The challenges of starting and growing a business can be overwhelming. I want to try and raise issues faced by many people in small and medium enterprise ventures. Hopefully several other people will also chip in with tips and insightful ideas that can help anyone with more questions than answers.

First I will start with people who are looking to start their own business. The idea of owning your own business can be so heartwarming. For many its a dream of a lifetime. Many achieve their dream but for others, remains a dream. One advice that many receive but ignore before starting a business is this: before leaving your paid employment, start your business (as long as it doesn't conflict with your loyalty to your employer). If its such a fantastic idea, you will find it increasingly difficult to continue working at your job and would necessary have to make a decision to leave!

One of the key issues of note in starting and growing any business is money. For anyone hoping not only to stay but also to grow any business, you must treat money as a treasure to be hoarded seriously. Many new business entrants start wrongly by spending way too much money than is absolutely vital. Before spending a dime, as a business owner you must critically evaluate the expense whether it is crucial or not. Do you seriously need that fancy letterhead or could you do with something less expensive? Do you absolutely have to have that N250,000 executive chair or could you do with somehting cheaper but equally functional? Before spending any money as a business owner, assume the role of a lender to your business and try to adjudge if you were to give the business owner a loan for the purpose in question, would you?

Money is vital to the growth or death of any business. Spend it with growth in mind!

You can start onine business or buying selling business with small money, what is required is initial capital, and to grow it you need to put more money at each 6months for 2 years. For business to grow.

One of the attributes of successful business owners is ownership. Not ownership in the sense of "yes i have arrived", but ownership in the sense of taking full and first responsibility for the business. You must see yourself as the frst marketer and sales person for the business even before and after you hire people. If you cannot sell your product or service by yourself, then chances are the people you employ will be unable to achieve significant success. This does not suggest that you do all the work but the point remains that if all you do is go to your office and sit dishing out orders, expecting your employees to go make money for you, then you may just be another business that started and failed. May that not be your stroy in Jesus' name.

Hire Slow, Fire Fast.

Many people exeperienced in running successful businesses believe the above maxim. For you to be successful in business you cannot do everything by yourself and so you need to hire people. One of the many mistakes new entrepreneurs make is hiring too fast. Very often, the business owner uses wrong parameters to hire. Simply because you own the business does not mean you know how to hire. As an entrepreneur you will sometimes do yourself good by outsourcing your hiring needs. It will be less costly on the long run. Sometimes because you are just starting out you think you have to go for the first perosn who comes your way or you go for the family member or relation recommended by somebody simply because you do not really think through the action. If you get the hiring process right, it will save you time, resources etc. When you begin to notice however that the person you have hired is a square peg in a round hole, then you need to consider asking him/her to go. If someone does not fit then it will be a drain on your resources to keep them. As a small business owner, even if you ahve 2 people who are the right fit for your business, then it will be to your advantage and growth.

As a new business owner you may need to consider outsourcing yoru recruitment process to experts. This eliminates the pressure on your limited resources such as time. Plus it helps to weed out unnecessary hiring based on sentiments. If however you choose to embark on the recruitment process yourself, the first thing you need to do is critically outline the traits and characteristics you seek in the employee you need and then put out advertisements detailing the ciriteria so determined. Make use of forums and platforms such as nairaland and nairalistamongst several others to publicise your vacancy. You may not need traditional media such as newspapers if you get enough responses.

Whichever route you choose in getting your employees, remember: When you get your hiring right, half your work is done.

Business Plan.

Before starting a new business or even when you are already in one, you need to have a business plan. Many times we just think its no big deal, and its unnecessary. It is quite a vital tool to you. A business plan can help you decide first hand if truly you have what it takes to go into the business, it can help you see what you need to do to achieve your goals and it can help you understand how you will get there. Many people get discouraged when the idea of writing a business plan comes up because standard business plans seem so technical and cumbersome. What I say is this: you don't have to have a standard technical plan at the very onset, start with a simple basic plan and you can then work on it later.

Do start with a plan!

Hi everyone. I just found out that this topic already exists here https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-974.0.html, so I will be resting this page and be gonig there. Let's go.