Starting Your Business

Find out what it takes & how to make it happen

Are You Ready?

Start­ing a busi­ness is an excit­ing, but often over­whelm­ing under­tak­ing. Many times peo­ple choose self employ­ment because they think it will be eas­i­er than work­ing for some­one else. The idea of being the boss and mak­ing more mon­ey than they ever dreamed is appeal­ing but mis­guid­ed. Entre­pre­neur­ship requires more than a good idea. It demands an end­less dri­ve and will­ing­ness to try again when plans go awry.

Are you ready to start a busi­ness? Take the Entre­pre­neur­ial Self-Assess­ment Survey.

Do You Have the Next Big Idea?

An ini­tial prod­uct or ser­vice idea may be good but well thought out revi­sions can take an idea from good to incred­i­ble. Entre­pre­neurs often gen­er­ate many ideas. How do you know which idea is the best? A sol­id busi­ness idea pro­vides val­ue to the cus­tomer by solv­ing a prob­lem or meet­ing a need. The idea should have a com­pet­i­tive advan­tage over sim­i­lar prod­ucts or ser­vices. Not only must it be com­pet­i­tive, it has to sus­tain the com­pet­i­tive advan­tage in the face of an ever chang­ing indus­try. Of course there also must be a mar­ket for the prod­uct with suf­fi­cient demand to make your busi­ness finan­cial­ly viable.

Cre­at­ing the Busi­ness Plan

The busi­ness plan is nec­es­sary part of your busi­ness devel­op­ment. From start up to scal­ing, the busi­ness plan helps guide your vision and assists you in meet­ing your com­pa­ny goals. Busi­ness plan­ning deter­mines what actions your need to take and what human and finan­cial resources will be required. As well as attract­ing investors, a well thought out busi­ness plan will estab­lish your strat­e­gy for growth.

In per­son sup­port for busi­ness plan­ning is offered through your local Com­mu­ni­ty Futures Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion. Vis­it the Com­mu­ni­ty Futures Mid­dle­sex Busi­ness Help Cen­tre. Meet with an advi­sor to dis­cuss your busi­ness and finan­cial plans.