Local experts and business owners provide advice for novice entrepreneurs

So you've got an idea. That may be a start, but between an idea and a business, there are obstacles that can sidetrack would-be entrepreneurs.

Mark Christian, director of Southeast Missouri State University's Small Business and Technology Development Center, says the first step toward realizing a business often depends on the idea itself, but a good place to start is often a market analysis.

"It doesn't matter how good the idea or product is if there's no market for it," he says.

Jakob Pallesen, a business counselor who works with Christian, says the initial step typically entails research as well as facetime with potential customers.

But every business is different. Steve Rector, whose business Threadz makes customized apparel and accessories, says customers were what gave him and his wife, Kelli Seabaugh, the idea for their business in the first place.

Kelli Seabaugh and her daughter Maddie point to the back of Steve Rector's shirt inside their downtown Cape Girardeau shop, Threadz.LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

"At first, we were leery of it," he says of custom clothing. At the time, they were content in the custom sign business. "But they wanted us to do custom clothing, so we looked at going ahead and getting into it."

Pallesen says it usually happens the other way around. He also cautions against designing a business around what you think would be a fun business.

"A lot of people think, 'I would like to do this, whatever it is,'" he says. "A better way to think about it is 'What would people actually care about?'"

Going hand-in-hand with problem validation, Christian says, is the need early on for startup money.

"If you're gonna get any kind of financing you're gonna need a revenue stream," he says.

In other words, don't quit your day job. Rector says he knows that principle well.

"I still work for Procter & Gamble," Rector says.

While technology is changing, options like crowdfunding have become viable, but not necessarily for everyone. Whatever the business idea, Christian says, experience helps.

"Do you have experience in the industry? If not, you probably need to find someone who does," he says. "Research shows the more experience someone has in the industry, the more successful they are. Not that it's a No. 1 factor, but it's a contributing factor."

Rector says the most important element in the success of Threadz is hard work.

"If you're not willing to do whatever it takes, don't do it," he says. "When you work for yourself, it's not like working for someone else. It's harder. When you come home at night, you still have things going on in your head."

The university counselors say an entrepreneur's personality can make or break a business. And it may not even be something an individual can verify by sober self-reflection alone.

"There's quite a bit of evidence that suggests we're not as good at self-diagnosing as we think we are," Pallesen says. "People around us tend to be more accurate at assessing that."

And, he adds, the lenders at banks take that into consideration as well.

"They really look at you as a person," he says. "Do you have the knowledge, the skill to make this work? There's more to it than just the bank loan."

"If you aren't managing your individual finances, it's hard to obtain additional financing," Christian says.

He says they deal with a lot of people who are in a hurry to bring their business to fruition, which isn't necessarily the best strategy.

"It takes time," he says.

Rector says that for all the hard work and waiting, it's paid off. And in the end, it's not so much different than his previous job in sales. The customer, he said, still comes first.

"Work hard," he says. "And make people smile."