A discussion about the process, steps and options of starting a new business

Business author Michael Masterson is an expert on building businesses.  He has some great thoughts in a recent article on the subject of making sure your new business idea is going to work, and when to test that idea.

He explains:  You have an idea about how your business can do something new or better. You have run that idea through a gauntlet of trusted colleagues, individuals with the intelligence and experience to pummel the hot air out of it.

The result is something stronger, more focused, and more powerful than your original idea - something that has a good chance of achieving the benefits (increased sales, decreased refunds, etc.) that you imagined in the first place. Plus, it now has the support of several of the company's key leaders - the very people who initially beat it up for you.

You are excited to get it going - the sooner, the better. Your impulse is to gather the troops and make a public announcement or to send out a bulk e-mail letting everyone know how their world is going to change.

But you shouldn't do that. Not just yet. There is one more step you must take before making the big leap. You must convert your good, trim, tested idea into a goal - one that is (a) easy to understand and (b) easy to implement.

You will make the goal easy to understand by carefully crafting a short (less than one page is preferable) memo that explains it in simple terms, using specific examples and analogies (if needed).

You will make the goal easy to implement by breaking it into a series of smaller tasks. What you are aiming for is a step-by-step map that gets your management team (those who will be responsible for making your idea happen) from where you are today to exactly where you want to be, based on your carefully articulated memo.