Hear ye, hear ye: All those who want to be spoon-fed, get out of the entrepreneurship business! I was asked, “what’s the most popular business nowadays?” as if following the popularity bandwagon is the magic bullet for $$$$$. It ain’t. Some rules about starting a business:
- Know something about the business industry, or be able to pay someone who does.
- Choose something that you can really get excited about.There are often long, dark days in an entrepreneur’s life, and you’ll need that passion to sustain you so that you don’t throw in the towel prematurely.
- If you’re jumping on a really “hot” business trend, chances are you’ve already missed the wave. It’s like buying stocks. By the time the general public gets around to saying, “We should invest in Google,” and the pundits have enough data to analyze it, the peak time for the “big hit” is long gone.
- There’s no formula for getting rich quick.Two people could choose to start the exact same business:One does well; the other fails.There are too many variables to predict what will “take” and what won’t.One person could choose a popular business and fail; someone else could choose a more obscure business and succeed.
- Do your own flippin’ research. Someone could hand you a pre-set model for doing business (e.g., a franchise), and you could still botch it. Starting a business isn’t like buying a lottery ticket. You have to expect to invest time and money if you want the big payoff. Your time will be well-spent learning about entrepreneurship, the industry you want to work in and how to measure (financially) whether this will be a sound use of your resources. Only you can come to that decision for yourself.
One Response to “Basic Training 01-23-2009: F is for Do Your Own Flippin’ Research”
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January 26th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Excellent points!
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