Business Alone

There are actually dozens of smart and effective ways to begin the business creation process that will reduce the risk of a new venture for the owner.

I'll focus on what I call the ten "B"s. These are logical and practical ideas you can follow in your own business startup mode to reduce your risk.

They're not theoretical or academic guesses; but tried and proven ways of protecting your assets, both time and money.

Here are a few ideas that may be useful as you consider what you can do to become a star performer in the eyes of your customers.

In a solo business, it's easy to understand why most customers don't differentiate the owner from his business. If you, the owner, treat the customer poorly, your business stinks (even if the customer actually likes the products you deliver.)

And when your offerings disappoint, you, the owner, take the black eye.

It's understandable since the customer sees you and the business as one and the same.

Every business begins with an idea. The idea may or may not be your own, but it will determine, to a large extent, the success of your business.

So it follows that finding a good idea, the right idea for you at this time and place, is paramount in your attempt to begin a solo business.

But how do you know whether you have a good business idea or not? How do you know that the product or service you will offer will be something that others will buy?

Maybe you trust your brother-in-law Harvey's opinion that "this business is going to revolutionize the future of every man, woman, and child living in the free world."

I've been asked by a number of entrepreneurial types whether they should consider buying an existing business rather than creating one on their own.

Their reasoning usually leads to the fact that they don't think they are capable of coming up with an original, sound, business idea.

I don't fault anyone for thinking in those terms. The very high rate of business startup failure may, at least in part, be due to poor business idea choices in the first place.

In most cases, however, I strongly urge the small business candidate to steer clear of buying an existing business. Sometimes that strategy works. But I've seen many, many more cases where it backfires and becomes a losing investment for the buyer. Here's why:

I don't always recommend that you seek out an attorney and a financial advisor for your business safety and peace of mind.

And most of you know that I don't recommend the solo business owner buy an already established business.

But if that's your intent, and you have thoroughly checked out the business as I have suggested elsewhere, you still need to make absolutely sure this transaction is exactly what you intend. Surprises are not a good thing in this business.

Since you will most likely be investing a good deal of change in your purchase, and you will be spending the better part of your waking hours on managing your new "used" company, you would be well advised to consult with legal and financial counsel prior to closing the deal.

Before you take this step, I would encourage you to do a little research and study into the practice so you'll at least be aware of the laws, regulations, and tax consequences of this practice.

Should you pay your children (or the neighbor's kids) with cash to help you in your business and not call them employees so you can avoid the laws governing child labor standards? I won't answer that - it's your decision.

Generally, no youth under the age of 16 is permitted to work more than four hours in one school day. They can't be employed before 5:00 am or after 9:30 pm (unless the following day is a non-school day.) You can't hire a youth for more than 8 hours in a 24-hour period.

Youth that are 14 and 15 can be employed in certain situations and businesses that are non-hazardous like restaurants, janitorial services, fast food chains, landscaping firms, etc.

Chances are very good you will rely heavily upon email communications in your new solo business if you use the Internet to conduct your operations.

And contrary to what some folks will tell you, there is no excuse for not understanding what email type you should employ.

Email contact without prior permission, in most instances, is considered SPAM by the majority of today's email experts. It's SPAM (unsolicited and usually unwanted contact) because you are invading someone's personal space and right to privacy.

I know, I know, we all use the term freely and without much thought.

But it really is wrong. A virtual business can't have assets, employees, products and customers.

The term "virtual" means a realistic simulation; of such effect that something appears to be real even though it's not.

Well let me tell you, Internet business is the real thing. It is a different kind of business because of the way it's operated and delivered; but it is as real, legal, and legitimate as any other physical business.

Digital information is not unlike written information, except that it exists in the form of little data bits that consist of "1s" and "0s."

Every character and many symbols that we use in our language can be represented "digitally" and transferred electronically over wires and cables and even through the air waves.

Those characters are developed or "written" in software programs like MS Word and others but are "saved" as digital files which can then be transferred to other media and output types.