So you have a great idea, you are ready to be your own boss so how do you get started? Well sit down with a pen and paper a few trusted friends also help and see if you have answers to the following:

Yourself
1. Do you think that you have the skills necessary to make a success of running a business? These include the ability to work alone for often long periods and a great deal of perseverance.
2. Do you get on well with people and do they think that you are great to talk to?
3. Can you step back if need be and let someone else contribute to your business?
4. Do you have good time management and are you able to prioritize your work?
5. Are you able to see the big picture but still be able to see each individual item and action that makes up each individual stage?
6. Do you have some financial stability?
7. If your business is craft based or an off shoot of your business, are you also able to handle managing the business?

Your Ideas
1. How is what you are offering different from what is already being offered by others? This is your Unique Selling Point.
2. Are there any legal, ethical or moral reasons working against your success?
3. What kind of company do you want to run?
4. How much of your time do you want to devote to your business?
5. Do you have the skills and attitude to make the business a success?
6. How will you make money from your business?
7. Will you make more money than it costs to run the business?
8. Have you made sure that you are not copying someone else or you are copying them?
9. Is someone else doing the same thing but better?

Your Market
1. Will it meet a real need or solve a problem?
2. Who are you selling to? Who do you think will be interested in your offerings?
3. Will they want what your are offering, at the price you are asking?
4. How much do you think they can afford to pay?
5. How big is the market?
6. What share of the market do you want?
7. Can you establish a niche in this market?
8. Who are your main competitors?
9. How is the market changing? Is it shrinking, growing or changing?
10. How will you tell people about your business?

Your Financing
1. How much will your company cost to start and run for the first year?
2. How will you raise the capital required and how much will you being contributing?
3. Where will you raise it from?
4. If you have investors or partners, how do you think they will get their money back and how long will it take to give it back to them?
5. What risk is there that you will not get your investment in time and money back?
6. Will you raise enough money to run the company through the first difficult year?
7. Do you plan to sell your company or go public (list the company on the stock markets) one day? This is your exit strategy.

Anyone is capable of making a product, process, or technology better. Isnt it time for you to become your own boss?

Lee Lister

Lee Lister is Management Consultant and Program Manager with more than 25 year's management and consultancy experience and more than 20 year's program and project management experience in projects for Banking, Finance, Insurance, Leisure and Government bodies. She also have more than 10 years bid management experience ranging from bids for medium companies to large international and infrastructure bids.

British born, Lee received her BA(Hons) Financial Economics from the University of Essex. She went on to work in or for a considerable number of countries within Asia and Europe as well as Australia and the United States. While building a name for herself through helping company restructure, change management and project management consultancy, Lee became a well-known figure for her skills in analyzing, problem solving and trouble-shooting. She has consulted for many major industries, including banking, telecommunications, insurance, transportation, leisure and governments from many different countries. Some of the companies who have benefited from Lee?s expertise are Hewlett Packard, Siemans Nixdorf, Electrolux and the Philippines government.

Whilst working in the Far East she became a recognized expert on preparing and evaluating large World Bank Proposals (infrastructure projects within developing countries). These accomplishments called upon the skills of bid and project management, risk assessment, contract negotiation and supplier management and required dedicated work to very tight time scales. This expertise was acknowledged by an invitation to be the principle speaker at an International Business Development Conference in Washington, USA. She has also consulted at very senior level in several countries.

She owns and manages two companies, Biz Guru LLC in the USA and Biz Guru Services Ltd in the UK as well a considerable number of profitable web sites. She works almost entirely via the internet, visiting clients on site during major consultancies and training. Her Internet skills span from when major companies first started to consider obtaining their own web sites. During these years, she has kept up to date with the rapid changes on the internet, including the dot com boom and the resulting bust ? which her own web based companies survived.

She regularly consults, writes and lectures on business, bid management and marketing and has published numerous courses and books.