One of the greatest challenges in starting your own business is to select the right business for you.  You may think that this is the easiest part.  What I have found from years of experience and hundreds of clients is that if you select the wrong business the rest really doesn’t matter. 

I have three free products to help you in this process.  That’s right.  They are free!  There are no strings attached.  I have a free audio mini course–The 10 Deadly Mistakes Entrepreneurs And Solo Professionals Make And How To Avoid Them.  There is second free course focusing on successful character in self-employment–Winning Character Traits.  And the third free course deals with a critical aspect to self-employment success–Winning Personal Development. 

Owning your own business is more than just a statement.  It is owning the investment, the systems and the emotions to make that business successful.  All three are critical to your success.  What I see most of the time is people getting into a business because they have had experience in that type of business. 

They usually bring one of two skills to the business.  They either know how to deliver or make the product or service.  Or, they know how to manage the business.  Very seldom, do they truly know how to do both.  They may think they know how to do both but the reality is that, more often than not, this is not the case.

Small business growth and to have your small business successful is about both delivering the product or service while doing a great job of managing.  It does not matter how good your marketing business plan is if you can’t give exceptional customer service in the quality and delivery of your product. 

Is selecting a business because you have experience in it wrong?  The general answer is no.  That is a good place to begin the selection process.  The key is to select a business that emphasizes your strengths.  And, if you are getting into something that does not make sense financially and whose systems have you doing things you don’t enjoy then the odds are that you will experience the negative emotion of unhappiness. 

And, unhappiness will lead to burnout.  Obviously, there are many things to consider when looking for a successful performance strategy in starting your own business.  Whether it is a bad economy or a good one, the key to your long term success, more often than not, is in the happiness that you feel. 

If you aren’t happy in your business it is like putting yourself in jail every day.  You only have so much time on this earth.  You might as well make it count by investing your money time and energy where you will be happy.  Check out my three free offerings.  They are free now but that will probably change.  Here’s wishing for you to have the freedom and abundance you desire.

With the current economic downturn there are challenges and there always opportunities.  The biggest challenge when one is displaced or loses his or her job is:  What am I going to do? 

It is a question I hear a great deal.  Very often, the answer to the challenge is to start your own business. 

You can read a mountain of information that will tell you about starting your own business.  And, that is good.  Yet, regardless of how much you read and learn starting your own business and running your own business present their own unique challenges. 

Today’s post is about giving you a framework in which to think about the question of what type of business to start during an economic downturn.  In subsequent posts I will provide some answers to the questions.

Challenge #1—Do you have a market for the product or service you wish to provide? 

Challenge #2—Is the market you wish to pursue vulnerable to economic cycles? 

Challenge #3—What should you get into when in an economic downturn? 

Challenge #4—What should I stay away from?

Obviously, there are many answers to what business should you start during bad economic times.  The most important thing now is to ask the above questions and come up with your answers.  There are no right or wrong answers.   The only wrong thing to do is to not think about these questions. 

To change your life you must change your thinking.  Coming up with answers will help change your thinking.  In the next post I will give you some possible answers to help guide you.

Deciding to start your own business represents a big change in your thinking.  That’s the first step.  The second step, which is the bigger challenge,  is taking the action.  Before you do that I want you to think about this. 

No amount of money spent on education, systems, equipment and personnel will enable you to successfully create your own business, let alone run it profitably, unless you truly build the business around you.  Small business growth is about growing you, the owner.

Building the business around you, your strengths and your passions is the first puzzle piece to successfully running your own business.

That’s right.  You must build your business around who you are.  If you don’t you won’t enjoy it.  If you don’t enjoy it you will, more likely than not, fail.  The path to failure is paved with good intentions spent on trying to build a business around the founder’s weaknesses and other people’s well intentioned perceptions of how you should do it. 

The key is take all the advice and education you are receiving and tailor it around you and what works for you. 

Step back before you start your small business and make an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses.  For your weaknesses figure out how you are going to cover for them.  The successful entrepreneur has figured this out in advance.  He does not spend a great deal of lost time and energy later on trying to fill the holes.   

Everyone can do things they don’t like for a while.  Some of this is unavoidable.  Invest your time in the beginning to acknowledge your gifts and talents.  Figure out how to cover the things you will not do as readily. 

To cut the first puzzle piece successfully you must honor “who” you are and in the process create a job for yourself that you like.  Create a job that you want to go to every day.  

After all, isn’t that why most of you become self-employed.  You want something different.  You want something better.   And, you want the control to make it happen.   Starting your own business is all about you.  And, that is good.