Everyone dreams of raising their own business, of being able to take their most well thought ideas and make them a reality in the form of a product or a service that sells well. But the truth is that raising a business is hard if you do not know where and how to start, according to a report made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics a little bit over 50% of small businesses aren’t able to make it past their four years, only 3% of startups could make it to their fifth year.

The leading causes of their failure were mostly due to incompetence, lack of managerial experience, and a lack of practice in the selling of goods or services, only a few of them fail due to disasters or neglect. But don’t be alarmed, you can overcome all these problems if you know what to do before starting your own business.

1. Be honest about your current financial status. About 82 percent of small businesses started with funds that came from the entrepreneur himself, and if you’re planning on doing the same then you should better find a way to properly fund your business because you will have to pay its bills.

You have to reduce your monthly debt, doing things like cancelling your subscription to services you can live without, or using the public transport, or the amount of money you spend on apparel and dining outside can help you have more money to fuel your startup. Consider having a business partner, someone you can count on, as businesses that have two founders raise more money and have about the 3x the user growth than those that only have one.

2. Be prepared for a slow start. Most business start slow, so it is important that you can afford to live with your recently reduced personal budget, if you are not prepared to live with more bills and less income then you should probably rethink your financial strategies.

3. Having a marketing strategy is vital. Rising the most well thought business of the world won’t matter at all it isn’t able to attract customers. Prepare a marketing campaign, one that you can do with your reduced budget.

You can start with small things like distributing promotional pamphlets at the street with links to your business’ social networks or hiring a radio station or local influencers to subtly (or not so subtly) advertise it.

4. Start your selling plans. A business is all about the selling, so you must ideate a proper sales organization. Hire the right people, prepare a distribution line, do everything at your hand that can help your business sell more, if your business isn’t selling then it isn’t growing

5. Businesses need resolve and devotion. Raising your own startup is thought, be prepared to spend an entire day managing it. Avoid raising a business if you’re having a tough financial crisis or if you don’t have the emotional strength at the moment. Be ready to make difficult decisions, like firing an ineffective worker or finishing an unproductive business relationship.

Don’t be let down if your business is struggling your first months, as long as you can pay its bills do everything you can to make it grow, good luck!