Points to Ponder Before You Start Your Business (3)

Young creative women brainstorming together in creative officeThis week we are looking at the last 3 points to ponder before starting your business, as taught by Start Up Cup. Follow these links for the first and second instalments of this series.

  1. What do you need to do now?
    Here’s where you decide on the actions and steps you need to take, to turn your idea into a reality. When I was about to launch BizzRafiki, my mentor advised me to draw a program and send it to my mailing list before even working on the content. It sounds crazy but makes sense; as he didn’t want me to spend endless time designing and tweaking and refining the program without any assurance that there is was demand for it. Initially draw a 6-month action plan, then break each action into monthly, weekly and daily steps.
  2. Anything else?
    Are there any questions that you didn’t provide an answer for? I’m the kind of person who gets excited about an idea so much that I can go ahead and start implementing, only to realise later, when problems arise, that I could have avoided them had I consulted. This may sound like a contradiction to the first point, but it’s not. It’s important to avoid being paralysed by research and attention to details, AND it’s equally important to avoid what can be avoided. The best way to go about this is to think things through. Consulting with supportive friends, potential partners or mentors is a great way of getting constructive feedback. And write everything down.
  3. Go back to the start and review what you’ve written on each point.
    If you are the kind of entrepreneur who takes lots of notes but doesn’t go back to review them, you need to adopt a different approach if this process is to work for you. Take time to review your notes. Remove any ideas that don’t sound right and leave only the most solid ones. Better still, schedule a regular time when you’ll be going over all the 9 points and making updates where necessary.

Do you find these points helpful? Please share with us in the comments below.

Angela Kamanzi
Your Friend in Biashara

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About Angela

Angela Kamanzi is passionate about empowering African women through entrepreneurship. She is the publisher and founding editor of MKAZI, a digital magazine that offers solutions and tools to women who are starting up in business or taking their ventures to the next level. She is the founder of BizzRafiki-Your Friend in Biashara, a mentorship program which specialises in helping budding or aspiring women entrepreneurs start or grow high income business ventures from their passion. For more than ten years she contributed to a number of local and international publications as a freelance writer. She has 15 years of experience in entrepreneurship. She lives in Nairobi with her husband and their two sons. Her journey was featured on Lionesses of Africa, on AM Live NTV , in the Saturday Nation, on Supamamas website and Mummy Tales blog.

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