New Business Musings

14 August, 2023

By Karen Henderson

According to Entrepreneur.com these are the 10 signs it's time to start your own business and my personal thoughts on each of them.

1. You have a passion for your new venture.
100%, I'm a self-confessed life-long learner and love supporting others towards reach their potential.

2. You're a true believer in your idea.
There will always be a need for the human element in development and coaching. It's the one thing that the machines wont fully automate! Having been on the end of transformational coaching I understand the difference it can make.

3. You have a product or service with a good market.
There will always be individuals and businesses with a need for learning or independent business meeting facilitation - change is now our constant and skills and behaviours must keep pace. Humans are emotional beings and coaching will always be welcomed, whether we recognise it as coaching is another question. I think engaging, training workshops that are facilitated well and result in behavioural change will always be welcomed. The human contact in certain businesses and markets will always be required.

4. You have a plan.
Anyone who knows me would be LOL at that statement.

5. You have a good brand idea.
The name is highly un-original, but it does mean my husband will never forget it. The logo represents travelling in a direction and is fresh with a bright spot or illumination in the middle. The brand will evolve, and I find that exciting.

6. You're ready to learn -- a lot!
See #1. Bring it on!

7. You can face the fear of failure.
Sure, I'll dust myself off, learn from the setbacks and keep going. I don't like the word failure it's too final. I very much come from the position of having an internal locus of control - meaning I believe my actions directly impact the outcomes I see, successes and failures (see Shawn Achors work in the Happiness Advantage).

8. You're not in the midst of any major life changes.
You could argue setting up a business is a life change but other than that, unless there is something I don't know about, I think I'm safe for now.

9. You have experience in your new industry.
Yes! heaps and every day there is something new to learn. I maybe the person at the front of the room but that doesn't mean I have all the answers every time. That's the beauty of working with other people daily. I completely pivoted my own career and retrained several years ago to make people development the core of what I do.

10. You understand the risks of owning a business. Let's hope so, as I'm delighted to announce that Henderson Coaching & Consulting is now live.