Don't Forget the S.P.I.C.E.

You may have an excellent idea but do you really have what it takes to have a successful enterprise? Don’t get me wrong, brilliant ideas are of course, really important in coming up with a business (You won’t be reading this article if you don’t have an idea in mind, right?) but realistically speaking, not all great thoughts become winning businesses.

A few months back, I was also contemplating on starting up my own business. My cousin and I have been considering to franchise one of the many food cart packages that not only offer low initial capital but also almost no efforts required since the company would be providing us with the food cart and everything else needed to run the business including the location where it will be put up, the uniforms of the attendants and even the ‘log book/accounting book’ that will be used for recording our day-to-day sales and all the other activities. (FYI, we haven’t started the franchise though my own business has already started.)

 

So, you might be wondering why and how did I come up with the decision to start the business. I believe that for you to succeed in this endeavor, you should have S.P.I.C.E. (I won’t be explaining these characteristics in this order. The acronym is only made to help you remember them easily.)

 

1. Interest

Since you are to start your own business, you must take note of what interests you the most. This is what would keep you from becoming bored or worse, fed up with thinking of how to make the enterprise better and hopefully bigger.

2. Passion

I will share with you my motto in my life: My passion for learning outweighs my fear of failing. Really, a certain level of curiosity (a.k.a. interest—mentioned earlier) coupled with lots of love and fondness for it would be enough to keep you going. I believe I’ve said enough. =)

 

3. Commitment

Starting up a business requires a lot of time and effort. You must be willing to spend your precious time doing things that would put your ideas into reality. Note that a successful owner is also a full-time/hands-on worker (or employer if you are planning to hire assistants/attendants).

 

4. Enthusiasm

It would be foolish for us to think that we won’t have any problems once the business is already up. I believe that when it is already running, it is also the time when we face different challenges and difficult situations like slow sales due to economic crisis, for instance. We should have the enthusiasm and on top of it, the positive outlook so we won’t have any rooms for thoughts of giving up, but only the thought that tomorrow’s a new and better day for the business.

 

5. Sensitivity

Of course, you must be sensitive to the needs and wants of your target market. Obviously, a business is not a business when you don’t have any one purchasing your items or requiring your services. In order to serve them better, you need to know and understand their behavior and preferences.

Bear in mind that starting up, running and maintaining a business is not always rainbows and butterflies. There are also times when you’ll be faced (but hopefully not too stressed) with challenges. When difficulties arise, always remember that you should be sensitive to your market’s demand, passionate about and have an undying interest for what you’re doing, faithful to your commitment and enthusiastic (not to mention positive and patient) for you to cope up and ultimately overcome those pressing times. =)