How To: How Do You Know if You Can or Should Start a Business? Part 1 of 3

(Series designed to help explore whether your ideal employment ideas should be formalized into a business venture or as an employee or volunteer value added problem solver).

You know that you can start a business when your belief that it is possible is strong enough to cause you to keep doing steps towards having a business until one materializes. You know that you should start a business when you are willing to do the work to manage a new start-up business into a developing growing business. One writer said that it is the responsibility of management to do what it takes to make business profits and people hired keep their jobs. Part of the responsibility is to do the proper planning so that resources are obtained and the day to day operation of the business is financed. The successful business should have a business plan: an operations plan, a financial plan, a marketing plan, a human resources plan and an understanding of what target group the business serves. The management of this business must also identify the vision and identify what the business should accomplish for the people it serves.

An employee serves the needs of an employer in the capacity of the position and scope agreed upon. Usually an employee does not have to understand the full scope of the business unless that employee is a member of the senior management team. Since personnel can be involved in the operation of a business even in a non-employee position, the first decision would be to decide to be an employee or non-employee personnel member. Freelance contractors, volunteers and other temporary personnel are usually non-employees.

Non-employees can also be business owners. This business type may provide an opportunity to have a business and still work for a larger company. Flexibility is one of the advantages; one of the disadvantages may be lack of benefits. Consider the elements of your ideal job and the industry for your talents and skills. What employment types do you prefer? Are you comfortable working in employment types other than employee? Do you want to be a senior manager? Are you willing to start a business to make your dream happen? Do you have the discipline and organizational skills to do the planning and decision making to be a responsible manager? Have you done the steps to create your own job? Does or could your ideal job involve starting, running and developing a business?

Realize that you can be a business owner whether or not you decide to be a senior manager. You can be a senior manager in the company you own or as an employee of a company owned by someone else. Whether or not you should start a business will greatly depend on the reason why you want to start a business. Your reason must take you through all the work involved in running a business or your decision to hire a senior manger to run the company for you. You are still the owner in either case. Once you decide that you want to own a business then you can determine how you want to own your business. Wow, all you need is a decision and a plan to carry that decision out.