The first tip in starting your business is HAVING YOUR STUFF TOGETHER!
Hey girl, hey!!
I hope you had a wonderful and thankful Thanksgiving and enjoyed time with your family, I know I did! What are you most thankful for? I’m thankful for my mindset because I’m not stuck anymore in a toxic relationship, nor in a toxic work environment. Because of my mindset to chase my dreams, and the opportunity to achieve them is what I am proud of the most, not many people have that mindset, so shout out to you if you do!
A lot of people want to be a business owner, but don’t know how to own a business. They get so caught up in the idea of “firing your boss” “being your own boss” “living the laptop lifestyle” that they don’t know what it takes to start a business. I get upset when I see businesses failing or the business owner not taking their business serious, especially black businesses!
I believe the main reason why businesses fail or are not excelling like it should be is for two reasons: 1. They aren’t making as much money as they’d like in the beginning or 2. The business owner doesn’t have their stuff together and they don’t take it seriously.
To solve problem number 1, when you are starting out, you will not make a lot of money. Matter of fact, you may not make any money, but that’s because you are building your brand. You may have to work for free just to get your name out, but that’s fine if you’re doing what you love. The money will come when you show more value in your time than you expect in money. You have to start from the bottom! If everyone in the world got paid millions of dollars just for their good idea, without putting the work in, then everyone would be business owners, homelessness would be extinct! The dream is free, but the hostle is sold separately, you have to work for it!
To solve problem number 2, I devised a list of 5 tips for you to help you get your stuff together so that you can be the successful entrepreneur that you aspire to be!
1. If you owe ANYONE, pay them back. That means your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, credit card companies, all that. You can’t expect God to bless you when you owe people, it takes away from your character.
2. Attend summits, conferences, and workshops that cater to entrepreneurs. These are the type of events that give you valuable information that will take you further than what you learned in school. I have attended about seven summits on entrepreneurship that provided me with more knowledge than I have acquired with my master’s degree. Attending events like this give you a solid foundation on your brand and your professionalism. You can be an expert at your gift, but a novice on running a business.
3. Research your business and fully immerse yourself within that industry. For example, if you want to open a clothing line, start attending fashion shows (matter of fact, see if you can volunteer), read books or blogs on your favorite brands, reach out to a local designer and see how they started, etc. The idea is to work behind the scenes before you create your own scene!
4. Get your EIN, tax ID, trademark, business cards, etc. The key to being successful is being LEGIT! Consumers, potential business partners and even grant writers will never take you seriously if you are not legit, so if you don’t have this for your business, start looking into this ASAP and professionalizing yourself!
5. Network! If you are the only entrepreneur in your circle of friends, it’s time to find new friends (but don’t leave your old friends behind unless they’re toxic). Since moving to Atlanta, I have been on more coffee dates with women than I have been on dates with men, that’s because I’m building my network, and this has enabled me to be able to collaborate with others. Plus, you never know who’s going to be the next big success story, so you’ll always want to stay connected with the right people. Also, I am a part of multiple Meetup Groups and always looking on Eventbrite for events that cater to my business and every time I go to anything, I am always connecting with others. This also helps grow my following authentically (I would NEVER buy followers).
If you are a business owner, I encourage you to take these notes and apply them. This is all free game, but this is just scratching the surface. If you really want to learn QUALITY information from successful business owners, then you should be in attendance for the Millionaire Mastermind Entrepreneur Summit. We all want to be millionaires one day, and we can! But I believe the best way to learn to become one is from millionaires themselves and on December 16th, here in Atlanta, there will be successful millionaires giving their insights on their business. I promise you, the juice you’ll learn at this summit is worth the squeeze!
I want us all to win and events like this don’t happen that often. This is a GREAT way to start 2020, with powerful and lucrative knowledge that you can apply in your daily life, as well as your business so you can live a flourishing life. But if you want to live an average life, then I advise you not to come to this summit!
I said that 2020 is a year of successful business growth and my foot is on my own neck next year, I’m not playing games with myself and neither should you, period!
Speaking of businesses, if you are a business owner, please comment below the name of your business so that I can get to know my readers and support them.