The success of a business largely depends on the preparation an entrepreneur undertakes before launch. For aspiring entrepreneurs, taking steps to ensure they thoroughly understand exactly what they are getting themselves into is key to positioning their business favorably in a given market.
However, being a newcomer with little experience and few connections can often leave budding entrepreneurs unsure of what to expect or where to start. To help, 20 Forbes Business Council members offer advice for people interested in starting their own business.
1. Determine If You’re Truly Ready
Ask yourself if you are ready. This is the most important question that needs to be answered before starting a business. Entrepreneurship is a journey that demands resilience and courage when things go wrong, patience when results take time, and relentless belief when no one else sees what you see. Your vision will be tested, and your limits will be stretched. Your growth will often happen in uncomfortable spaces. – Bouchra Danwra, DHOW Marcom Agency
2. Know Your Limits
Look in your pantry or garage. If you have beautifully organized shelves, printed labels and a full catalogue of your inventory, stay in your job. This means you are a person who likes order and certainty. The biggest shift in starting your own business is moving to an environment of high uncertainty and constant change. Will you thrive in that? – Anna Harrison, RAMMP
3. Consider What You Could Accomplish In Your Current Role
First, take a step back and question the hype. Have you considered exploring the problems you could solve within your current organization? Sometimes the biggest impact comes from improving what already exists rather than building something new. Working within a company gives you room to take smart risks, grow your skills and make meaningful change without carrying all the weight of ownership. – Shawn Galloway, ProAct Safety, Inc.
4. Fully Commit
Be all in and get ready to leave your comfort zone behind. Starting a business will be unlike anything you’ve done before. It will challenge you and teach you more about yourself than any job ever could. The earlier you accept that growth happens outside your comfort zone, the more resilient you’ll become. Plug into founder networks early on, as they are the best source of guidance when the road gets bumpy. – Tamara Kostova, Velexa
5. Keep Your Day Job—For Now
Don’t quit your day job until your business becomes so demanding that they fire you. The longer you can go without taking money from investors, the better. Bootstrap as long as you can, even if that means mailing it in at your old job. – Aaron Vaccaro, WestRiver Group
6. Build A Sufficient Financial Runway
Success demands both a great idea and tenacity. Without a sufficient financial runway—which I define as at least a year’s salary—you risk quitting before your vision can take hold. In many ways, starting a business is a high-stakes gamble. Having the resources to weather setbacks not only eases stress, but also allows you to focus on growth and recover from mistakes, which are inevitable. – Cindy Machles, Glue Advertising and Public Relations
7. Adopt A Positive Mindset
Your mindset determines your success. Start by eliminating negativity and limiting beliefs. Then, lean into passion, perseverance and persistence to achieve your goals. When you believe in yourself and keep showing up daily, you will eventually push through the noise and find momentum. Knowing you have what it takes and a strong belief in yourself will get you through the challenges. – Paige Parker, Happenstance Whiskey
8. Take An Outside-In Perspective
My advice is to switch from an inside-out perspective focused on motivation, capabilities and more to an outside-in perspective to reduce the chances of failure. Many entrepreneurs start with the belief that you can forge a team, build a company and raise the funds to operate. However, success also depends on market fit, competition and macro forces like AI. Don’t launch until you know you meet a need and can navigate the cruel seas! – Jerry Cahn, Age Brilliantly
9. Outline A Clear Plan
Make sure you have a plan. Although there are incredible stories out there about people just taking a leap of faith, there are things no one tells you. Starting your own business takes a lot of work, and life without a consistent income is just harder, no matter what people tell you. Just make sure you’ve covered as many bases as possible before taking the plunge. That being said, back yourself! – Asad Kausar, Dabaran Inc.
10. Make Sure You’re Addressing A Real Need
Before spending your time and money, make sure real customers will actually buy what you plan to sell. Many business owners get excited about their ideas without checking if anyone wants to pay for them. Talk to potential customers and test your concept on a small scale to get clear proof that people need what you offer and will pay for it. – Abdur Rehman, Rankviz Private Limited
11. Seek Alignment Between Your Purpose, Values And Desired Impact
Align the impact you want to have with your purpose and values. When your work, team and decisions are grounded in what matters most, clarity follows, momentum moves in the right direction and the organization becomes not just successful, but sustaining. Alignment keeps you steady when things get hard and reminds you why you were compelled to build momentum around the idea in the first place. – Meghan Mackay, LeveragED Foundation
12. Focus
Just stay focused, as there is a lot of noise out there. People will provide you with all kinds of advice. Focus on your North Star or the issue you want to solve. Focus on your customers, focus on how you will monetize your idea and focus on the feedback you get from decisions. – Audrey Hametner, The Bedrock Program
13. Build With The End In Mind
Decide what kind of business you want before you start, whether it’s a lifestyle or performance business. A lifestyle business gives freedom and provides a small, elite team with a great income. A performance business demands more capital, systems and sacrifice. It builds scale and legacy and likely impacts more people. Begin with the end in mind, fueled by passion and relentless persistence. – Brian Spear, Sunrise Capital Investors
14. Bootstrap For As Long As You Can
Building a business with your own resources builds discipline, creativity and clarity on what truly drives value. Raising external funding can seem appealing early on, but it often brings hidden costs, such as the loss of control and short-term pressures. Having raised VC funding before, my advice is to bootstrap as long as you can. Doing this will build resilience that money can’t buy. – Sandeep Dhillon, High5
15. Embrace Resilience
If I had to choose one word of advice for entrepreneurs, it would be resilience. Entrepreneurship is a journey filled with uncertainty, obstacles and constant change. There will be setbacks, but resilience allows you to adapt, learn and keep moving forward. Do it. – E’Ian West, Montage Media Production Company
16. Start Now
Most people wait for perfect timing and never begin. Momentum builds clarity, and clarity builds results. Every strong business started as a first imperfect step forward. Waiting kills more ideas than failure ever will. – Mike Ehrle, Lumity
17. Get Solid Traction Before Seeking Investors
Focus on your product, services and people. Get traction and solid unit economics first. Then, look to take on investment and scale. Too many founders take on investor funding without yet understanding if their business will be able to generate the returns an investor will demand. Giving yourself more time gives you more optionality—even if that means growing slower at first. – Cerys Goodall, The Goods
18. Learn How To Say ‘No’
Say “no” more often. Every refusal protects your business’s focus, letting your “yes” decisions compound returns. I believe having the courage to walk away from distractions, especially when it matters most, is what builds enduring businesses. In other words, focus compounds, as discipline multiplies results. In contrast, distractions will quietly erode what you’ve built. – Arthur Azizov, B2BROKER
19. Let Your Vitality And Passion Sustain You
Identify the one thing in your life that demanded your greatest effort to achieve, and let that serve as the lodestone of your work ethic. Then, remember to love the work itself. You can set destinations for where you want your business to go, but long-term success comes from finding joy in showing up each day with that vitality and passion. It sustains you through the process of growth. – Marcos Redondo, Zenith Prep Academy
20. Build A Portfolio Of Revenue Streams
Before you leap, design a portfolio of revenue streams so that you de-risk cash flow and test what resonates. These streams can include advisory, fractional leadership, coaching and more. I built my latest career transition this way. Conduct small experiments, gather signed retainers and then scale. A portfolio gives you proof, optionality and resilience, which is the best runway an entrepreneur can have. – Marie Holive, Proteus International