Blog #4 - How to Start a Business - January 28th, 2024

 Blog #4 How to start a business - January 28th, 2024

    I believe there are simply two types of business people in the world. Those with entrepreneurial mindsets and those without. Your level of how hard you'll have to work at it and when it'll happen and how far you'll get will be different for everyone. There are some people out there who, from the moment they start dreaming, their dreams are about owning and developing a business and there are those out there who want nothing to do with that side of things. This blog is obviously for the entrepreneurial minded. However, if anyone is actually reading this, and are not entrepreneurial at all,  I encourage you to re-evaluate that, the world needs more entrepreneurs, more people who create wealth and more people who give themselves the freedom to live their lives and build businesses to the best of their ability. It's how we support each other and it's how the world is going to advance and grow.

Writing a blog about how to start a business is going to be a bit difficult for two reasons.

#1. The process of actually starting a business is going to be different in different provinces and states and anywhere in the world really.

#2. Different people have different business goals, so those paths are going to be very different. Some people, it's going to come to very easily and others are going to have to work at it.

So, hopefully not to sounds too egotistical but like always I'm going to use myself and my thoughts and experiences as an example.

For myself, this took a bit of time to figure out, I always sort of had an entrepreneurial mindset, even in high school. However, I never really knew how to go with it or where to take it. After high school I elected to go into a different career and go to school for law and try to join the RCMP here in Canada. At some point right near the end of the process I decided it wasn't for me and that I had a bunch of business goals and ideas that I wanted to go with but didn't really know how too. So I went back to school for business and I catered my education as best I could towards those business goals.

My education was extremely helpful. I learned so much and I am very glad to have done it. However, even after graduating, I had massive business goals and had no idea how to go about them. I knew how to develop business plans, how to flesh out an idea and the process of how to get started, but the biggest hardship of any entrepreneur is funding. When it takes millions of dollars to even start your business goal, that is very discouraging and many will quit there, step in line, get a normal career and live their lives that way. For an entrepreneur, this will be devastating, you'll feel broken and stuck and unfulfilled in life and for a while, that's exactly what I did. I started working in automotive sales and sure, I would slowly have new business idea's, I would develop them a bit. I even wrote a few business plans. But at the end of the day, there was no movement forward. Even though I was earning a decent living I felt stuck.

As I explained in a previous blog, when Covid hit, I really started getting into investing and building a passive income through my dividend growth strategy. This was really one of the building blocks for me. Even though I was doing okay financially, I felt like I was stuck and had hit rock bottom. I was in a career that I enjoyed but there was no forward movement and everyday was sort of just routine. So, when all the sudden I tried something and had a bit of success and started earning a bit of extra money and putting my money to work for me, everything started to change. That changed my seemingly impossible business goals that cost millions just to get started, into more achievable business goals that I could develop, working and just get started on. I still have very large goals, but I'm noticing the more small successes I have the more they are adding up and building more and more confidence.

Here in Ontario Canada, the first step after deciding your business goal, is to register a business and get your articles of incorporation and paperwork (depending on the type of business you want to start). This process will differ depending on where you are, but the general concept should be the same, you are basically informing the government that you are starting a business so you can register, pay proper taxes, etc.

I started my website, www.RaeCapitalInvestments.ca, I started the Rae Capital Investment Instagram and I started developing different products and services, such as this Blog to encourage entrepreneurs to simply, get started. Not to give too much away but I am quite a few chapters into writing and publishing an investment and financial management book, I have business consulting services and I am working on getting my financial management and securities trading licenses to again add more services to the company as well as developing future rentals, business locations, podcasting etc. Basically, I'm slowly building out the small foundations of the company, so that I can build it to the level that I envision it can be.

I hate using this term, but it's a side hustle that I can develop and grow while I'm still earning an income at work. I have much bigger plans for it that I will get into later but I think this is likely the path that most entrepreneurial people are going to have to take.

