You've got a great idea for business, so that's the hard part, right?
Set up a "shop", do a bit of advertising and bank the takings. So why aren't more people making money?
Looking at the rocket model, that's just part of the journey. As mentioned you have to look at the vision (to give your business a unique edge), strategy, structure and culture. And then you can look at each of the business components individually (products and services, finances, systems and processes, people, marketing & sales).
So often the primary elements are neglected, but the cost of doing so can be enormous. We'll see as we work through the steps how this can happen, and how it can be dealt with at a later stage, but if you want to benefit from my experience (for which there's no charge), you will benefit greatly by sorting these issues sooner rather than later.
Of course, most small businesses don't have a team initially - you are it. Surely it's all in your mind, so you don't need to formalise it at this stage? If you plan to stay on your own, that may be so - but if you plan to stay on your own, perhaps you shouldn't spend your limited time on this site. Also if you don't document your approach, what's to say you'll use the same approach next time, forgetting some of the lessons you learned on the way? Now that could be an improvement, but how will you know?
While this article is titled "All About Business", it's not all about every business. It's all about businesses with goals and standards. Our name was not chosen at random. Business is obvious - but we're not interested in every business. We'll explain the other components elsewhere - but the Academy is taken from the garden where Plato and his followers met to discuss their thoughts of the day. They may not have been right, but at least they were exploring their world.
The other key word is excellence. And for businesses, that is the word that sets apart the shining from the multitude of ordinary businesses. It applies to every aspect of the business at all times. There's no on / off switch. As people come to take that level of excellence for granted, they'll never want to settle for less.
When your business standard is excellence, it will stand out.