All right, how to start a business part three, and I've subnamed this, let's go. At some point you just have to go and you have to do something. All right, so I have 12 steps.
This is just sort of like a broad overview, how to start a business and just get going. So step one, answer this question. Why do you want to start a business? This really gets back to that motivation thing.
Why do you even want to do this? Is it because you have a great idea? Is it because you have this thought that you've always wanted to do? Is it mainly because you want to make a living and you really want to do ministry and no one's paying you for ministry, so you have to make a living and this is really what you want to do? Why do you really want to do it? Or is it just something you found and you want to give it a try? Get in tune with what is motivating you. Step two, explore ideas for business. Again, be inquisitive, be curious.
Every single person that you meet is doing something. They're doing something interesting and take an interest, talk to them. When you find out what someone does, ask them why they do it, how it works.
Explore in great detail what everyone is doing. How many people do you know? How many different businesses are there? And you can learn from them. Go online, Google people.
Find out why someone got into what they got. Find out why Bill Gates got into the whole computer thing. It's an incredibly fascinating story.
A lot of people think he just succeeded out of nowhere. His mother was on the board of IBM and she helped get him into the door with IBM. So what are your connections? Step three, test ideas among potential customers and refine your product or service.
I can't keep saying this enough. The idea that you have and the service that you have, it's not what it's going to be. You have to go out and try things.
You have to go out and talk to people. Your idea, your product, your service is going to improve as you go out and try to make things happen. Step four, get legal.
Government, taxes, registration. When I started my business, my wife went down to the city hall and she had to register. And we'll talk about that in another video, at least in the United States, the different options in terms of registering your business.
Different countries have different rules. Find out what those rules are. How do you find out what the rules are? Talk to people that are doing it.
Talk to friends, talk to the people you know. How did they do it? And again, ask for their help. You come up to someone, you honor them.
Hey, I see you're really successful. You know what you're doing. I'm really impressed with who you are.
Could you help me with this? And nine times out of 10, people will want to help you. Step five, figure out your financial options. What options? Again, I advise start small.
It's best not to borrow from others. Start with what you have and see what you can do. But if you're gonna borrow money, how are you gonna do that? Some people say you should never borrow from family and friends, but generally it's family and friends are the only people that will actually lend you money.
Step six, make a marketing plan. And a marketing plan is not just how to sell. A marketing plan is knowing your product.
It's knowing potential customers. It's knowing the competitors. It's knowing the environment for sales.
And how are you gonna know all these things unless you get out there? Knowing how are you gonna get in touch with customers? Who are your potential customers? Not the whole world. It's people that need what you're doing. How are you gonna connect with them? Marketing plan, name, get your logo, get your brand, target audience, these kinds of things.
Step seven, make a business plan. We talked about that in the last video and all the steps, the mission statement, the executive summary, how are you going to do things? Write it all down. Step eight, get out and talk to people.
Have I said that before? I've said this over and over again. And the reason why I keep reiterating it is because I was in the church planting thing. I went out to plant a church.
I met with all kinds of church planters. We're all in this together. And most of us spent most of our time sitting in an office, writing out our mission statement, dreaming of what will happen in our new church, designing bulletins, designing logos, getting the perfect name, getting the perfect picture that goes with it, trying to figure out what color paper we should use, all this stuff, because you can control it.
You can sit in your office and you can plan and you can dream and it feels like you're getting somewhere when you're doing it. What we didn't wanna do is get out there and talk to people, to find people that are gonna help us plant this church because that's out there. I don't know what's gonna happen.
I don't know if I can even do that. So it's easier to sit and plan. So get out and talk to people.
Sell, sell, sell, sell. And the next few videos, we're gonna talk about how does one sell? What are the things that you can do to sell? Promotions, discount, online, customer referrals, all those things. Step nine, keep things organized.
Now, if you're a dreamer like me, an inventor, someone always thinking of ideas, I live in that world. I'm living in the future. I already see what the future is.
I'm already living there. And then to have to take care of things and organize things, organize money, organize customers and keep track of customers. I'm just horrible at that.
So I don't do it. My wife does that. She keeps track of who the customers are, their addresses, their telephone numbers, when they last ordered, when they should order again.
If you wanna grow your business, you have to treat people well, sell your product or service to them, but then follow up. It takes a lot to get a new customer. It takes an incredible amount of energy to get a new customer.
It takes a little more energy to keep them. So why won't you put that little bit of energy into keeping them? Keeping track of money, keeping track of product. All these things can be laborious, but there's tools that will help you do that.
Keep track of things, keep things organized, communication, dates, all of that stuff. Step 10, keep learning. Keep learning from books.
Keep learning online. If you wanna be a person of enterprise, if you really wanna do this, don't just take this class. This is class 101.
We have all kinds of other classes for this degree. Keep going, keep taking as many classes as you can. Learn from different professors.
And this enterprise program is growing more and more and more. We're gonna have more and great teachers that can help you. Keep learning.
Step 11, every day do something that advances the potential of your business. You get up every day and you go, what can I do today to push the ball forward? The tendency is to do something, feel good about it, sit back. You gotta keep going, gotta keep going forward.
Okay, yesterday I did this. What is one thing that I can do today? Maybe it's a note, maybe it's a phone call, maybe it's to talk to somebody about the business that you're starting. Maybe it's somebody you can call and ask some questions.
Do something that advances your business. Proverbs 13, 11, dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. Little by little, little by little.
You can build things little by little. I told you about the concrete floor that my brother and I put together, a whole pole bar, one wheelbarrow at a time. It took us 1,000 wheelbarrows, but eventually we got that floor done.
Grow your business little by little. Step 12, adapt as you go and keep the faith. You never have it totally figured out.
Keep learning, keep growing, and keep the faith. You haven't arrived, but eventually you can arrive. Ecclesiastes 11, this is one of my favorite verses.
Sow your seed in the morning. In the evening, let your hands not be idle. So in the morning, you get up, you make something happen.
In the evening, you're still working at it. For you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that or not like this, or whether both will do equally as well. So you try this, you try that.
Who knows what's gonna work? Maybe this, maybe this, but I like the positive note of this verse. Maybe both will work. Have that positive attitude about what could be.
You're starting something. It might be a bumpy road, but again, why are you doing this? You're doing this because you're one of God's creatures. He's given you gifts, he's given you abilities, he's given you a desire to do ministry, but you need to take care of your family.
You need to get out in the world and make something good happen. And because of that, you can support your family and not only support your family, but you can do the ministry that God has called you. I know that you can do it.
Thanks for listening.

पिछ्ला सुधार: बुधवार, 21 जनवरी 2026, 10:20 AM