Failing to plan is failing period.

When launching your own business whether it be on or
offlline there are many issues that
need to be carefully considered. In my opinion it is far to
easy to just launch a website
and hope that the traffic starts to flow in. Launching an
online business is almost the
same as launching an offline business (maybe harder). Not
many people consider
designing a business plan, in my opinion this is a critical
mistake. If you think about it,
starting a business is like writing a book. A book needs an
outline and research, the same
with building a house...lay out a foundation and the
building process goes that much
smoother. Conduct a survey to find out what people REALLY
want in your industry, not
what you THINK they want. You’ll be able to have a much
better idea on how to build
your business, after all, a business caters to consumers and
consumers dictate for the
most part what happens in your given market. In this day
and age we are lucky, for we
have the internet to automate our businesses and speed
research time up, but lets not
forget about the offline world as well. Often facts and
figures collected from the internet
do at times fall short of being 100% accurate and factual,
this is where you should back
away from your computer and make some calls to people who
are experts in the field
your researching. This way you will know for sure that the
research you’ve done on the
internet can indeed be confirmed as factual and correct, or
you may be surprised to know
that some of the information you’ve collected from the
internet does indeed contain
“factual holes and misguided guesses”. You should never
assume that the information
you read in forums is correct, most people who post have
good intentions but there is no
harm in “checking out” their claims. For example, I’m
currently researching/writing an
ebook on sports fishing, I’ve travelled the forums to see
what questions people are
asking. I pay attention to the most common complaints, head
to the library and pick up
books on the subject and read them word for word. Then I
either put the findings in my
own words, or, if I’m still not sure about the facts I call
the publishers and ask assistance
in contacting the author of a book. I recently did this,
made contact with an expert in the
field (they knew I was writing a book) they contacted me on
my toll free number that I gave
them. I had a telephone conversation with the person I
needed to talk to. As it turns out
he offered to send me even more information absolutely free!
Why? Because I had the
guts and the smarts to confirm AND make sure the information
I was collecting was
factual and true to every word. Apply these same tactics to
your business planning, once
you’ve done your research then you have to ask yourself “Is
this something I really want
to do? Can I handle or do I want the added responsibility?”
Do some soul searching,
take your time and consider all your options before “jumping
in” to the first opportunity
that presents itself. With enough research and preparation
your chances of succeeding
are that much greater, and we all want success in our lives.
Take your time and do it
right the first time.