For 2 years my dad and I ran a small business here in town (until we ran out of money). It was the most rewarding time in my life. I looked forward to helping out customers and doing an extra good job for them. I found that spending a 10-12 hour day at work was more fun then I could have even dreamed of.

That is the good stuff. Now the bad; you NEED to build a strong business plan BEFORE you get things together. Having customer service as your mantra is great but it takes a hell of a lot more then that. Businesses do not succeed on ideas alone; you need a very strong business case for spending the money before you start. If you can't have a money recovery plan that shows some sort of profit within the next few years then either forget it or build a new plan.

Sit down with a blank sheet of paper and jot down all of the possible failures first. Come up with as many as you can. Have friends and family also come up with failure ideas. Think of every worst case scenario; in fact try to come up with ideas why you should NOT open the business. After that, come up with viable answers that can address the problems, and resolve them. If you can’t do this now before you open a business, imagine who difficult it will be after you have invested time and money in it.

If you have a good plan in place like this before you begin your business venture you will be much more likely to succeed. If we would have done the homework first, we would have structured our business differently in the marketplace. Since then I have learned a lot more about being successful as a business owner.

Good luck!