The Five Essential Rules Of Business

Have you got what it takes to set up your own business?

Many role models exist to inspire today's entrepreneur. TV hits such as Dragon's Den and The Apprentice throw up plenty of candidates, though most trade on a testosterone-fuelled combination of foul-tempered finger-pointing and swaggering about in designer suits.

While the likes of Alan Sugar marry business advice with prime-time entertainment, there's also an abundance of off-screen consultants. For example, government agencies such as Businesslink provide really useful information on topics from accessing grants and loans to the latest legislation, while the NFEA offers a network of advisory services to small business owners.

So there's lots of advice out there to prepare you for the mechanics of setting up, funding and running your new enterprise. But before you dash off to IKEA for a deal on swivel chairs, it's important to check up on the most important tool you'll need in business: You.

Much of the advice for entrepreneurs suggests that success rests on choosing a venture that's in sync with your personality. But for the small business person, setting up a business alone, this only works to a point. At times you'll need to go far beyond what you feel most comfortable doing, purely because there are few or no staff to share the burdens.

I set up my first business at the tender age of 21 and have met with my fair share of successes and failures over the years. Here are my five essential rules for a happy, holistic approach to self-employment.

1. Pay attention to detail

When you're setting up as self-employed, it's those big ideas and grand schemes that really spark the confidence and motivation to achieve your goals. When I decided to open retail outlets, my enthusiasm lay in my product and company brand. The day-to-day running of the company was a radically different experience, and developing a passion for the processes behind the product became far more important.

It's all very well being the great visionary, but in the early days while there are still stamps to lick and floors to sweep there's really not much time to stick your head in the clouds to indulge in blue skies thinking. If you don't notice the little things, no-one else will. Except your customer.

2. Aim for perfection, not perfectionism

Like fishfood floating round the office aquarium, your high standards should filter into all corners of the business. However, the reality of running an enterprise is too full of variables for the person who is never satisfied.

No matter how small the company, you will have to rely on others - from suppliers who mess up orders to clumsy staff who go around breaking everything. If the prospect of achieving anything less than total perfection fills you with horror, the unpredictable world of business isn't for you.

3. Learn practical creativity

One of the hardest lessons for me to learn was the art of being commercially creative. This doesn't feature on the national curriculum, and I certainly wasn't criticised in infant school for producing potato prints that weren't economically viable. At the beginning of my career, creativity would often triumph over the constraints of reality.

Yet on the open market creativity is judged swiftly and ruthlessly, with the results at the bottom of your balance sheet. I found it is possible to be creative yet practical - the trick is to develop a systematic approach to innovating what you sell. Add in plenty of feedback from your customers and team for a more grounded perspective.

4. Brush up your people skills

Seems obvious doesn't it? But not all of us have them. Some business people are passionate about their product but lack enthusiasm for the folk who'll buy it. A recent episode of BBC 2's trouble-shooting retail show Mary Queen of Shops dealt with the svelte owner of a fashion boutique who bullied and belittled her overweight clientele. Still more of us have problems handling staff, and as an issue this ranks amongst the most pressing for small business owners.

For many, the relationship of power with employees introduces a new social dynamic, and very few get it right first time. People management is a skill that needs to be worked on, so a good book like Richard Templar's The Rules of Management is essential reading.   

5. Face failure

For the entrepreneur, failure can be very personal. Over the years I've viewed my company as my way of life, my baby, and even the defining element of my existence. Failure -  or at least set-backs, disappointments, criticism and tough times - are all inevitable. Now I wouldn't have it any other way: there is little alternative to embracing your mistakes as they'll be your best source of advice. The old adage holds true: ignorance is bliss, and difficult truths only emerge through painful experiences. 

Practically Perfect.