Eight Tips for Start-Up Success

If you're like most new or wannabe business owners, you want to hit a home run right from the start. And who can blame you? You're probably investing the majority of your life savings in your business, so you need it to succeed, right?

Here are eight guidelines you'll want to follow to help you make sure the business you're starting or buying has a fighting chance to survive -- for both the short and long term:

1. Find something you'll enjoy daily. You're going to be working a lot of hours each week, most weeks of the year, without much time off at the start. It's important that you enjoy both what your company does and what running the company entails.

2. Don't start if you can't ensure a solid profit margin. So often people try to get by on the slimmest of margins and wonder why they don't enjoy owning their business for very long. Make sure your business will have a solid profit margin, which is vital to long-term success.

3. If it's your first business, think about buying an existing business or a franchise. You'll already have enough to learn about running your own business without having to invent everything yourself. Your first business will always be the toughest because you have so much to learn. An existing business or franchise provides a shortcut through much of that process.

4. Buy into a growing industry and market. Go to your industry association's Web site, and make sure your potential competitors aren't all going out of business. Then check into the growth rate of the city that'll provide your customer base. Remember, you're building your business for the long term, so think about how your company will evolve over a 10-year period. You want to have a good sense that there'll still be a demand for your product or service 10 years out.