Small business start-up need not cost the earth and you can approach it from a number of directions. A recent press article covered some good material for those thinking of starting a small business.

Quoting three cases of successful small business starts, it gave information on the background of the new business owners.

One of the factors I found interesting was that in each instance the entrepreneur was female. No I am not being sexist I am saying how good it is that these ladies have seen and seized the opportunity.

I believe that almost anyone with a skill can succeed in business if there is a market for his or her product or service. These ladies have certainly done that and they gave good practical money saving advice on how to start a small business.

The first example was a successful P.A. who saw starting her own secretarial business as a natural progression. She had some PR and marketing experiences and set about creating her exec:secs business with no financial support and no clients.

Totally self financed she feels her small business, whilst being demanding by serving a number of clients at the same time gives greater satisfaction than employment because of the freedom it gives her.

To get the business off the ground she joined a small business federation and also a networking organisation. These enabled her to get advice she sought and new clients.

She strongly advocates resisting the cost of advertising and using networking to spread the word.

The second example is a lady who started an online lingerie business; this is the second example of this type of business I have recently come across, so there must be a strong market.

She now earns $20,000 more than she did. Employs 2 staff and needed financial help from her brothers to get her business started. She recommends researching your market, knowing who your competitors are and whether your idea is profitable. She also went to evening classes to learn computer basics.

A third lady was also initially a P.A. who had gained additional experience by moving into a recruitment business. She was made redundant so using her original skills and additional experience she set up a recruitment organisation.

She advocates planning, organisation and the importance of small business administration. Knows what she is talking about as the business now employs 60 staff and has a turnover of $24M.

These real life examples illustrate a number of important pointers for anyone thinking of starting a small business.

* You can use your skills to provide a business service.

* With basic skills and additional experience you are ideally placed to create a viable service business.

* If you want to start a small business it does not have to be a service business you can market your product online.

The given examples also demonstrate some fundaments for small business start up.

* If you are starting a service business such as a secretarial service or consultant's practice for example. You are initially likely to be working from home.

There are therefore some issues about working from home that will need to be addressed.

* Starting a small service business can be inexpensive with networking an effective way of gathering clients.

* Work experience combined with initial training can be used to successfully start a small business.

* Know your product, market and competitors to be sure that your small business proposition is sound.

* Make sure you have done your business planning thouroughly.

* Be prepared to learn new skills; administration, basic computer skills cash control etc., as you develop your business.

If you have an idea[s] and are considering starting a small business you may well already have some or all of the attributes for success.

I hope this article will inspire you to consider starting a small business.

Working from home is great.

Starting a successful business is possible, in each case it worked for the ladies mentioned.

You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.

Here's the keys to the Supercar, Villa and Sunseeker... Take Them!

Best wishes,

Michael Harrison.

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