The start....

So now that you are mentally ready (please read my earlier two posts to figure what i mean by that) to start you need to .....well start !That doesnt sound too tough right .

hey but what about proof of concept/talking to experts/reading internet reports on the subject which everyone talks about as must dos before you start a business !!

Well my take is that those activities are parallel activities and need to be done along with running your enterprise. Sounds weird , let me explain this further.

A business has to be "done" before you can figure out whether it works OR what you need to tweak in it to make it work . The sad part of a business is that its success only failure comes through when you start selling your product/service in the market and for that well... you need to sell. Human behaviour (which is what business is all about) cant be studied in controlled environments and even if it can the results are far from accurate ! The other aspect is that too much of thinking results in the famous analysis/paralysis which results in the classic case of prolonged inertia.

So you need to start .... and to start you need money (for yourself and for your business). In light of that the "cost of trial" needs to be low as whatever money you are putting in at this stage (yours or someone elses) is "pure risk" money so you need to be sure that you dont go overboard on expenses at this stage.

A simple rule of thumb is that whatever money you think you need (after working ALL your calculations on the back of an envelope or XL sheets) , divide it by half and that should be pretty much what you actually need to start a business (i will call it the "by 2" rule)!

This is the most vital stage of your business and the more you "think" about it the more you will NOT do it. Remember it is life changing decision and most life changing decisions are unfortunately imposed on us (through either a catastrophe or a stroke of great luck) but in this case it is completely in your hands.Look at your finances, make sure that your conviction is as strong as it was when you first wanted to do this thing and jump.........

Business to that extent is like any other sport ie while the battle is fought in the mind, the game can ONLY be learnt by "playing" on the field and NOT by sitting in the classroom.