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Subject:RE: Starting a business From:"Tanja Rosteck" <tsr -at- videotron -dot- ca> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 26 Jun 2001 17:53:59 -0400
Gordon Graham wrote:
> I don't agree with the "first of all, write a plan" advice.
> Over the years, I've realized the only real trick to
> starting a business is
> to GET A CLIENT. Do a fabulous job for them, charge them a
> fair price,
> collect your money, use them for a reference, and then GET
> ANOTHER CLIENT.
Definitely, this is a great way to start - but for many folks,
"getting a client" is the toughest part. I'm not making any
assumptions about the original poster's situation (and I recall them
not providing many details in their post).
Some people don't have a large contact base when they strike out on
their own, or even know where or how to find that all-important first
client. And if you don't even have a clear idea of what you have to
offer, how you're going to market your services, and what methods
you're going to use to find potential customers... well, that's NOT a
great way to start.
Writing a business plan doesn't have to take a lot of time - but it
does require some serious thinking on your part about what you want to
do and how you're going to go about doing it. If you don't know the
answers to those questions anyway, how are you supposed to provide a
professional, businesslike image to potential clients? And if you
already know the answers to those questions, it's not a big deal to
spend 4 or 5 hours writing it into a template... and may pay off big
later on.
*Tanja
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