Page 15 - Trading #101 Course – Part THREE: SETTING UP YOUR BUSINESS – www.traderscoach.com

TRADING #101 COURSE – PART THREE: SETTING UP YOUR BUSINESS – WWW.TRADERSCOACH.COM

What Does It Take for a Business to Succeed?

Longevity in the start-up business world is dependent on many very important factors.
These factors are basic common sense, so how hard could it be to make this new
business a slam-dunk winner, right?

Yet, I’ll bet that a good share of the modest folks reading this book will admit to a time or
two when they brazenly were “overly enthusiastic” about a project and got in a little too
deep and a little too fast.

Even I at times have energetically and enthusiastically dived into a project without using
common sense. What can we say? We are human and the word human is not
synonymous with perfect.

The up side to this is that the energy and enthusiasm and innovation that gets us in over
our head at times, reflects a passion and creativity that are essential to making a
business successful. So, in that important sense, we have the right stuff. Now, it is a
matter of harnessing these qualities and channeling them into the right direction with a
certain amount of structure.

Six things you need to have a shot at being successful in your new business:

1. Understand it will be a lot of work.
No one can prepare you for how much work it will be, but you can be
assured you will work harder as a business owner than you ever
worked when you were working for someone else. At least this will be
true in the beginning. Until you are out of the red and into the black,
you will need to be tireless at putting the time in to meet the anticipated
and un-anticipated challenges that will arise. Prepare yourself for this
so you are not surprised and discouraged or surprised by this fact. It
doesn’t hurt for you to be in good health and have above-average
stamina when you launch your business venture. These two assets are
more essential than most realize.
2. Get adequate financing.
Business owners often underestimate how much money is needed.
The estimate may be off due to a lack of planning or research in the
development phase. Or, it may be off due to an unexpected event that
depletes the capital reserve. The trick with financing is that you always
need to be ahead of the curve. What I mean is: You don’t want to find
out about a shortfall only two days before it hits. Your cash flow is your
life line; without it your business will die, or cease to exist. Plan for
financing before you need it. This will take some of the pressure off
and enable you to negotiate better terms on your loans. Two things
happen when your back is up against the wall due to a financing
shortfall: (1) You can’t think clearly and can’t trade well. (2) You will be
faced with getting a “loan shark” type of loan where your interest is

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