- Get to a place in your life where working on your goals are all you want to do, all you can think of.

- Develop your idea's

- Get a bit of success and go with it.

I believe that when you break it down into those simple steps, for the vast majority of entrepreneurs who can't just walk into a bank and get millions in business loans. This is the easiest and more secure way to go. However, there is a bit of a cautionary lesson in this story. That's not to let yourself get comfortable, when you get comfortable, you get complacent and that's not good for anyone in my opinion. For me, it took a long time, wasted years and feeling like I had hit my entrepreneurial rock bottom and feeling stuck to finally get started. I've always said "Boredom is the route of all evil" and for myself, that is absolutely true, because when I am bored, I am unproductive. The key for myself is to get started, one foot in front of the other and go with it. Same as I've said in previous blog, I think sometimes it just takes a bit of inspiration and getting started, you'll be shocked how things can grow and new idea's can start and businesses develop.

Lets have a look at just the basics and 8 simple steps to take while creating and developing your business.

Step 1 : Come up with an idea,  something you love, something your passionate about and make a business plan 

    Ask yourself: 

- Will it be a product or services?

- Who is your target audience?

Who are you marketing too for product sale: 

- Will I have a store front or will it be online? 

- How will you process sales (if applicable) 

- Are you going to work alone or will you need staff

- What funding is available?

- What are your short term and long term goals for the business? 

Who are you marketing too for services: 

- What kind of service is it?

- How can I monetize my services?

- How can I scale this type of business?

- Is there funding available?

- Who can I help?

Step 2:  Come up with a name and register your business 

Step 3:  Create a social media presence / Marketing / Networking 

- How will you differentiate yourself from others?

- How can you lay the ground work for your company?

Step 4: Gather Equipment / Product (if applicable)

Step 5: Advertisement 

Step 6: Re-evaluate your business and goals 

- Once your business ground work is setup and you are ready to start, even if you don't have any clients or haven't gotten any business yet. It is important to take a quick step back and re-evaluate what you'd built so far. See where you can improve, fix your mistakes and discover opportunities to grow.

Step 7: Sell your product or service and see where the business goes?

Step 8: Continue to grow

- As you build a client base and establish your business and it's finally earning you an income, it's important to continue to learn and grow but also to continue to advance. Never stop evaluating your company and your market.

After following those basic 8 steps, it's really up to you to figure out how far you want your business to go, how far you are willing to attempt to scale and grow your business.

For example, let's quickly look at two companies that have had massive success but taken two approaches of this with two very different outcomes.

#1. Look at a company like "GoPro". It's a great company that developed a product that is revolutionary in the action sports field. The original idea for the company came from a surfing trip and started out as a wrist strap to put a camera onto, in order to film the surfing trip. That developed into the camera that is so well known today and now they are getting more into vlogging camera's and have tried drones, software, media etc. However, that company, I think needs a bit of a shake up, needs new products and needs to move on from just it's base camera's because eventually people are going to stop buying them... They got complacent.

#2. Nike, this is a company that never really has to do anything new and they will continue to make sales, but instead they have branched out into different types of shoes, clothing, in the past they have done sports gear, sunglasses, etc. They continue to grow and push their market and they are seeing the benefits of it.

Hopefully I've set out the basics of how to start a business and used myself well as an example of what to do and what not to do.

In closing out this blog, I think one amazing tell tale sign of an entrepreneur is they get inspired very easily and know how to go with it. For myself, I can see an empty building and instantly know " that should be a coffee shop"or "that should be a power sports dealership", etc, I'm good at that. I think entrepreneurs have the ability to see something and see what it could be no matter if it's a tiny idea or a massive idea, they aren't afraid to dream and they aren't afraid to set the goals high. So in closing out this blog I'm going to leave it on a quote that inspired me while I was in Chicago last September by Daniel Burnham.

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us”

I hope all is well,

Brett Rae