Starting and running a small business is a great dream. It allows you to utilize your talents, it gives you an opportunity to achieve financial independence and allows you to fire you boss.
However, you will not succeed without detailed planning, a great deal of flexibility, lots of energy, accurate and complete financial records and sufficient cash to cover personal expenses for two to three years. Otherwise your dream is almost certain to become a financial disaster.

“I often see people commit to an idea for a business much too impulsively,” said Jeffrey R. Cornwall, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., and author of “From the Ground Up.” “Committing to a business is like falling in love — you get all excited and develop a blind romance for the idea. Think the business plan through with discipline and objectivity. If it’s not right, walk away and go on to the next — some people just can’t let go of a bad idea.”

A good business plan is the key to a successful start, because it is your road map for your future. The plan forces you to define your business and understand the competition. If you cannot define your niche and you don’t understand who you’re going to be up against, you will get crushed in the entrepreneurial world.

A good business plan must include:
• A detailed description of your business
• A marketing plan
• A financial plan
• Management

It is imperative to clearly define your niche in order to survive. If there is no demand for your business, or if your niche is better served by others, you have no chance of survival.
After you define the basics of your business, it’s time to think about daily operation and personnel. Employees mean training, taxes and insurance. It mans daily supervision and motivation. It takes work to retain good employees.

Without a comprehensive business plan, it is near impossible to secure financing. Banks or even sane relative will not lend you anything.

A good business plan isn’t carved in stone. There’s always need for flexibility. But it should be used to track the progress of your business and underscore the need to make necessary corrections as you go. It’s a planning tool more than anything else.

The business plan should be read and critiqued by anyone who will be involved  in getting your business off the ground. This means participation by your lawyer, banker, insurance agent, financial adviser and CPA. They will be more objective than you are yourself because they have no emotional stake in the business.

You should also plan to meet with this group of advisors on a regular basis – several times a year. Listen to their comments and make changes as needed. Be prepared to pay for their time; it’s worth the expenditure.

Make sure you get professional advice before you decide he the legal status of your business. A sole proprietorship or partnership may be right for you. More likely you will end up choosing  to set up as a corporation or a limited liability company for greater legal protection.

The attraction of running a small business is easy to understand: You get to be your own boss, and you can use your knowledge and talents to do things the way you think they should be done. Your business is your creation and building something from the ground up is a very satisfying feeling.

But don’t ignore the smallest detail: If you think running a small business will free you from ordinary tasks and paperwork, you will fail.