Many years ago in high school I was a member of the school shooting club. I was taught the best way to fine tune a new gun was to service it to make sure it was in the best condition then fire three shots at the target. Depending on the consistency of where the shots hit the target, i would then proceed to develop my aiming strategy. The initial process was therefore, Ready-Fire-Aim.

This simple procedure applies to starting a new business or any new venture. The average person spends too much money and effort in fine tuning which in turn increases the factors which cause failure. Let me explain in simple 3 steps.

Step 1 - Get Ready: Do a preliminary research about your new venture and determine your interest, capability, demand for product / service, sources of supply, financing etc. If you are 70% convinced that it is worth your time and effort, you are ready to proceed to the next step.

Step 2 - Fire! Make a sale. I repeat, MAKE SALES. Provide proof of a positive bottom line! i.e. SHOW US THE MONEY. Concentrate on the functions that are directly geared to bring in the money. Once you have a steady flow of cash, you can then take AIM.

Before you pay $1,000 for the best designed logo, before you spend $500 for glossy gold plated business cards, before you hook in the ultra-modern PABX telephone system with 100 functions, FIRE, FIRE and FIRE. SELL, SELL AND SELL.

Step 3 - Aim. After you have made some sales and you get to understand the business, the customer and your competition, you can then proceed to fine tune and take better aim with your next round of firing efforts.

If you follow this method, you will realize that your efforts will be more focussed, you will have additional money from sales to finance the set up costs and most importantly you will have proved the business works before spending too much time and money.

Quote: Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.