Initial Business Assessment
Most people believe business success is predicated on having a good idea, a sound or proven business concept and a large/receptive market for your tourism product or service. While these aspects are important, it's equally as important to have a strong and capable management team driving the company and its products and services. The goods and services ultimately have to be marketed [which takes persistence and patience], and sold at a price that allows the company to generate a profit to cover costs, pay staff and compensate the owner for his or her risk capital [negotiation abilities, analytical ability, people skills]. As you can see, the business success equation also involves personal attributes and characteristics.
It is important to determine if you have the personal resources and characteristics to make your tourism business venture a success. To do this, you can access a number of books and resources that deal with the topic of entrepreneurship.
Below are a few resources available to help get you started:
Industry Canada: Self Assessment:
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Complete with guides, magazine articles, and a listing of organizations and programs to assist you.
What Do Entrepreneurs Look Like?
Entrepreneurs tend to have the same characteristics and traits. Find out if you have the profile of an entrepreneur:
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Real Entrepreneurs' Defining Habits
U.S.1 Newspaper, Princeton, New Jersey
How to generate and evaluate tourism business ideas
Canada Business Service Centre [CBSC]
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Online Small Business Workshop
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The CBSC's Online Small Business Workshop is designed to help you generate and develop ideas, then determine if they are potentially viable business opportunities. It also provides information on how to protect your idea through five different types of intellectual property rights:
- patents
- copyrights
- trademarks
- industrial designs
- integrated circuit topographies
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