Think you’re ready to start a business? Before you become an entrepreneur or a small business owner, there are several things you need to consider before starting a business.

But let’s take a moment to congratulate you if you’re here! Kudos to you! Just taking the first initial steps to consider starting a business deserves some congratulations! Just don’t get too ahead of yourself. Keep reading and we’ll walk you through five things to consider to decide if you’re ready to start a business.

Evaluate Yourself

Self-evaluation of your skills, passion, and expertise are major areas to consider when starting a business. Understanding each of these is essential to creating and starting a business that you find fulfilling and successful.

Ask yourself some of the following questions:

• What are my strengths?
• What am I good at?
• What excites me?
• What do I like to do for fun?
• What brings me joy?
• What do I dislike doing?
• What am I an expert in?
• What am I more knowledgeable about than my peers? 
• What job would I do even if I was not getting paid for it?

Next, go ahead and write down all of your answers. From there, map out common themes to see if your answers center around your business idea. Do your answers go hand-in-hand with your business idea? If you answered yes, you’re moving forward in a good direction. If you answered no, it might be best to take a step back and reevaluate the direction of your next business venture.                       

It’s not rocket science that passion fuels the fire. You’re likely to be more successful at starting a business if you enjoy what you’re doing. When you have a passion for a specific idea or dream, you’re more motivated to reach your goals. This is a crucial factor when deciding if you’re ready to start a business.

Let’s Talk Money

Starting and running a business takes money. There’s no way around that. In order to start and run a successful business, it’s important to have a  solid understanding of your finances.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I currently have enough money to start a business?
• With my current funds, how long will I be able to keep the lights on? 
• Should I  consider a loan, crowdfunding or angel investors?

You should think about spending money in two ways: your startup expenses and your assets. Start up expenses include items like business forms and licenses, permits, and business insurance, to name a few. Assets include more of your day-to-day tools to actually run your business like POS, computers, product inventory, and so on. LegalZing offers plenty of information on this topic, and our team would love to help you through some of these daunting tasks. Head over to this page and we can walk you through some of the essentials to see if you’re ready to start a business.

Evaluate Your Lifestyle

You may be accustomed to a certain way of living, and perhaps starting a business will change things (negatively or positively). What may be a positive change for one person may be negative to another. For example, let’s say launching a retail shop requires your attention seven days a week upfront. Or, let’s say that you are currently used to living pretty lavishly and starting a business means you’ll have to downsize and forego many of your current luxuries.

No matter where you’re starting, starting a successful business may mean you see your family and friends less, travel more, take on debt or miss out on birthday parties and eventful weekends. However, it may also mean that you are inspiring others, building a team, receiving local recognition, and meeting and working with interesting people.

At the end of the day, consider what type of lifestyle you want now and in the future so you can set your priorities accordingly and decide if you’re ready to start a business.

Consider Your Family and Loved Ones

Don’t forget that starting a business not only affects you, it impacts everyone around you, including your family and friends. If you have a spouse or children, it’s pivotal to weigh the implications that starting a business may have on them. Does it mean that you drain the kids’ college fund? Does it mean you will miss family dinner nights? Does it mean that your partner’s dreams may  be put on hold?

This discussion is often a difficult yet necessary one to have. It would be nearly impossible to go into starting a business without the support of those whom you love and need the most. You need them on your team, rooting you on, in your corner. Your family and loved ones will be the best cheerleaders and backbone that you have, as long as you prepare them properly and have a heartfelt conversation as you decide if you’re ready to start a business.

Juggling a Day Job

If you currently have a day job, it’s necessary to consider if starting a business works in tandem with your current day job If you can afford to run your business without having a day job, then more power to you. However, the majority of people need some sort of income while their business isn’t making money at the very beginning stages.

It goes without saying that it will be extremely tiring and tricky to balance a day job and starting a successful business at the same time — but it’s not impossible. It’s critical to evaluate your current work schedule to decide from a time and resources perspective if you’re ready to start a business.

Pro Tip: Prepare, prepare, and prepare some more. But at the end of the day, follow your gut and your heart, and get some help along the way.

So, are you ready to start a business? We know it’s not an easy feat to take the plunge, but if you think you have what it takes, your future business is about to join an elite club of 30.2 million other small businesses in this country. Congrats! 

Here at LegalZing we are passionate about inspiring and equipping entrepreneurs and small business owners to run successful businesses . We love getting to help you unpack the nitty gritty of LLCs and business planning so you can have a successful business career in something you love. Let us help you get started! It’s our honor to work with people like you.