Blog 2. Venture and Risk Assessment
Ok, you and your spouse have discussed the key issues of making the leap from unemployment, for whatever the reason, to starting a new business; be it a ground floor vision or a franchise purchase. Now you are about to enter a confusing and often complicated world of “Due-Diligence,” exploring start up ideas or buying into an existing business and not necessarily a franchise; perhaps a partnership in an existing business? You are there, feeling pretty good about taking CONTROL of your life, determining your own DESTINY. Now what? HELP: Please take my advice and seek experienced counsel at this stage or your information gathering will over-whelm you to the point you may be making wrong decisions with information much like the metaphor “Can’t see the forest through the trees.” STOP! Start interviewing Business Consultants to help you through the “Forest” and take your time in the selection process and hire the right Consultant or you will soon double your problems not cure them; nevertheless, a good place to start is selecting a firm or individual with plenty of BATTLEFIELD EXPERIENCE. Question: Who would you rather take orders from in a real battle to engage the enemy; a West Point graduate, who never experienced a BATTLE or a Sargent, who has the BATTLE SCARS from real COMBAT that proves is survival skills and understanding of the situation? Answer: The Sargent! Analogy: The Sargent has been there and can “Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk” the West Point graduate is a novice with no actual combat experience and I will take experience over theory any day of the week. In keeping with the “Battlefield” example, I am also amazed at how many entrepreneurs start a business before they are ready or qualified, either by training or self- evaluation like taking a personality inventory test to see if they have the RIGHT STUFF. My advice to those aspiring entrepreneurs is to take a good long hard look at themselves, even taking the TEST in Chapter two of my book “Entrepreneurial Decision Making” available on our website (www.mitchelletteandassociates.com) first to make the above assessment; then start a CHECK LIST consisting of:
The more inner-perspective you can be about yourself, the better prepared you will be. The time and money you spend to prevent a sometimes irrevocable mistake the better the chance of success or you may face years of HELL trying to extricate yourself from the horror of going into a business that fails without proper preparation including but not limited to:
Note: There are few humankind-mind blowing disasters as watching the Sheriff armed with a “Writ of Replevin” march up to your business and home to remove all assets of each and every kind, stripping you of any honor or possessions you ever had or have and may have! Think about the following before you JUMP
I have a client, who is practicing what I have been recommending in the above title as she wants to open up an eyelash treatment salon and here are her options:
We still have not decided which option would be the best for her and are searching for the right choice through extensive due-diligence. Good Luck!!
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