A common characteristic of an entrepreneur is the fierce desire to be in control of one’s own work and see the proper remuneration for the effort expended. There is a driving force that pushes the entrepreneur to create, to have the freedom to create with a personal responsibility for the trialling of ideas without the restrictions of time, nor the pressure of answering to a higher authority (i.e. a boss).

Talk to an new entrepreneur and listen to them sell their vision with a passion far beyond anything you will witness from a day-to-day employee. So many ideas. So much inspiration. There is a fragility there also – a protectionism that surrounds their project like a new mother with her newborn baby. Usually at this point there is no lack of imagination or motivation. At this stage, there is no doubt in their mind about the success of their startup. Any question posed to them of potential challenges or weaknesses in their strategy will be met with strong defiance.

Obviously all startups are slightly different. But what is the point of business? What is the bottom line to your new venture? Money. How is your new business going to make money?

I feel you squirming already. I know the feeling. I get uncomfortable too. But lets be honest with ourselves. If your business is not geared towards making money, then it is just a hobby. No matter what height of influence you are looking to surmount,  ultimately business is all about making money. And if you are a self-funded solo-preneur, or setting up a small business venture you will be looking to make some hard earn bucks fast.

So, start where the money is. Start with the portion of your vision that gives you cash flow in its initial stages. You don’t necessarily need to be making massive profits at this stage (though we all dream of being millionaires in our first 6 months), but it is an essential element to keeping your business ticking over and to keeping you from having to return to that boring office job you hated so much: Cash flow. I really dont want to scare you, and I know at this point you are convinced that you are in the minority, but statistically 8 out of 10 new businesses fail in the first 12 months. Why? You guessed it. The main reason they fail is that they run out of money. They don’t have enough cash flow to keep themselves afloat.

Whether or not at this point in time you have a business plan, sit and write down the part of your vision that can be easily implemented for fast return of funds. So, for example, if you are into marketing, perhaps offering consulting services will return more in a short space of time than website development. If you are looking to sell a product, perhaps try setting up at a local market on the weekends rather than forking out the funds for a local shop in your town or suburb. Not only will this give you cash flow, but will offer the doubled benefit of testing your product without much risk. A business plan is a good idea at this point. And thanks to Google you can find an endless supply of “How To’s” online to help guide you through creating one. This one is a good start: Keep It Simple: How To Write A One Page Business Plan

Don’t be disheartened. It is frustrating when someone pulls you out of the clouds and down to the ground level of reality. And patience is often not one of our stronger qualities. But we are grown ups and it is really important to face the facts early on. It will end up in more wins down the track.

Don’t be in a rush to conquer the world. Stay focused on delivering a great product or service that will keep the bank account ticking over. Start slowly, be committed to building and you will see success. I wish you all the very best with your new venture.