Assessing Your Abilities Before Starting A Business In Nigeria.

So why assessing your abilities before starting a business in Nigeria?

Well because starting a business is not just about ideas and market opportunities.

It’s mostly about you.

Yes you..

Can you really do it?

You need to make sure you have all it takes( assessing your abilities) to run your own business. This may also include having the knowledge and passion required for starting a business you had in mind.

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.Abraham Lincoln

Do you have what it takes?

Why not first take a few minutes to go through the following entrepreneurial traits that successful business owners usually tend to have.

You might want to check whether you recognize yourself in any of this traits.

• Hardworking: Hard work means sticking at a task , however difficult, until you complete it. It also means doing some things that you don’t much enjoy but are needed be done.
• Driven to succeed: Business owners need to be focused on getting results. Successful people set goals, try hard at achieving them and then move on to the next goal. They tend to be restless in this respect.
• Accepting of uncertainty: Someone starting a business should be willing to make decisions and to take risks. I should make this clear, this does not mean gambling. It means carefully calculating the odds and deciding which risks to take and when to take them.
• Innovative: Being innovative might be said to be the most distinctive trait of successful business founders. They tend to venture into the unknown and they also tend to do things in new and difficult ways.
• Self-disciplined: Business owners need to keep themselves and their business on tract.
• Totally committed: You must have complete faith in your business idea. But blind faith is not enough. You need to back your commitment with a sound business strategy.
• Healthy: Successful business owners need to be managing their business everyday. They are the essential lubricant that keeps the wheels of the business turning. They can’t afford the luxury of sick leave especially in the early years of the business.
• Well rounded: business founders have the willingness to do anything that has to be done to make their business succeed. They can usually make the product, market it, and count the money. But above all, they have the self confidence that lets them move comfortably through uncharted waters.

You should also take a skills and knowledge inventory?

Here are some self-evaluation statements gotten from "Starting a Business" For Dummies by Colin Borrow. You might want to go it through before starting a business.

You will score yourself a 1 if a statement is rarely true; if usually true, score 2; and if almost always true, score 3.

• I know my personal and business objectives.
• I get tasks accomplished quickly.
• I enjoy being responsibly for getting things done.
• I can change easily if the business environment changes.
• I like working alone and making my own decisions.
• Risky situations don’t alarm me.
• I can face uncertainty easily.
• I can sell my business ideas and myself.
• I can set my own goals and targets and then get on with achieving them.
• My family is right behind me in this venture and they know it means long hours and hard work.
• I welcome criticism, I can always learn something useful from others.
• I am energetic and enthusiastic.
• I don’t waste time.
• I can pick the right people to work for me.
• I haven’t had a sick day off for years.

Finished assessing your abilities in this regards? so what was your score?

A score of 30 plus is good; 20-30 is fair; below 20 is poor. Please note that a high score won’t guarantee success, but a low one should cause a major rethink.

Community futures, a Canadian small business help web site, has a 50-question online test to help you rate your entrepreneurial abilities as well as a checklist of desirable traits which you could use in assessing your abilities.

See communityfutures.com

Return from Assessing Your Abilities to Starting A Business In Nigeria

Go to Income Opportunities In Nigeria