Just start!

Being an entrepreneur does not mean you have more free time and more money. There are more responsibilities, more problems, but the satisfaction of your work is greater.

The earlier you start, the better! Maybe you lack the experience, but the enthusiasm is bigger. Also, family obligations are probably lower and you do not have too much worries for your future. An eventual failure can be more easily managed.

To start your own business is a jump from being not responsible for the daily time management to be responsible for it. You are alone looking for your work, not knowing (at least at the beginning) of what will happen the next day. Finding the first client is the most difficult task. Try to focus on an industry that you have connections in. It will shorten the time to get an order.

You have to consider about 30% of your time as overhead marketing: you have to show yourself at conferences, lectures, give a lecture here and there, meeting many people, mingling at business parties, making useless phone calls just to let people remember you exists and so on. If you enjoy it, it is OK. If not, you still should do it.

You have only one question to answer yourself before starting: what is the main goal? (It does not have to be a single one, but one must be the ONE.) Possible ones:

• make a lot of money in X years
• make a successful professional career
• see the world
• be able to choose only the work you enjoy
• others (sky is the limit!)

Decide your main goal (and put it as the opening statement in your business plan)!

Do not forget also the first set of starting questions (you need to give as detail answers as possible):

• What step I can do NOW? (For example: create a blog, or a Facebook page, where to write, at least weekly, an article on the topic of the business.)
• When do I want to start? What do I need to start?
• How much am I willing to lose? When I will decide that the business does not work?
• Is there competition? Who is the strongest competitor? Explore it!
• What platforms/media are frequented by potential customers? Did they have a web page? Subscribe to their newsletter!
• How do I attract my first client? Make an attempt to attract the first customer (check if the assumption is correct).
• Where do I want to be in the first year? What do I need to get there?
• What ads channels are most business-friendly?
• Can I spend for my dream at least 4 hours a week, every week?

Start your journey with courage and optimism. Do not be afraid about unknown: if you trust your vision, you will learn on the road how things work.