Every entrepreneur starts a business hoping it’ll be a ‘big one’ – successful, high profile, of benefit to a community, worthy of note. Barely 5% of them achieve it. So how do you give your business the best chance of being of big success rather than a big fat fail?

You PLAN for Success: that’s how:

MONEY

• Cash is king – get the cashflow right and you are already 80% there.

• Charge right - research what people are willing to pay for what you offer. Don’t undersell and don’t base your fees wholly on what competitors are doing.

• Bootstrap it – start it from home; buy second hand; do it with your own cash; do it part time; don’t rely on it to pay the bills; don’t be greedy.

• Borrow – if you do have to go there, ask for a realistic amount the first time, because going back a second time is always harder. Draw up agreements if it is family or friends.

MANAGEMENT

• Get a mentor!

• Join professional organizations and business networking groups (online and offline).

• Set up systems, and stick to them; write a business plan and update it monthly; set yourself and your team KPIs.

• Get a bookkeeper and a really good accountant.

MARKETING

• Research – it doesn’t have to work just because you or your mum think it’s a good idea. And it probably won’t if you haven’t done your research.

• Invest – assign 40% of your budget to marketing because it needs to be a steady ongoing integrated process to create a known brand that people trust from scratch.

• Expertise – if you can’t do it, find people who can, and who can monitor, analyse and report back so you can profile clients and measure the ROI.

• Focus – you need to be able to summarise your business in a single sentence, not just for yourself, but for potential clients, your business card, your usp and to brief your team.

• Niche – it is always better to find a small niche to become known for than try and sell to ‘everyone’.

Bev James is Founder, MD & Head of Training of the EBA and one of the Millionaire Mentors. She is also MD of The Coaching Academy, a successful entrepreneur and business coach.