In the Sunday, February 14th, 2010 edition of the Birmingham News, there was an article entitled “Green Shoots.” (This was on page 1 of Section C, the “Money” section). In the article, Samford University business professor Franz Lohrke offered seven things to consider if you are starting your own business. I’ll recap them briefly here:

1. Focus on providing value.
2. Learn about your industry.
3. Understand your business model.
4. Manage your cash.*
5. Minimize fixed costs.**
6. Use low cost “guerrilla” marketing tactics.
7. Try to find partners.

It’s a good article. I recommend it.

To quote a couple of Prof. Lohrke’s comments:

* “Know when it [cash] is coming in and going out. Even profitable, growing businesses can go bankrupt because they can’t pay their bills on time.”

** “Higher fixed costs like rent and equipment mean more sales are needed just to break even.”

It’s handy to know how to make cash flow projections and how to do a break-even analysis.