Seriously I was having a coffee with a business man today who has a plan. He is working full time but has an idea – one he thinks good enough to be very cagey about lest someone else does it first. It is an online business. He is planning and planning and planning.
I really only asked two questions. One was have you planned in an exit strategy? OK an odd thing to ask someone who hasn’t even started but planning an exit strategy can have a big impact on how you start so that your business is ready and prepared from day 1 for possible sale, or for succession, or listing, or…. All of these things are easier if built in from DAY ONE.
The second had to do with what he knew about online business.
OK so to number one he didn’t have an exit strategy. That’s OK but it is smarter to start with an idea. It can change but sure your whole business plan can change. It is almost a measure of where you want to go, where you want to end up and in some cases helps clarify why you are starting in business in the first place!
The second was much more problematic to me. I have this big issue with people in business at the moment not expanding their knowledge. To me not learning about online business or internet marketing is just failing to move with the times. Worse however planning an online business without a sound understanding of what is involved in online business is sheer folly.
I am not saying you need to start with a plan to do everything but if you want to partner, recruit, outsource you need to have a basic understanding of what you are doing. In fact bigger than that you have a responsibility to yourself to know what you are doing and what needs to be done. You don’t really want to be the sucker they saw coming..and lets face it not everyone in business is scrupulous and ethical.
What would my suggestion to this person be before they begin. Plan your exit – think about it. Learn internet marketing. being in Australia and wasting money on lots of useless stuff I’d learn with james Schramko at Fast Web Formula. My suggestion either invest in Fast Web Formula or hope to God it is repeated later in the year.