What are the first steps to take when starting your own business?

"You have decided that you’d like to go into business for yourself. What is the best way to go about it? Start from scratch? Buy an existing business? Or buy a franchise? About 75 percent of business start-ups involve brand-new organizations, with the remaining 25 percent representing purchased companies or franchises. Franchising may have been discussed elsewhere in your course, so we’ll cover the other two options in this section. The first step in starting your own business is a self-assessment to determine whether you have the personal traits you need to succeed and, if so, what type of business would be best for you. Before you start your own small business, consider the following checklist: identify your reasons; self-analysis; personal skills and experience; finding a niche; conduct market research; plan your start-up by writing a business plan; and determine how to fund your business. Entrepreneurs get ideas for their businesses from many sources. It is not surprising that about 80 percent of Inc. 500 executives got the idea for their company while working in the same or a related industry. Starting a firm in a field where you have experience improves your chances of success. Other sources of inspiration are personal experiences as a consumer; hobbies and personal interests; suggestions from customers, family, and friends; industry conferences; and college courses or other education. An excellent way to keep up with small-business trends is by reading entrepreneurship and small-business magazines and visiting their websites. With articles on everything from idea generation to selling a business, they provide an invaluable resource and profile some of the young entrepreneurs and their successful business ventures. Successful entrepreneurs such as Philip Kimmey of Rover.com, Max Mankin of Modern Electron, Alexandra Cristin White of Glam Seamless, Steph Korey and Jen Rubio of Away, Allen Gannet of TrackMaven, Jake Kassan and Kramer LaPlante of MVMT, Brian Streem of Aerobo, Natalya Bailey and Louis Perna of Accion Systems, and Jessy Dover of Dagne Dover developed unique ideas and found the right niche for their businesses. Interesting ideas are all around you. Many successful businesses get started because someone identifies a need and then finds a way to fill it. Do you have a problem that you need to solve? Or a product that doesn’t work as well as you’d like? Raising questions about the way things are done and seeing opportunity in adversity are great ways to generate ideas."