TL;DR 17

How to Start and Build a Business (173 words)

You need a product or service that people want and cannot easily get elsewhere, that you can deliver at a healthy margin and that a competitor cannot copy rapidly.

Test it before you build it. Talk to twenty potential customers. Better still, get a few to pay in advance. Their enthusiasm is cheap; a deposit is proof.

Keep costs down at the start. Work from home, rent instead of buy and don’t hire until the work demands it.

Watch your cash as closely as your profit. Many profitable businesses die because money comes in too slowly to pay the bills; agree payment terms up front and chase invoices, first to confirm receipt, then on the day they fall due. This was my policy and it created a strong and regular cash-flow.

Let me be brutally honest: starting my business was the best thing I ever did. But it was also very tough, and I have never met an entrepreneur who disagreed.

Expect everything to take much longer and cost much more than planned. And you must be willing to get out there and sell.

First action: This month, talk to the first five of your twenty potential customers and ask what they would pay.

TL;DR 16.

How to Manage Your Personal Finances (162 words)

If Building Wealth (TL;DR 5) is the long game, personal finance is the day-to-day. Get this right, and the long game becomes easy.

Create a budget and stick to it. Be very honest and include the small stuff. Save first, then spend what is left.

I was lucky. In my first serious commercial job, a colleague showed me the power of a simple budgeting and planning spreadsheet; he gave me his template, and I have never dropped the habit of using it to save, build and measure.

Use pots. Many banks now let you split your account into separate pots for bills, food, fuel, holidays and presents. On payday, the money goes into each pot, and when a pot is empty, you stop spending from it.

Build an emergency fund equal to six months of essential spending; it turns a crisis into a breathing space.

Clear expensive debt first, starting with credit cards.

Twice a year, check your direct debits and subscriptions. Cancel what you no longer use.

First action: For one week, write down everything you spend, coffees included.