Planning to start a new business is not easy. At the outset we need to have a real plan, and not just for the bank. We should be sure there is a need for our type of business, a niche we can fit in, and know who our clients or customers will be. Whether we realize it or not, we have to establish a team. We need our bank manager, we need a marketing person, we need a web designer, we may need an SEO expert and we need an accountant or tax adviser. There may be other people too in our team. If we are in retail then we need a supplier or several. All those we need even before we think about perhaps taking on employees.
We need to establish dialogues with each member of the team, and we sometimes need them talk to each other. Above all, we must tell them what we need from them and tell them what they need to know in order to help us.
All too often with new businesses I have seen them get into trouble or even fail because their enthusiastic owners simply forgot to communicate. They hate their web design, their website is not found because their SEO expert did not understand their business or they miss an important deadline relating to financial issues. If their advisers don’t know what they want, they have not sent them important letters from Government Departments because “they assume they would know”, and if the new business owners don’t understand the basic principles of running a business and do not ask for help, then they will probably fail, and failure is expensive in financial terms and for morale.
In the end it is all about communication. Tell your advisers everything, even if you think they ought to know. Good professionals generally won’t be insulted. If they roll their eyes it will be in private. At least you will know that they are in the loop. Leave nothing to chance, don’t be too part-time, and you will have a sporting chance of success.
Do you agree?
© Jon Stow 2010
Related posts
Better to have a business plan than have your dreams shattered
Why we need to have the right business in the right place
Being in business is not a game
I think you are correct Jon, communication is very important.
Perhaps some of the poor communication is due to a lack of real planning, and hence a level of uncertainty about what direction the business needs to head?
Thanks, Daniel. In my first job I took some work to my supervisor and told him I had assumed a couple of facts about a client. He told me I should never assume! I felt chastened at the time but learned a lesson. Communicate and find out.