The 5 +/- Steps for Starting a Business with Little money and no Business Skills

Before you read into this article let me be the first to let you in on a little secret.

At the end of the article you will know the steps you need to take in order to start a business with little money and no business skills.

But you will not know everything that there is to know in regards to running and growing the business.

Business is an ongoing learning process; you must continue to grow in order for your business to do the same.

In fact there are no magic bullets in business, and that goes for magic seminars, cds, books , reports, courses etc. There is no one source of information that will give you all the information that you need. There are some great sources that give you a lot of valuable info but no one source is the source.

So after you follow the instructions in this article when you have your new business up and running, remember to keep learning .

I like to K.I.S.S. (no not like that or the rock band) it means Keep It Simple Stupid. In other words don’t complicate things.

I have put together the most basic steps that a person can take and put himself in business, and have a legitimate chance at success. Follow these steps and you will have your business up and running in no time.

Step 1. Determine if business is for you.

You may have decided to start a business because your current job is not satisfying you or you just would like a new challenge.

Even though these are good reasons to want to start a business if you haven’t determined whether business is for you stop and take a time out.

Although any business skill from accounting to marketing can be learned by anyone, business is not for everyone. You must determine if it is for you.

Deciding to be in business is one thing deciding to succeed in business is another mindset.

Frustration with your job or a health sense of adventure is good motivation for going out and starting a business but alone it is not enough.

You must realize that a business means that you will be required to do some kind of work. You must decide how much work you are willing to put in.

Let’s get something strait, I am not a work-a-holic, far from it, as I said I like to K.I.S.S., so when I say work, I don’t mean the type that will have you in bondage of your business.

Business should provide residual income and/or capital gains, you should be able to at some point sell your business or the longer you own the business the less and less your business should need you to keep growing until one day you no longer need to be there for your business to function, and it becomes a residual income generator.

But in the beginning you will be required to work to build your business.

If you are unwilling to do at least the minimum (and if you are only going to do the minimum then you still should consider something else) and you have some capital then maybe you should consider another passive investment, Stocks, Real Estate, etc.

But since you are reading an article titled 5 +/- 2 steps to starting a business with little money and no business skills, let’s go by the assumption that you don’t have that type of capital sitting around.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself before getting into business.

1. What are my interest and hobbies? (And if you can find a business that is related to a current interest then you have struck business gold.

2. How much work am I willing to put in? You must be honest with yourself on this one otherwise if you lie to your self you will find your self falling short of you business goals and getting frustrated.

3. How much time can I put in? If you have other obligations that you must take into consideration ( family , work, school) you should figure out if you have the time for a new venture and if you don’t make some.

4. How much income do I want to generate? Knowing this will help when choosing a business you can determine what you want to make and then find the business that will generate that type of income.

5. Am I okay working to build something with little to no compensation in the beginning in exchange for a larger payout and steady income in the future? If you are not comfortable with the idea of delayed gratification then business is not for you plain and simple.

In the beginning you will be building sometimes with no compensation and sometimes even at a loss. The flip side to that is when business takes off you should work less and less for more and more.If you cannot accept this concept of delayed gratification and you must trade you hours for dollars then stay away from business and get a trade.

These are not the only questions to ask of yourself but they are good place to start.

If you are honest with yourself at the end of your self evaluation you will know whether business is for you or not. If you have decided that it is then read on.

Step 2. Find a proven, successful business system.

K.I.S.S. told you I like it. You do not want to reinvent the wheel. You need to shorten the learning curve as much as possible to get you into the black as soon as possible.

New products and services cost money to bring to market, instead of coming up with your own ideas or trying to invent a new system, capitalize off of someone else’s proven ideas and systems.

If I asked what are the products of, McDonald’s, Jiffy Lube, Holiday Inn, and Home Depot.

You will say Hamburgers, Auto Services, Hotels, Hardware and Appliances.

But they are all wrong all of these companies sell the same thing a system.

If you have a product or service that you want to bring to market, work with a company with a similar established product or service, find a way to merge your interest or learn from their proven system and use the money and the knowledge you gain to launch your own product or service. You can earn while you learn.

When looking at business systems here are some ways to evaluate the parts of the system.

1. Training system: How will you learn the business? If you are coming in with no business skills then this is a priority for you. You must shorten the learning curve. Find out as much as you can about how you will be trained in using the system.

2. Support system: Will you be left in the dark when you have questions? You will have questions on your business only someone who is in your business can answer. Find out how you will get those questions answered.

3. Marketing system: Find out what tools the company uses to spread the word about their products or service.

4. Growth system: You need to know how to get big fast. Find out how the company is growing and what steps it is taking to keep growing.

5. Payment system: Of course in any company you need to find out how the money is made. Find out when it is paid out, how it is split everything. The purpose of a business is capital gains and/or residuals. If you cannot clearly see how the money is made in any company, if the compensation seems too coded then I suggest you get out as fast as possible.

You don’t want to be where you are confused about how the money is made because then you will not be able to gauge whether you are doing what is right.

No matter what any one tells you if your business is not making any money something are wrong.

And the last step in starting a successful business with little money and no business skills is.

Step 3. Plug into the system, do what the system says do and do not deviate.

This is the same thing that was said earlier but it needs to be stressed.

Do not try to reinvent the wheel. K.I.S.S.

Use the system the way it is supposed to be used. If it is a proven system (and it should be) then using the system should bring you predictable measurable results.

Do not under any circumstances add to the system, take away from the system, skip steps, or do the steps in a different order.

If you do any of the above and end up with results different from those specified in the system or you do not achieve the level of success that you felt you should, whatever you do, DO NOT BLAME THE SYSTEM.

So many people do not follow the instructions and in the end when the results are different blame the instructions. If the instructions are followed and all the pieces are there and in good condition if you do not follow the instructions, Who is to blame when the new entertainment stand you were building comes out looking like a coffee table? You are to blame.

It is as simple as that. Take these three steps and you will find business success, even with little money and no business skills.

Now before I go let me tell you about a business I think may fit the description for a good business.

It is Network Marketing, or MLM.

Network marketing is a way for individuals with little money to spend on overhead and little business experience to be in business.

It has in place all of the various systems you need to grow a business from the beginning. If you choose the right company within this industry and follow the system in time you will be successful.

I hope the info in this article is helps you on your way to starting your business.