HOW TO CHOOSE A BUSINESS

1. Follow your “dream passionately.” Some would say “Follow your passions,” but in my case, it was more like “Follow your dream passionately.” It’s important to choose a business in an industry that excites you in some way.

Maybe you are passionate because there are new things happening in the industry all the time, like Twitter or iPhone apps today or maybe it’s just personally exciting to you because you know you’re really acting the script of your dream.

Whatever it is, that passion keeps you going on those days where you don’t want to get out of bed or money is not coming forth as expected. You should be powerfully moved to get out of bed and kick some butt every single day in whatever business you choose. In my case, I was so moved by my bad experiences, and so excited to show the world that we were different, that I had no problem getting out of bed.

2. Start a business in an industry where you know you can be a leader. You should absolutely know you can rock your business better than whoever is out there. If you start a business selling books, you better have a lot of ideas of how you can do it better than Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You should become a customer of all those services that are like yours, and write out pages and pages of what you do and don’t like about those companies.

I have list of other innovative blogs printed out, marked up, and notated in an old folder I simply call “Competitive Analysis.” I check those blogs from time to time to see what they are doing right and there loop holes so that I can become better and relevant in the industry. That meant every time I check this book and I surf the internet, I saw what others were doing right…and it motivated me to do better.

For my business, STRUD INNOVATIONS, I subscribed to three other websites similar to mine and wrote pages of notes on what I liked and didn’t like about each one. Do I know I can do it better than they do? Can I actually corner the market in a way that will inspire them to change? Yes. If I wasn’t confident in that assertion, I wouldn’t start a business in that industry.

3. Choose one idea, and do it better than everyone else. If you spend your time working on 10 businesses, or even 2 (jack of all trade), you won’t get as much done on any of them as you would if you picked one and wholeheartedly committed to making yourself the best in that industry.

I learned this pretty quickly with blogging. When you find purpose you have found everything in life. I saw a reason to have a blog, and I knew what exactly I want my blog to be known for.

4. Be prepared to stick with your business for years. Once your business gets going, it may really take off — but remember, it took me some years to build my business to the point it is and am still building. Great successes do not typically happen overnight. If your business is growing at a strong clip every year, you’re doing something right; just have patience.