Time: Friend Or Foe To A New Business Start-up? How to Make Time Your Ally When Starting a New Business

What’s the truth about new business failure rates? If you have considered starting your own business or are in the process of making that leap, you probably have heard that half of all businesses fail in their first year of operation. The latest statistics released from the Small Business Administration indicate somewhat better odds: two-thirds of all new businesses survive at least two years, and 44 percent survive at least four years. Still, these numbers can give you cause for pause. Is it worth the effort? Do you have what it takes to succeed? Bottom line? It’s not enough to have a great idea. You need to know how to put feet to it. Whether you want to start a home-based business or other small business, three things are certain. One, you need to wear a lot of hats. Two, you probably don’t have all the skills you need to wear all those hats. Three, you don’t have time to wear all those hats. Bookstores and Web sites are rife with resources to help you with the myriad details involved in starting a small business. If you bought everything you needed, you would collect your own a library of books: ones for developing a business plan, marketing strategy, accounting system, and computer network. Other books talk about legal liability, intellectual property rights, or the right way to interview and hire people. All these topics and more are important contributors to the success of your new business. Adrift in a sea of books or bookmarked Web sites, it’s easy to lose sight of the original reasons why you wanted to start your business in the first place: passion for your idea and the desire for freedom. Some people turn to franchising because many business decisions are already made for them. But with franchising comes up-front buy-in fees, restrictions in how business is done and surrendering part of one’s profits to corporate HQ. Again, business freedom remains elusive. Much has been written regarding reasons why new businesses fail. Often, it’s from lack of venture capital. Unrealistic expectations of cash flow—revenues versus business expenses—are another common stumbling block. Lack of good business management skills can submarine an otherwise-promising venture. Similarly, people think that owning a business will enable them to work fewer hours than before. That may be true sometime down the road, but not when you start a small business. Temperament also plays a role in business success. You need to be willing to learn from your mistakes and look upon setbacks as simply another bend in the road to success. You need persistence in measures beyond intelligence. But often new businesses fail simply because the owner doesn’t have enough time to devote to administrative and technical tasks: corporate reporting structures and taxes, network setup, office management, and all the other details that can eat away at the heart of a promising business venture. Ideally, you could hire or contract with others to provide all the administrative, legal and technical services you need. But you live in the real world, right? And, at this stage, you can’t afford an attorney or business consultant at $200+ per hour. Nor can you afford to spend months teaching yourself every facet of business. The most economical and time-efficient way to ramp up in all these areas is to have one source of easy-to-follow, step-by-step information. Even better is a resource that also tells you HOW to do it. Now, for the first time, this is available in a free 60-page blueprint —written by small-business owners who are experts in legal, technical, marketing and financing of small companies. The article is called “Business 2.0, A Blueprint for Starting and Operating Your Business in Today’s Hi-Tech World”. Reading this can save you money as well as many hours of frustration time—and move you closer to the freedom that you desire in having your own business. This downloadable free multimedia PDF file is available at Innoventum (http://www.innoventum.com). For helpful information on time management with a new business, check out what the Small Business Administration has to say (http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/manage/makedecisions/SERV_MAKETIME.html).nnFor FREE articles and videos related to small-business start-ups, or for more information on developing a successful new business, consult the professionals at Innoventum (at http://www.innoventum.com).