5 Things You Should Know Before Starting A Business

Starting a business nowadays is just the sexy thing to do. Entrepreneurs are in the spotlight and everyone wants to give it a go!
It’s a great thing and it’s one of the best times to be an entrepreneur. Unfortunately, it’s very tough to become a successful entrepreneur overnight. It takes more than a slick name and fitted suits to start a successful business.

While anyone can start their own business, it takes a lot of learning and wisdom to create a lasting one. Here are 5 things you should know before starting a business:

1. You’re Going To Work More Than You Have Ever Before

The biggest thing people never see is the time and effort entrepreneurs put behind their businesses. Everyone sees the result, but rarely ever the process behind the result.

Business owners put hours and hours of time and effort to make their venture successful. Often times, they go unpaid during this time. If you want to start a business, you should know that success isn’t easy and requires a lot of hard work.

You will need to be fully devoted and committed to your venture to be successful. Long hours, late nights, and more effort than reward are just a few things every business owner goes through at some point.

2. Good Luck On Your Billion Dollar Sell Out

I’m never one to set limits on anything I do, but I see too many business owners expecting ridiculous things. It’s great to think big, but you must have a plan behind it. I’ve heard way too many business owners expecting to sell their company for billions overnight.

While it’s a great goal to have, it needs to have a plan of action behind it. Think big, but plan bigger. Don’t expect to make a ton of money overnight like Instagram because it’s rare and requires a lot of hard work.

3. Don’t Be Afraid To Fail

1st time entrepreneurs cannot expect success instantly. If your successful on your first shot, that’s great but most of the time it doesn’t happen! 75% of startups fail within the first 6 months.

That’s just pure facts and facts cannot be disregarded. However, failure isn’t a bad thing. Failure is part of many business ventures and it is one of the best learning experiences possible.

Fail fast, fail hard, and learn from it! Many businesses have attributed their biggest success immediately after they saw their biggest failure. Successful entrepreneurs know how to embrace failure and bounce back!

4. Ideas Don’t Mean Shit

Take it from someone who has wasted thousands of dollars on patents, ideas do NOT mean shit. Stop worrying about someone stealing your idea and starting focusing on how you plan to execute it.

Bypassing patents isn’t a very difficult thing to do. Your idea really doesn’t mean anything (just ask any investor) until you’ve done something with it.

When Facebook had launched in 2004, a competitor “Friendster” already had 3 million users. Facebook executed better and became the biggest social network in history. Great execution and success will meet no matter what!

5. You Aren’t Going To Capture 15% Of Your Market Share

All entrepreneurs at some point do some math and come out with unbelievable projections. Don’t worry, it’s happened to all of us. As soon as you do that, erase every memory of that from your mind.

Customers are hard to get. Customers cost money. Customers are needy. When you put these 3 key elements together, you’ll understand that your projections aren’t close to what you’ll be profiting.

Before you start a business, have a plan to acquire customers and a plan to service them. Great businesses sell great products and deliver better customer service. Use that model to accelerate your business!

Conclusion

As you can see, starting a business isn’t a walk in the park. There are a lot of challenges that entrepreneurs face when trying to climb the ladder through the business world. These are just 5 things you should know before starting a business!

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