Are you asking the wrong question?

Starting a business can be overwhelming. Those newly bricked roads
twist and turn so much they some times get newbie business owners
twisted in their thinking. Running out the starting gate is a rush
and many get crushed in the shuffle.

Asking the wrong question has the potential for disaster. This came to
mind recently from a post on a group which is specifically for women
who run small businesses.

"I sell handcrafted soaps. Which advertising venues should I avoid?"
I almost laughed. It seemed so ironic to me at time. It seemed easy.
It should have been, "...where should I advertise?" The reason she was
going down the wrong road is that she had failed with some preliminary
business planning. This woman didn't know who her target market was.
She also probably didn't have a clue that most all publications will
provide you, a potential advertiser, with their target market. A very
simple idea, but it was baffling her.

Years ago, I heard a story about a potential business owner who was
posting on the AOL board for small business. It went sort of like
this, "I just came up with a great idea for a business. Now, where do
I find financing for it?" He thought he was headed in the right
direction, but didn't have a clue that instead walking down a path, he
had started a journey through a maze.

A business idea needs a definition before it has a chance to go
anywhere. It then needs a plan that can be presented to a potential
investor. All of this seems straight forward and easy to grasp.
However, potential business owners and those who are already operating
seem to get their planning agendas in a twist from time to time.

Before joining the rest who are busy jumping in empty swimming pools
and wondering why they keep coming up bruised, take a step back from
the situation. Look at the outline of information I have provided
here. Hopefully, it will give you some help.

If you are continually finding yourself facing seemingly unsolvable
barriers, you need to stand back and take a break. Perhaps, despite
the time you have spent in the entrepreneur world, you need some
help. Read Entrepreneur.com, take a class or just maybe you might
have to hire a business consultant to ensure you are at least on the
right path.

Do not feel like you should have had enough sense to know you were
wrong. Running a small business successfully is about the most
challenging adventure on the planet. If it was that easy, there would
be no big corporations. We would all be running our own shops.


Laura Bell
writer.TakeThisOut@well.com
www.examiner.com/blogs/business_advice