Written for John Rice's MLT organization --- for aspiring entrepreneurs.
These are several of the vision and gut check issues that both enable and dissuade entrepreneurs at launch time. They are highly personal and individual yet common for those about to launch a new business. Most entrepreneurs think they're alone struggling with these issues; not true, even highly successful established entrepreneurs early on had the same demons and dreams.
These are the gestalt items to tackle before crossing the Rubicon --- the go/nogo concerns that will trigger the entrepreneur to stay put or jump. For many, the crossing is a true Rubicon, if it works there’s no going back. No incrementalism here, these are the gestalt for a full-force committed jump into a new journey.
Among turning points this is it; it will redefine how you live your life. For better or worse you’re now totally in charge. No more excuses about the ‘job’, it’s yours to define. Beyond the career, you’ll be forced to grow personally in ways not imagined, mostly for the good. The new journey will amplify and give a pulpit for your strengths; and also make Achilles heels out of your weaknesses. No more being numb in the corporate world, welcome to life in the fast lane --- you’re partaking of the American dream. Big stakes here, you can become top dog in town or be first in the unemployment line.
This list is compiled by several entrepreneurs who personally had to come to terms with and reconcile them. If not acknowledged now many of these issues will haunt you later --- best to deal with upfront and try to rectify or at least acknowledge.
Think of this document as a traffic light. Some issues 'red', if you haven't yet reconciled stop till you do. Other issues a cautious 'yellow', to pause and consider. Some a go-ahead 'green', these are the enablers; a signal you really have something.
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You might think this is the beginning of your journey. No so, your journey began with the dream you could make a difference.
Is your undertaking a dream of a lifetime or a business instrument to make money? With much good luck, planning, and good council a dream has a chance; if money is the main motivation you'll be thrown out of the saddle at the first bump.
Your spouse or significant other better be on board and an enthusiastic supporter. There will be many sleepless nights, you'll need encouragement by the person next to you.
Share your dream with other entrepreneurs and you may get support, encouragement, and maybe some sage advice. Share your dream with fellow coworkers and they'll tell you how good the present company's medical plan and retirement are.
Try preselling your service or product to a customer. If you get rejected either the product isn't good enough, or your story is not prime time, or the price too high. Whatever the rejection is, work it until you’ve got it right, and then try another presale. Value the rejection; it's a free education and saving you a lot of money. Keep at this till you have a customer signed up; give them a discount for the delivery risk of the presale. If you're getting presold customers you've really got something --- green light.
It takes a bold vision, heartfelt inspiration, and cold-hearted pragmatism; you'll need to master all three. One essential step is to translate your vision into incremental building steps that are both achievable and an acid test of your idea. This bootstrapping is an essential philosophy; succeed at level one, then level two, etc. Each level providing both the product validation and the experience and revenue to start at the next level.
Financial bootstrapping. As difficult as it is, the most simple means to seed capital is money you save or raise yourself. Dealing with investors is like quicksand; it first takes a finger, then a hand, then your whole arm, .... Often to sway investors it takes unrealistic projections and the entrepreneur is constantly reassuring and appeasing investors. Most people I know tell me takes a full half of their time. If at all possible use your own seed money and use that half of your time and energy to grow the business.
One way to financially seed the new enterprise is to save money and earmark it to fund the early months. It's good to know exactly how many months of a base your stash will support until the first stream of revenue. For example, you may initially have three months covered. This certainly focuses attention on exactly what sales events you need to stay in business. If some business does come in you can think in terms of extending the base, maybe from three months to five. Think of the base as your lunch runway, as things work the runway gets longer and longer.
One of the most difficult issues is dealing with the fear of leaving a paying job and launching your new business. There are all manner of different issues that evoke fear and become a barrier to creating a new business. Among these are not having a steady paycheck, not having a job title or position, not having the corporate structure for motivation and reinforcement, not having the feedback from a peer group.
Initially, the corporate structure is one of the main reasons entrepreneurs leave their jobs. What's overlooked at the beginning is, as distasteful as it seems, a boss and peer group provide immediate direction and motivation. The entrepreneur has to be sure he's self-motivated and can provide his own direction because the new enterprise at first will feel like a vacuum -- -- -- and the entrepreneur has to supply his own getup and go. This can be a lonely experience when you see your neighbors drive off to their jobs and friends in your social circle talk about their job title and position. The euphoria of initial success will overcome the sense of being stranded; however, if the first few months are a real drought it is tough to hold your self-identity together.
One of the key ingredients to entrepreneurial success is to think big. What's the service or product that would make a game-changing difference? What service or product would add breakthrough social value or dramatically increase corporate efficiency? Now the trick is to translate this big idea into a practical way to build the products or deliver a service -- -- -- no easy trick. If the idea is big enough the translation into a deliverable product is the real creative leap. Don't worry if the first few initial attempts don't work. Rather than scaling back the idea to something less than exciting stay with the challenge of packaging or delivering the service in a practical way. The point is don't give up. Many successful entrepreneurs have iterated this creative leap hundred of times, with hundreds of apparent failures. And then finally it clicks -- -- -- there's a way to deliver the service and the enterprise is enabled. From outward appearances the entrepreneur appears brilliant -- -- but he'd be the first to tell you it failed a couple hundred times before it worked. Every time it fails it will refine your concept; so considerate it an education -- -- -- but don't give up on the idea!
Thinking big and working at the delivery of a high-value product or service is the key ingredient successful entrepreneurs have. Many established entrepreneurs that are tenfold more successful than you or I are in that position because they think big about high-value and breakthrough services. They're ten times more successful but not ten times more intelligent! Nor do they work ten times more hard! The difference is they think ten times bigger, and their creative genius is how to turn a huge idea into a practical product.
