Realistic considerations before starting a business

• Know how much money you’ll need to run the business for a year
• Find out how to delegate the tasks you can’t handle
• What are the key activities?
• Who should be handling these key activities?
• What are you good at?
• What do you really want to do and are willing to do for many years?
• Is this something the business needs?

Soichiro Honda didn’t start his company until he found the perfect partner who would handle the business side of the company. He knew that he was only capable of handling the engineering side. This self-knowledge led to the success of the Honda Motor Company.

Ford did the same thing 40 years earlier He found a partner called Couzens, who handled the business side, while he focused on engineering. Couzens was, in fact, the guy behind the famous $5 a day plan. And things went badly for Ford ever since Couzens left the company. When Ford tried to handle more than what his core competence was (engineering), things started to go wrong for his company.