Top Lessons Learnt when starting a business

I Have run a small micro business for the better part of seven years now I think I am uniquely qualified to make comment on the top tips to know when starting a small business.

Before starting the business I was a successful consultant, had an undergraduate degree and was doing postgraduate study.

I had read umpteen small business books about managing and starting businesses and thought that I knew what was involved.

So here are my top lessons that I learnt when starting a business:

1. Building a Market and and getting sales will take three times as long as you think
2. When factoring in expenditure double if not triple what you think it will cost!
3. If seeking funding double what you think you need and divide by four what equity you are giving up for the funding
4. If you need office space, try sharing an office with an established business first and then move once you have grown
5. Don't start a business alone, go into business with someone else.
6. And of course the number one lesson of all is cash flow is the most important thing you can look after!

I had read every single on of these lessons in every small business book I had ever read, but until it was me who was starting the business I had never understood the lessons.

But I suppose that's why they are called LESSONS!.