Are you thinking about going into business? A new business idea is an exciting, hope filled time where people can see themselves reaping the rewards of a good idea and hard work. Things like financial independence, new cars, nice homes and the like and cashlots and lots of cash. But thinking about success at the beginning of a new business venture is much like thinking about standing on the moon holding a flag. Easy to think, not so easy to do. To get to the moon you need one hell of a plan, engineering teams, scientists, computers, industrial facilities and tremendous amounts of human capital and effort and the financial resources of a nation. If you dont have all these ingredients and more, you will never get to the moon no matter how much you believe you can do it. The bottom line--you have to have the skill, the equipment, the people and the money to do anything of any significance in business. And many, many people lack one or more of these requirements when they venture off towards success in business.

Being in business for yourself is one of the hardest things you can do to make money. Why? For starters, as an under-capitalized entrepreneur without the resources to hire a staff, everything thing that has to be done in your business will probably be done by you. You are going to have to conceptualize your business, create a startup plan, setup the bank accounts, setup the place of business whether home-based or off site. Every detail has to be thought through which encompasses the business, business management, advertising and marketing, sales, customer services, accounting, law and more. Every thought, every note, piece of paper, every form, every policy, every procedure will be implemented or over seen by you. And you havent even made any money yet!

Then there is the business equipment--the computer equipment, the software and other equipment you may have to learn and, if you have a website, you will also have to learn (or know) code to develop your site into something professional. And if you plan to sell on your website, you have countless other time consuming issues you will contend with to convince people to buy your products or services online.

Lets not forget about compliance with local, state and federal authorities either. You will need to be in complete financial and legal compliance to operate your business and you will have to account for your income and expense for tax payments either quarterly, semi-annually or annually depending on your business. The best bet is to hire an attorney and accountant to help you with these issues. But most startups, especially home based businesses cant afford to hire these professionals and either neglect these issues or are consumed with the mind-numbing tasks associated with managing the legal and financial activities of the business too.

And then you need to think about your business: you need to think about what happened yesterday, whats happening today and what will happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. There are no vacations for people who are struggling to setup and get a business going. Even IF you escape from work, your business is always on your mind. This lends itself to anxieties, sleepless nights, constant fatigue, and under-performance (which leads to slacking sales) which leads to a vicious circle that ends in defeat for 80% of new startups within the first two years of business. That means 8 out of 10 business will fail within two years. And of those that survive, 50% or more of those will be gone in five years.

Dont forget about your competition either.

Having over 20 years of business experience and having functioned as a real estate consultant, business consultant, residential and commercial mortgage banker and more, I have witnessed people, with a dream bigger than reality, risk their savings, their house, family, everything for their business which ended in failure. A few and I mean a FEW people make it. But I often wonder, wouldnt it just be easier to get a job? Let someone else pay the taxes

Thank God for entrepreneurs. Because of entrepreneurs we have the greatest country on earth in these United States. We have every conceivable product and service known to mankind at our fingertips because some people, a rare breed of people, chose to plow head-on towards their business goals, against all odd, over every obstacle. They got the money and we got the products and services.

If you are in business for yourself and you make it, people will say you got lucky. If you fail, they will say they told you so. Its a no-win situation for you unless you make a success of yourself. Cash is king and people cant really argue about your bottom lineall the people who judge you cant really say much when you can buy and sell them. But its more than thatits daring to dream. To ask why not? To take a path less traveled.

Knowing all that I know from my experience in business I thought to myself, why dont you help people by giving them step, by step instruction that would save them the time of having to think and rethink everything when they are starting a business. Why do people have to reinvent the wheel every time they decide to go into business? Its exhausting to have to think through all the details a person has to know and do to set up a business, especially those without experience.

So I didI put together a business back in 1990 called Smart Books Publishing. Smart Books are written in laymans terms and help people in real estate and business by showing them how to get smart fastthey help people like you save time and money, A LOT of time and a LOT of money. These are NOT get-rich-quick products, they are get-smart-fast products

We went online in 2004 and have some products that will help you if you are thinking about buying or selling a home or starting or running a business. While we have information products available to those who need them, our site offers a growing treasure of critical government, business and legal links with access to a TON of free information for people in business. The point is: if you need help and resources your are sure to find an answer at our site. If you need help with anything, just use the form in the contact section, send us an email with your question and we will do our best to answer youpeople helping people right?

Thanks for reading!

Copyright 2006 James W. Hart, IV All Rights reserved