Joe Abraham

Starting a Business-Step 1

// January 16th, 2009 // business startup

Every business typically starts on a paper napkin (or scratch pad, or legal pad, or white board…). The point is, that there’s a magical moment in time when the light bulb goes off for the first time in an entrepreneur’s mind and they reach for pen and paper to jot it down.

I’ve sat at countless restaurant tables with guys and gals after they’ve sold their multi-million dollar enterprise and it’s always interesting to see them reminisce right back to the first day it all began…

The day they first conjured up their company on a piece of paper!

It’s an exciting time that you too will remember for the rest of your business journey.

Believe it or not, this is a very important stage in the startup of your business because it’s typically your first opportunity to make mistakes!

Yup! You can make a LOT of mistakes at the paper napkin stage…

See, the paper napkin stage is where you end up making mission critical decisions like “who, what, when, how and why”.

Here are the questions you need to answer in this step:

Who…is my customer, is my partner, will be on my team?
What…is my product, is my unique selling proposition?
When…do we open the doors, will I know I need help, will I sell this company?
How…will I earn a profit, am I going to structure the operations, will I spend my time?
Why…am I doing this?

Let me tell you from personal experience (both good and bad) as well as the experience of having built companies with and for a lot of entrepreneurs…

You can do your business a lot of good…and a LOT of harm during this step.

The best advice I can give you if you are at this stage in your venture is to NOT “go it alone”.

Shamelessly avoid any ego trip you may be on, and ask for some help. (It’s a good habit to start early in your business).

Find 3-4 seasoned entrepreneurs (you probably have some within your network of friends and family).

Talk them through your paper napkin. (Important tip: Buy lunch. It’s the cheapest way to get a bunch of “free consulting”)

They’ll probably ask you a ton of questions that you won’t have answers to…

They’ll probably make you feel like you are totally unprepared…

You may even feel like a schmoe for those 45 minutes…

But guess what?

You’ll walk away with insight and wisdom that will save you a ton of money, headaches and heartache in the future.

So like I said earlier, avoid the ego trip (or perfectionist mentality that says “once I have a business plan, then I’ll talk to them”)…

Pick up the phone or fire up your pda and ask for the help now…before it’s too late.

If you don’t have 3-4 seasoned entrepreneurs in your network who you feel comfortable doing your napkin presentation to, then call my staff and they’ll be glad to kick the tires with you. Tell them you read about this on my blog and the entire session is on me with no cost or further obligation.

The paper napkin is the first critical step in your business startup. Do it right, and you’ll enter the next step with confidence, excitement and a healthy anticipation for the good things to come.

Skip this step and you’ll end up with partners you didn’t want, a business idea that doesn’t hold water and possibly a very skewed picture of the potential of the business. (Trust me, you don’t want ANY of those things!!)