IDEA Stage

One of the biggest stressors of beginning is worrying about money. To move forward, you need to know where your money comes from and where it goes. The best way is to use a personal budget for all expenses and income. You can make your own or adapt a template. This step will take a few hours to gather information. You will need to revisit this throughout your journey as personal expenses and income can vary and change throughout this process.

Entrepreneurs need a 'runway' to focus on their business. You can work full-time or part-time as you grow but there are times you might have to go all in. Knowing how long you can sustain your living expenses on just saved reserves is important. Most advisors suggest 18 months worth of runway. If your business is struggling don't use up all your runway before you start looking to get back into the workforce. Give yourself 3 to 6 months to re-enter.

You might find from your budget and runway calculations, you'll need to make some extra money along the way. Entrepreneurs often call this our 'side hustle' and it's a common thing to do. There are many ways to make some money from driving for Uber or Lift, delivering food, or selling a service such as mending clothes, landscaping, teaching music, teaching a sport, or tutoring.Think about what you are really good at and how you might make some modest money in your off hours.There are also ways of skimming a few dollars here and there with tricks and financial savvy. Examples are refinancing your home, selling off junk you've been holding on to,sell that extra vehicle, secret shopping, giving reviews, etc.

Often your idea for a business begins deep inside your head. Maybe it's a hobby you currently do, but one of the most important exercises before you move ahead is to get other thoughts about your business idea.To get comfortable with the discussion, ask friends, family and those close to you about your idea and how you envision it growing. Take notes and reflect on each discussion. While Friends are good sources of personal validation that doesn't mean they are giving you the hard facts you might need. Don't be discouraged if there are naysayers, but also be sure to give special attention to the feedback that you are receiving. Go outside your comfort zone and ask acquaintances and even perfect strangers if they could schedule some time to help you with your 'Research'. We suggest 10 to 20 conversations with most of them being people you don't know well. This will be uncomfortable but that is a normal feeling in the world of entrepreneurship. You'll quickly learn how valuable these insights are to give you some additional direction. You may need to visit and revisit this step multiple times as you learn more about yourself and what others think about your idea.

While you've got an amazing talent to bring your idea into the world, that doesn't always translate into the necessary skill for running the business. If you are fortunate you might have a partner who you can work with, but there are times when you'll simply need to up your skills until you are able to hire for that service.Examples might be website development, bookkeeping, marketing, graphic design, writing, sellingCreate a list of all your strong points and then the areas where you'll need to close the gap. Initially much of the work may fall on your shoulders so skilling up fast is critical. Here are some resources to accomplish that quickly

Being an entrepreneur is very fulfilling, but it can also be a lonely grind. Before you go all in for launching your business, make sure you've got support from those close to you. You might even think about getting a few mentors to help you through the process. Mentors can provide support but also objective points of view. Your physical and mental health can suffer if you are not aware of taking time outside the business to fill back up.Create a list of support in your life. These support lines could be people you know and activities you can do in order to reduce stress, commiserate and re-energize.

At this point in your journey you've put in dozens of hours of work to understand your idea, your budget, your potential, skills needed and resources to help. A critical step is knowing when it might make sense to put your idea back on the shelf and move on. This may feel like giving up but many entrepreneurs get stuck in a spiral where they can't break away and move on. This burns up time, energy and money.Write down in a journal where you are at present. What have you learned, what obstacles are in your way. If there was something that would stop you dead in your tracks, what would it be? Think about these critical decision points and write them down. Revisit these periodically as they will change or you'll become aware of triggers that mean you'll need to take action. Keep in mind there is nothing wrong with making a smart decision to walk away from something that isn't working. An exit might also be a very positive event such as selling the business or licensing it to someone else. Consider what your future goal is and write that down. This will be your North Star which would provide guidance for future decisions.

An important question to consider is what sort of thing do you want to create? Do you want a hobby, business, a business with employees, do you want to create a product or service and sell that or maybe you want to be an inventor? This question is not about entity creation such as forming an LLC or S Corp. That's a tax related decision you may consider later on.There are many ways to achieve your goal, so spend time considering what you are good at, what you love to do and how you'll support that dream. There is no correct answer. It's up to you, and you might find there is a more direct path to your goal than creating a full blown business with employees and a storefront. Revisit this as you meet with more people and gather more feedback. Discuss with mentors and other unbiased resources.

As you have more to-do items related to thinking about your business, you should schedule time that is specifically dedicated to that effort for the purpose of taking down notes, reviewing notes, considering decisions, setting goals with clear outcomes, and planning next steps. If you don't schedule it, then you may risk slowing down or never arriving at decisions. One of the easiest ways to manage your schedule and workload is to put it on a calendar. Treat it like a job and commit to the time. Life will have a way of challenging this time you've dedicated but as much as possible stick to the effort. Plan the work, then work the plan!

On the surface this may seem like an obvious question but it's critically important to understand a deeper meaning behind your idea. It doesn't matter if your idea is about food, cars or curing cancer. Knowing WHY you exist will help you later craft your brand and who your ideal customers are.In addition there might be a point in your business development where you feel like you've lost focus. Revisiting your first principles as to why you exist may help rekindle your spirit and refocus your efforts. This is an exercise that will take several passes to refine. Spend time on it and enjoy the process of connecting the thing you'll bring into the world with a higher purpose of making people's lives better no matter how large or small.

Once you start moving ahead with your idea and try to create the first prototype or model, you might find you'll need some unique skills, materials, or resources to accomplish you goal. You might possess this skill, or someone on your team might possess it or it might be a skill that you'll need to bring into your idea by hiring outside whether permanent or temporary. This could be something like a skill, machinery, tools, materials, knowledge, etc. Take time, to again, document where you are, what resources are within reach and what you might need to find in your network. You may find resources simply by asking for help on social media like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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