How do I get my business started?

Question

I am a financial advisor for a private firm.. I am 24 years old and fully licensed to trade nationally. After passing all these exams I am now sitting at my desk wondering, " Ok... What now? " Any advice or enlightenment as to how or where to go from here would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

This is probably not the answer you are seeking, but here goes....

As someone who has been self-employed for the past 12 years there are several factors you may not have considered.

1) Do I have you have any experience in Marketing or Sales?

2) Do you have enough seed capital to stay in business for 9-12 months EVEN if you don't turn a profit in that time frame?

2B) Do you like Raman Noodles?

3) Do you feel that your experience as a Financial Advisor is sufficiently extra ordinary to set yourself apart from your competition OR do you have a marketing strategy to do the same?

4) Do you believe your experience is sufficient to instill the sort of confidence in you personally that will allow potential customers to turn over their investment strategy to you?

There are many other questions as I’m sure you are aware----but the most common mistake I see is people who may be quite good at their core discipline, but lack any sales experience and/or skills. You absolutely must be able to be pro-active in sales and marketing and be reasonably good at it. The vast majority of people I see make this mistake find that they simply do not like to sell---even if they are reasonably good at it.

To be frank---though I would never rain on anyone’s parade looking to go into business for themselves, my initial reaction is that at 24, you lack the experience in your field to truly be effective on your own AT THIS TIME.

I think you would be well served to spend another few years gaining more experience, developing your network, building your book of business and sharpening your sales and marketing skills before you make the leap. This is not to say that some people are able to make a go of it at 24, only to point out that the failure rate for all new small business is somewhere around 80% and when you add the factors I spoke of above,, your odds are even less.

Is this really the strategic time you want to stake your money on to "make it"?

Answer 2

you do not need advice. you need to act on your likings,so u can do it better. go ahead. all the best.