack of capital. I encourage them to get creative when it comes to financing their small business startups; where there is a will, there will surely be a way.

                “There are three components to starting a business. One is the right plan; two is the right team and three is the money. Rarely do these three components come together when starting a business. It’s the duty of an entrepreneur to grab one piece and start the business, the remaining two pieces will be found along the way. Finding the remaining two components may take a year or more than 10 years; the point is, start with what you have.” – Robert Kiyosaki

5. You need the right business management team

                “Individuals don’t win in business, teams do.” – Sam Walton

Finally, you need the right business management team in place to build a business around your idea. For your business idea to leave the planning phase, it’s going to require the right business team. If you can assemble the right team to deliver on your plans, I bet you will find the venture capital because a strong business team is an essential ingredient to the process of raising capital from Venture capitalists.

Now how do you find the right team? I don’t know. How do you know you’ve found the right business team? Once again, I don’t know but what I do know is that the right team is a team that complements your weakness and adds value to your business. A good way to know you have the right team in place is that your business will take off like wild fire and gain grounds seamlessly with little or no effort on your part.

As a final note, these are the five things I believe are fundamental to either starting a business from scratch or building a successful business. So don’t get too excited because you feel you’ve got a creative idea up your sleeves; instead, start strategizing on ways to assemble the five elements listed above for your business. Remember, the world is filled with brilliant million dollar ideas waiting to be funded but the world lacks seasoned entrepreneurs. Take this lesson to heart and I will see you at the top.