Taking That First Step In A New Business

Deciding to start a business is a big step. It can be life altering.

Some of us start a new venture because we are tired of working for others and want to create our own destiny. Some of us start our businesses out of pure necessity. Either way, one of the biggest challenges to starting a new business is taking that first step.

What should that first step be anyway? Should we run off and incorporate? Write a business plan? Or should we jump in and just start selling? Well, depending on your circumstances and the nature of your business, technically there is no wrong answer. Nonetheless, if we can take just a little time and produce a brainstorm map we might find that the work surrounding the business’ launch is easier – well at least more under control. The absence of some sort of tool for organizing your thoughts (and your work) can make the start-up process seem overwhelming.

A brainstorm map is nothing more than a chart that links the various “units of work” (or things that we have to get done) to logical topics or categories. They are not particularly fancy or difficult to produce, but they can go a long way towards helping the new entrepreneur organize his or her thoughts.

So how do we take this first step? Since we are starting a business it makes sense that we organize our thoughts along the lines of how the business will ultimately be structured. Even if you will be the only employee in the venture, you can break categories of work down into traditional functional verticals, such as: sales, operations, technology, product management, administration, legal, etc.

Once all of your functional verticals have been listed, you simply begin to think about all the things you want to accomplish in your business. These things are then organized along the categorical lines that you have already created.

In this way the brainstorm map can be described as a graphical depiction of all of the things that must be accomplished for your business to get off the ground. If you are really ambitious you can even drill down deeper and create a map for each functional vertical as well.

Once the brainstorm map is complete it can guide your activities until you get organized. I like to let the map serve as an inventory of sorts, kind of like a “to do” list. Ultimately, the map gets converted into a development calendar that can be linked directly to specific corporate objectives, such as the launch date for a new product.

A brainstorm map is a useful tool for getting organized and can go a long way towards helping the new entrepreneur take that first step.