‘Almost-ready’ is an awkward place to be.

You have moved beyond wondering whether you could start a business. There is something you want to pursue seriously. But you haven’t yet reached the point where customers, sales and money arrive with enough regularity to call the thing dependable.

That’s the territory The Banana Stand covers.

You don’t need to know everything about running a business. You need to know what matters now, what comes next, and what can safely wait.

I organise The Banana Stand around five subjects:

Customers: understand who has the problem you’re equipped to solve.
Sales: turn their interest into money changing hands.
Money: know if the economics work and keep enough cash to continue.
Operations: do what you promise consistently, without creating unnecessary complexity.
Direction: decide where your limited time, attention and money should go next.

Everything I publish fits somewhere in those five areas. A new article arrives each Sunday, usually dealing with one problem, decision or system you can put to work in a small business.

If you’re new here, there are three places to start.

What Is Your Banana Stand? is about recognising an opportunity worth pursuing.

How Do You Know? is about getting evidence that the opportunity deserves more of your time and money.

How Do You Make It Work? is about turning those first signs of demand into a business you can run repeatedly.

Think of them as three stages:

See it. Prove it. Run it.

You don’t have to want a large business. You don’t have to want employees, investors or an exit.

You do need something that works well enough to give you choices about what happens next.

That’s where we start.