Business Planning Chapter 1: Advice to avoid failure.

Ever since I lived in Egypt in 2007-2008 I have secretly desired starting my own business. I felt so inspired by the culture, consumerism, and enthusiasm of those great folks I met overseas, that when I returned to the states I immediately decided to start writing a business plan......Unfortunately, my low self-confidence as well as an extremely difficult pregnancy led to me give up before I truly started.

I did, however learn many things from this half started, half failed venture:

Sou sou stuck in a can. "Don't give up!"

• Enthusiasm, passion, and willpower are necessary when starting, Even if I have the best product, not having the confidence to press on will guarantee failure.
• Creativity gets trumped when I worry to much about pleasing others rather than making what makes me happy
• I am a hard worker, but I will never do anything (voluntarily) that I do not enjoy
• Preparation is important but one can get caught into erroneous details when there is not time line or goals set up.
• Do  not try to seek advice from everyone around you, they may not be the best coaches or cheerleaders, trust yourself and execute, learn from your mistakes and ask a variety of associates instead for opinions.
• Always know how deep you are willing to go financially, keep track of start-up costs and always always always be critical about what and why you purchase in the beginning.
• Cut costs where neccessary
• Do not cut yourself short when it comes to pricing
• Find ways to make money on the side, the hard-work and extra income will be beneficial.
• Always take time to 
• Relax
• Brainstorm
• Fantasize/Imagine
• Research
• Explore and Create
• Create a battle plan (for yourself) so that when you feel less awesome, you can reroute yourself into optimism and positivity. 

It is incredible how failure (or not following through) does not equal defeat, AND how much you grow just from working hard for some time. It reminds me about my earlier post on expertise. 

A person can become an expert after putting in 10,000 hours of purposeful hard work. 

An artist will ruin canvases, a musician will play flat notes, an athlete will stumble or miss the goal, but it is the effort and time we dedicate which creates experience and knowledge. 

I have many more chapters coming up! Stay tuned, and you can follow me on my journey to living out one of my dreams!