Where to Begin - What's The Big Idea?

'What man can conceive and believe, he can achieve.' Napoleon Hill

If you want to start a business but don't know where to start, read this chapter, complete the exercises and you'll either be ready for the challenge and rewards of being an entrepreneur, or dropping the book on the floor and running very fast back to the comfort and security of your job. Either way, you'll have the conviction to take the right path for you - self-employed or employed (if you decide it's not worth the bother), By the end of this chapter you should be able to answer the following questions:

* How will balance be created between work life, personal life, and your satisfaction and expectations?

* What are the qualities and motivation factors affecting the proposed business?

* What are the advantages and disadvantages of going it alone?

* Why do you want to start up your own business and is it for you?

STEP 1: HAVING A DESIGN FOR LIFE

Before we get down to the business of business, I want to take you on a journey that will uncover what you fear most, and reveal what you want most from your life and work. Once you have visualised and focused on what you really want to achieve from starting your own business, you'll be better prepared to launch forth and get to grips with the nitty-gritty.

It's not Rocket Science

Unless you intend to start up as a competitor to NASA, running a business isn't rocket science. Anyone can have an idea for a new business. The entrepreneurs are those who put that idea into wheel-spinning, cash-registering action, and brilliant ideas require some brilliance in terms of planning and moving forward. An idea is just that - an idea - and one that is in limbo until something is done with it, until it is seized and actioned.That is where goals play an important role.

Having no written goals and no list of aspirations is very much like embarking on a very long journey without having a final destination and without taking a map - not the most common-sensical approach.

TOP TIP

Creating a plan from your idea, with a set of written goals and then visualising having achieved them, will make you far more likely to be successful in your endeavours.

The power of pen plus paper

I tell my clients, 'Create the link to what you think - mark it in ink.'You may think that sounds a bit cheesy (ok it does) and you may also think that writing lists of goals is a futile exercise, but you'd be wrong. Here's the proof:

In 1953, a group of graduates from Yale University were asked one question: 'Which of you has written specific goals?'

Just three per cent of the students answered affirmative. That three per cent had clear,written goals.

Fast-forward some 20 years to 1973. The same group of graduates were surveyed once more. That three per cent who had written clear goals had accumulated more wealth between them than the remaining 97 per cent combined!

More proof?

Until I set up my first business, I had dreams and ambitions in my head but I didn't commit them to paper or, if I did, I certainly didn't do this enough. I saw them as possibly unattainable, and didn't spend much time thinking about them. I only actioned ambitions I saw as achievable. What chance did I really have of getting to swim with dolphins, interview celebrities, write a book or meet my 'idols'? The funny thing is, as soon as I wrote my goals down and began to focus on them, they started to take shape.

I went to Gibraltar to swim with dolphins, I got a publishing deal (the result of which you're reading right now), and through one of my businesses - ilikemusic.com - I began to interview celebrities, from Alicia Keys and Katie Melua to Gary Human and Gabrielle. My wishes were coming true.

Furthermore, not only did I meet one of my idols - Anita Roddick - but I also started to work for her, promoting her websites www.anitaroddick.com and www.takeitpersonally.org.uk. This goal-writing really does work! By writing down my goals and taking tiny steps to bring them to fruition, I had energised my aspirations and tuned in to my targets.

So make sure you commit your goals to paper. Mark your intentions, hopes and ambitions and, in doing so, you've taken the first step to fulfilling them.

You need a clear vision of what success means to you in order to achieve it.

Bill Gates dreamed of a time when there was 'a computer on every desk' and Henry Ford wanted to create 'a car for the masses'. Dame Anita Roddick wanted to 'expose the lies of the beauty industry and make a difference in the world'. They all achieved those big dreams. What's your vision? Write it here

• EXERCISE •

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* I dream that one day:

 

 

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* Not only that. I also dream that I will:

 

 

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Wishing on a ... business

We make wishes as we blow out candles on a birthday cake, or find a wishbone in a chicken. Making wishes is part of every culture around the world. But wishes can only come true if they are focused upon, thought about, and if the wish-maker has enough motivation, encouragement and reminders to help them turn their wish into reality.

Most people think wishes won't come true because they've wished for things in the past that haven't materialised. The reason many people believe that wishes don't happen is because they wish for events and experiences as happening in the future. And if it's happening in the future, it isn't really possible for someone to experience it or change it.

This is the reason why many experts on the subject of 'making your dreams a reality' suggest that you make affirmations in the present tense. For example: I am healthy, happy and successful. In her book The Circle: How the Power of a Single Wish Can Change Your Life, Laura Day says:

'There is not 'I want', but rather 'I have'. Phrase your wish as if it has already happened. If you focus on 'I want', you direct your inner resources to reinforce wanting rather than having. If you focus on 'I have','I am', 'I feel', or 'I embrace', your inner resources will find opportunities for this to be true... He member always to phrase your wish as if it were already fulfilled.'

This creates what Louise Hay, author of You Can Heal Your Life, calls a 'cosmic shopping list' something ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell used to great effect. In her 1996 diary,she wrote that her single, video and band were hugely successful and that 'George Michael is my husband.' As well as a few more present tense wishes. These all came true, and rather than marrying George Michael, she became his friend and escaped to his home after leaving the Spice Girls.

So... What are you waiting for? It's time to get those goals down onto paper.