First Step in Starting a Business: Introspection Hard questions to ask yourself before you up and start a business
By Ben Casnocha
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The first step in starting a business is not writing a businessplan. Nor is it raising money, nor attending conferences, norhiring consultants, nor holding focus groups. The very first stepmust be a rich and honest conversation with.yourself!
Introspection--the detailed self-examination of your motives andfeelings--is a critical first step. Many entrepreneurs who failbypass this exercise. Being true to yourself, especially as ateenager, is important. Ask yourself these questions:
- Am I going to let an adult or peer get in the way of mestarting a business?
- If someone says my idea is stupid or won't work, will Istop believing in my idea?
- Am I motivated, tenacious, hard-working and resourceful? Am Iprepared to be a student of life?
This first set of questions is to be answered as soon as youconsider starting a business as a teenager in an adult businessworld. If you can pass the first round by answering all of theabove positively, move on to questions a bit more concrete:
- Will I have the time to dedicate to starting a business? Everyteen at first says "No way!" but after subtracting thetime you spend watching TV, chatting online and aimlessly surfingWeb pages, you may find you have quite a bit of time on your hands.Also note that the time commitment needed to start a businessvaries from one hour to one year. That is, at least initially, youcan dictate how involved you want to be in your enterprise.
- How am I doing in school? If you are failing all your classes,your focus should obviously be on your academics. However gradesare far from an accurate indicator of your intelligence,resourcefulness, tenacity or motivation--and consequently, afar-from-accurate indicator of the probability of entrepreneurialsuccess.
Starting down this path of engaging in an honest conversationwith yourself will allow you to evaluate your potential as anentrepreneur. But do not stop here. Talk with trusted advisors,family members and peers. Take each of their opinions with a grainof salt--no single opinion should outweigh others in influence.Keep in mind, too, that you will often encounter shock, laughterand an overall "come on, you're just a kid--why don'tyou go play soccer?" response. Do not let this deter you frompursuing your vision.
Introspection is a good path to venture on. Only youtruly know what you can or cannot do. Listen to your gut. Talk toit. Engage in a dialogue. Engage in introspection. It shouldundoubtedly be your first step if you are considering the excitingjourney of entrepreneurship.
Fifteen-year-old Ben Casnocha is founder, CEO and chairman ofComcate Inc., a San Francisco firm focused on providing technologysolutions for local governments. His work has been profiled in morethan 50 magazines, newspapers, radio stations, TV outlets and Websites nationwide. Got something to squawk about? Write to Casnochaat ben@comcate.com.
