Could you succeed in small business? - quiz to help assess chances of becoming a successful entrepreneur

Business Horizons, Sept-Oct, 1989 by Henry H. Beam, Thomas A. Carey

Don't expect the life of a small business owner to be easier than that of a corporate employee. You need to work at least as hard, and probably harder, to be successful in a small business. Your rewards are that you may make more money when the business becomes a success and that you have control over when you work. But you won't be able to spend every other day on the golf course and let the business run itself. It just doesn't work that way-your employees don't care as much as you do about your business. And they care less and less the more you are gone.

A friend of ours decided that he wanted to own his own business by the time he was 40. As a consequence he resigned his job with a large corporation and bought a small plastic coating business in Kalamazoo. Today he is expanding his plant for the third time and employs more than 50 people. But business was slow in the beginning, even though he worked 12-hour days. When he wasn't helping out in the plant, he was out knocking on doors for business until he finally landed the large account that really got him started. Persistence paid off, and ten years later he is a very successful small business owner. Do You Have Clearly Defined Markets? Don't put much credence in the adage, "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." You may starve between the time you invent your product and the first customer calls. There are two keys to success in this regard. The first is to advertise to let people know that you exist. Your advertisement is the first (and often the last) chance you have to make a favorable impression on your potential customers. Have your business cards professionally prepared and be sure customers can tell what you do by the name of your business.

The second key to success is to concentrate on being good at one or two things only. When Theodore Roosevelt was asked why he didn't control his daughter better, he replied, "I can run the country or control Alice, not both." Don't try to be all things to all people. Most of us feel better when we buy a product or service that has the reputation for being the best of its kind in the area, or even in the entire country. Having a narrow, well-defined product line also helps you develop a clearly focused marketing and distribution plan that is suitable to your product.

Consider the engineer who received a patent on a device called a "can caddy," essentially a plastic bag with a handle to be used in states such as Michigan that require a deposit on beverage containers. The can caddy had markings on the side to facilitate counting the number of cans. He had several thousand of them built and stored them in his father's garage before he started to think seriously about selling the product. Even though he found no market for his product at party stores and supermarkets, he refused to charge a higher price and sell the can caddy to specialty markets such as boaters. His father probably still has most of those can caddies in his garage, a testimonial that a well-engineered product, even one with a patent, won't literally sell itself.