From the course: Small Business Secrets

Considering the leap from passion to business

From the course: Small Business Secrets

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Considering the leap from passion to business

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So let's say that you've got this hobby that you're really passionate about. You're having fun with it. And you've thought: maybe I should start a business with it? Now, that's a question that people come to me from time to time and they say: Dave, should I get into business? So let's imagine that you and I are sitting down exploring this question together. I'm going to take you through a five step process to help you, figure out, if it's really the right time, and if so, what the next step is. Step number one, the question I'm going to ask you is, do you already have an existing business? Now some entrepreneurs there, well, there mind is always going. They're an entrepreneur and they're always thinking of new business ideas. And if you already have other businesses that have not been taken to harvest, meaning someone else can run it on your behalf. The answer is no. Please do not start another business until the existing business that you have is taken to a point of mastery, meaning it's just running on its own or it's been sold. Number 2 is, I'm going to ask you about what the short-term result you want is out of this business. Considering the short-term result is very important, because a lot of people think they're going to make money quickly, and the reality is in small business, hey, it just doesn't happen like that. Running a business is a long term investment. So if you're hoping to make lots of money upfront. It's not going to happen. Now, if the short-term result is you're just going to have fun, making, something and maybe sell a few. Then that's probably a reasonable expectation in the short-term. Next, I want to ask you what the long-term result is that you want? What do you want out of this business 1 year from now? How about 5 years from now? Do you want to keep it as a hobby business or do you want to build an empire? Whatever your answer is, there is no right or wrong here but we want to be clear about it. The more long term you are willing to think about your business in terms of getting a result from it, the more realistic your expectations are likely to be. Now, number 4, I'm going to ask you what a reasonable test period would be for you? How much time are you willing to commit to testing whether or not this hobby business is leading toward the result that you want? Is it six months? Is it a year? Is it 90 days? What is that amount of time? And next, how much money are you willing to commit? Write your answers down. The more clear you can be on that, the easier it will be to determine in the future whether or not you want to continue this and expand it from a hobby to a full-fledged business. Or whether it's better off kept as a hobby. And that leads us to step 5, which is review the test. At the end of that time period that you wrote down, let's review. How much money did you spend and how much did you get out of that money that you spent? Was the test successful? If it was, well that's probably a good sign to have another test, and set another period, perhaps longer this time with a little bit more money invested. And if it wasn't successful, that's not a failure. That's just a sign to you that maybe it should stay as a hobby and something you enjoy. The idea is that we take one test at a time and gradually dip our feet into the process of transitioning from a hobby into a small business.

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