How Do You Start A Business?

Do you remember the first time you drove a car?

I certainly do!

Sweaty palms…

Shaky legs…

Buzzing head…

Slowly you slide into the driver’s seat, staring at that big steering wheel.

The dash looking so daunting with all the little dials and digits. 

You’re trying so hard to listen to your instructor next to you, but all the words are faded.

You can see lips moving, but your ears are singing & buzzing at the same time…

Finally, you realise that the instruction is to start the engine.

Fumbling with the key, you miss the ignition slot a few times and finally slide the key in.

Then, with a simple twist of the key, the car comes alive!

At the same time, there’s a little jolt of excitement running through your body and you feel ready.

Next instruction comes through: Put the car in gear.

Your shaky hand reaches for the gear lever and the smooth operation of the gear shifting into position, puts a little smile on your face.

So far, so good!

The voice on the passenger side is explaining something to you, which makes no sense at all…

But you can hear the instruction to release the clutch and press your foot on the accelerator.

Without thinking it through, you instantly release the clutch and your lazy foot miss the accelerator…

With a BIG shake, the car rocks to a standstill. You grab the steering wheel in the hope of stopping the rocking motion…. but thankfully it stops by itself.

At the same time, your confidence plummets 30,000 ft.

You feel so embarrassed and mortified that this just happened.

But, the next instructions are already coming from the seat next to you… “Try it again!”

So, hold on… how do you start a business & why am I telling you this?

Because when you start your own business, it’s exactly like driving a car for the first time.

You’ll get instructions and take action.

You’ll remove your foot off the clutch to quickly and everything will come to an abrupt stop.

But then you try again, and again and again!

There are 6 Stages to Starting a Business.

1. Starting The Engine
2. First Gear
3. Pulling away
4. Steering
5. Get momentum
6. Change it up a gear

Let’s take a closer look at each on of these stages.

1. Starting The Engine

Well, simply put…. your idea, your dream or even your goal is the destination.

Your vehicle is your business and this will take you to your destination.

But your brain is the engine.

To start your business, you need to plan. Plan your route. And plan your stops in between.

You need to go and get knowledge. Fire up that engine!

Develop a marketing strategy. Get a launch strategy.

Go and see what other successful business owners are doing. Learn from them. Talk to them and get advice.

Use your resources.

However, I’ll say that you need to be careful with this stage. Because its at this first point that we want everything to be perfect, before we take action.

Action is what counts, not perfection.

So, do the basics and move onto stage 2.

2. Put The Car In First Gear

Taking action is very important.

By putting your business into the first gear, it’ll allow you to make a start.

No matter what action you feel is right to take, any action is better than no action.

This is the hardest stage for so many entrepreneurs starting out.

Fear kicks in and you almost want to stop, before you’re even on the move. But keep going.

Release the clutch slowly and with control.

Press on the accelerator slowly and find the pivot point. Find the point where you feel your business is taking off and concentrate on that.

Then you can go over to stage 3.

3. Pulling Away

Now that you’re taking action, you’re pulling away.

Your journey has begun.

You cannot reverse in first gear, so the only way is forward. Even if it’s slow!

But that’s how you start. Slow.

You’ve got to get used to the movement, the feeling of the vehicle and grow your confidence with every inch you’re moving forward.

4. Steering Your Car In A Direction

As you get comfortable with the movement of your business and your confidence grows a little bit every day, then you need to think about steering your business.

Let’s face it… this road isn’t straight.

Your journey’s going to take a lot of twists and turns…

So while you’re moving slow, learn how to steer your business and allow space for the curbs and sidewalks.

You might hit a curb once, but you’ll learn from it and know how to avoid it next time.

Better to learn this now, while going slow (rather than fast!)

5. With Confidence Comes Momentum

As your confidence grows, you start picking up momentum. You can accelerate a bit more.

You feel the movement’s smoother.

Steering’s more relaxed.

Your observation skills are kicking in more by the day.

And you don’t freak out as much when there’s another vehicle on the same road as you (i.e. other obstacles)

Things can move a bit quicker now.

6. So, Let’s Change It Up A Gear

Going up to the next gear is another learning curve.

Because you’re in movement now. But, you’ll soon realise that changing gears while moving is a lot easier.

From there, you can pick up the momentum again.

Get used to steering while moving a bit faster.

Get used to a bit more speed.

And allowing your observation skills to kick in a bit quicker.

Then, as your confidence grows you take it up another gear and another.

Your business is on a roll and moving along fast!

You see, most people who want to start their own business overthink everything too much!

They start the engine, but never put the car into first gear.

They’re too afraid of taking the action required to start moving forward.

Instead, the car stays parked in the driveway and only once in a while do they start the engine to keep a hold onto that dream.

But that dream will never come alive, until you start moving!

So, don’t be afraid to take action. And if you don’t know where to start then read here where to start with your online business

Everything will flow from there.

Yes, it’ll start slow.

And yes, you might hit a curb the first time or bring the car to an abrupt standstill.

But that’s OK.

You can start it again and try again.

Keep practising and keep going!

And if you don’t like driving a car, then try a bicycle!

But the same principle applies. You’ve got to learn to ride a bicycle also.

Now it’s time for you to tell me, how you did when you first learned to drive a car or ride a bicycle?

So leave a comment below and share some fun stories…

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