Starting a business is not for the faint of heart! If you’ve ever wondered if you could be an entrepreneur starting a business of your own this series should help you. There are many things that go into a business start-up and it might seem a little overwhelming at first. We’ll break it down into 5 steps to help you see if you have the characteristics of an entrepreneur.

Step #1 Discover Your Strengths and Passions 

You have probably heard the saying, “If you do what you love you’ll never work a day in your life.”  That is a great place to start when you are thinking about starting a business. There will be other qualifiers along the way but starting with the things you love to do and that you do well is a great starting point.

Knowing your strengths and passions are important but so is understanding your weaknesses. A common exercise to help you discover these traits is the SWOT. You might have done this for a company you worked for. It is also commonly used to evaluate your competition. In this case, we are doing this to help you understand how it applies to you.

What does SWOT stand for?

• Strengths

Sometimes we have strengths we don’t even realize. Start with what you know about yourself that others would see as a strength, especially when it comes to starting a business. Things to consider might be: creative, hard-worker, tenacious, organized, outgoing and friendly. These are just a few but you get the idea. If you are feeling stuck ask a few friends and family members what strengths they see in you. The goal is to do a “brain dump” where you write down everything that comes to mind without editing your thoughts or questioning the validity.

• Weaknesses

These are not the “fun” ones, but they are important to be able to recognize so you can address them and compensate for them. I do not know of a single person this side of heaven who does not have at least a few weaknesses. Think about the things that you struggle with or that seem to trip you up. These could be things like: easily distracted, not good with money, lazy,  shy or “uncreative.” Again, asking friends and family for their honest feedback can be really helpful. How they see you may or may not be true, but it does reflect their perception. That is important, especially if you see a pattern developing or if it can be a detriment to starting a business.

• Opportunities

One thing that is a classic characteristic of an entrepreneur, is the ability to see opportunities where others don’t. Business ideas often abound for you. Some will be good, and some will not but you will be able to see an opportunity that will start the ball rolling in starting your business.

• Threats

These are external factors beyond your control that could put your business idea at some level of risk. While you may not have any control over the threat you can come up with a contingency plan to mitigate its effect as you continue planning to start your business.

Finding Your “Why”

Knowing these points is just one piece of this first step. It’s important to know what your motivation is to starting this business and entering the ranks of becoming an entrepreneur. This is commonly known as your “why.” This “why” will sustain you as you are starting your business. It will provide the focus and the unwavering strength you will need through the myriad of details, decisions and sometimes temporary derailments along the way. This will be at the very core of your Mission Statement, Vision Statement and even your elevator pitch. Wrapping up your “why” in a compelling story will be what will draw your ideal customer to your business. The “story” of why you are doing what you are doing will be the secret sauce to your success.

Do You Have What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur?

Everything in this first step requires time. Time reflecting and examining what you are made of and what is driving you in this business start-up. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses will give power to your “why.”  Once done, you’ll have a better chance of success.

Coming Up Next

The next step will help you Define Your Idea. You will begin to get clarity on what you want to do and how you want to do it. This next blog will give you the tools to make that happen.