The 7 Harsh Realities of Starting a Business
It still amazes me how much people are impressed when you say you run your own business. They automatically think you have lots of money, drive an executive car, and disappear on plenty of foreign holidays. Unfortunately, it isn’t like that at all, and I found this article by Neil Patel which is pretty close to how it really is to start a business. He talks about 7 harsh realities of starting a business, in relation to the entrepreneurs he meets in his day to day activities. Here are his realities and my comments with regard to a bootstrapped small business owner;
Starting a business is like a roller coaster
It is that, except it is too much like a roller coaster. The hard times drag whilst you chug up the never ending incline, and then the good times flash by in the blink of an eye. When you start a small business be ready for really hard work. You might be successful, but even when you are, the hard times seem a lot longer than the good times
Owning a business isn’t easier than working at a 9 to 5 job
Well actually, it can be easier, but that is when you simply replace your existing job working for a company with another job working for yourself, which many business owners end up doing. To get the larger rewards though, you need to make a larger commitment, and you find yourself working at all hours, and even when out of the office, you are thinking about problems and solutions and plans and whatnot.
Consumers have to believe you are solving a problem
This goes back to knowing why you are here, and if you aren’t trying to solve a problem for someone, then it will be hard to do anything other than be a ‘me too’ business, having to follow the companies that are solving problems and fighting for the scraps with the other ‘me too’ businesses.
You have to make money
This is a given for a small business owner if he wants to feed himself, and many small businesses start up thinking they can make loads of money by charging less than the company they left and keeping the profits themselves. It doesn’t work like that unfortunately, and there are many hidden costs when you start a business, which will suck your starting capital up very quickly if you are not careful.
You have to give a lot to get a little
Small business owners do this all the time. The impersonal touch and the massive marketing budgets of the larger firms mean that we build our business by giving away what we have got, and that is time, and personal service.
Coolness is inversely correlated to success
Mixed feelings about this one, as cool will attract customers in the short term. You just need to continue innovating so that you are always cool (look at Apple), or you need to have your business model sorted before you lose the coolness and become boring. I do think that it is better to start cool, and then find a way to become essential.
Time is worth more than money
This is were small businesses can excel but rarely do. We can move much faster than our larger competitors, and get products and services out to the customer faster. This agility is just not taken advantage of enough, and that is why many small businesses just do not make it past mediocre.
So, those are Neil Patels 7 realities of starting a business. A good read.
Related posts:
- Want to be Rich? Make a Business worth Buying
- Why Small Businesses Fail
- Why Small Manufacturing Businesses Fail
- Business Plans for the Small Business
- How to pick a success theme for your small business
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