As you are contemplating your business idea, an entrepreneur should also be thinking through all aspects of the business to determine the time, cost and resources needed to start-up. Many rising entrepreneurs ask – how do you visualize your successful business in a way you can clearly see the actions needed to get the doors or website open.

One trick we like is to imagine yourself as a customer of your own business. What does the customer experience look like? When the customer walks into your store or restaurant or office, or engages through your website, what does the customer see? How is the service delivered? How does the customer pay? What options are available? As you are walking through as your own customer, think about every aspect of the business the customer touches, and write down the action items you would need to do to ensure the customer has the experience.

Being able to ‘see’ your business is critical to your planning because it allows you to carefully think through the actual process you would need to complete to get your business going. You will never know about all the unexpected surprises or unpredictable variables that arise when launching a new business, but you will feel confident you have identified many of the steps you need to take to be successful.

Remember to keep thinking about your business on all levels, especially the reasons you came up with the idea in the first place. Before you know it, your visualization will be actual action items towards your goals. Then your goals will be your new reality of opening your business.