Many people dream of starting their own business. Fewer actually
do it. Fewer still make a success of it.

Why?

What are the essential ingredients if you want to succeed with
your own business?

1.Desire
If you look at any successful businessman, from the sole
trader to the billionaire entrepreneur, you find that the one
element that is always present is burning desire to do what
they are doing and to succeed at it. It is not a vague wish,
it is not a hope or a dream. It is a deep felt, motivating
desire. It is what takes him through the difficulties and the
set backs and the failures along the way. Do you have this
desire?

2.A Plan
You cannot and you will not succeed unless you have a well
thought out plan. You must know where you are going and how
you intend to get there.
You must concentrate on the route you have chosen and not be
distracted along the way.

3.Knowledge
You must know what you are doing. You must know your chosen
field. There will be others competing with you for the same
markets and the same customers. You must be up with them. You
must strive to be ahead of them. But the beauty of knowledge
is that it can be aquired. If you need to know something you
can learn it – if you have the desire. There has never been a
time when it has been so easy to find the information that
you need. You just need the motivation to get it. The need
and the desire.

4.Hard Work
Its true. You cannot get away from it. The fact is that if
you are to succeed in your chosen business then you must work
hard at it. It is not a pass-time or a game (although if you
are doing what you have always wanted to do it can seem like
both). But the great thing about running your own business is
that you enjoy your work. Otherwise why do it?

5.Luck
Luck? Is that it, then? The other four items are in my
control. I have the desire, I have a plan, I can get the
knowledge, I am prepared to work hard. But luck? What can I
do about that?

Actually quite a lot. Luck is really the wrong word, but it
is what people use. It is what other people must have had
when they succeed. It is what unsuccessful people think they
never have.

But you can make your own ‘luck’. Successful people have
often failed many times before they have their ‘lucky break’.
But they have that burning desire and they have pick
themselves up and start again. They redraw their plans and
set out once again. They start again with a little bit more
knowledge than they had before. And they work hard to succeed
this time.

Substitute the word ‘resiliance’ for the word ‘luck’ and you
are much nearer the truth. It is the abiliity to hang on in
there and stay with it when things go wrong.

So follow your desire, make your plans, keep learning, and
work hard. You can succeed. And......Good luck!

(c) Copyright 2004

About the Author

Arthur Cooper is a writer and publisher.
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