“Don’t think, just do.” – Horace
I just did it…
I jumped right in and pulled the trigger. I was a business owner. I was going
to be a millionaire. A grin a mile wide, a fat bank account would ensure that
smile was pretty. No more working for the man.
Remember last time? I discussed the idea that sometimes we just need to jump in the fire. Stop talking about it and stop thinking about it. Meaning, talk is cheap, thought is cheap, but action? Now you’re talking! Wait a minute, talk is cheap, though. Boy, am I confused.
See? I can think myself into doing nothing.
My point is, I know many people just like me that can over think anything with the end result being absolutely nothing; If you call missed opportunity nothing, that is. Remember when I said I have seen products hit the market that I had thought about creating but did nothing about? I am sure many of you can relate on some level.
In part 1 I basically said just get out there and do it. Stop thinking and act. There is a very important word in that statement; “thinking.”
When I say that I assume that you have been thinking about doing something like starting a business, changing careers, going back to school, you can fill in the blank here, the essence of my advice is to not over think or complicate it. When we do that, many of us simply end up doing nothing at because we become afraid or overwhelmed
We use excuses…
I don’t have the time right now…
I don’t have enough money yet…
I don’t have all the skills yet…
I am too old…
I am too young…
You’re afraid to fail is what you are. If not that, you are in some kind of fear and it is holding you back. You believe the negative thoughts in your head.
As I mentioned in part 1, I am not suggesting that you be irresponsible at all, and let this story I promised you last time about my premature jump confirm why.
I have always had an entrepreneurial bend to my thinking. starting way back with little side hustles growing up. I always had the desire to be my own boss and have a business, well, either that or be a rock star. Jumping to my early twenties my now wife and I had discussed starting a business with friends. Her Dad was a successful entrepreneur so it seemed to run in the family and felt right. We went through many ideas and settled on a design company. This quickly became a clothing company because none of us were stellar graphic designers. We settled on a name, well sort of, more on that later. Looked up what we needed to do to legally become a business and off we went, dreaming of becoming millionaires! Because once you own a business you become a millionaire, right?
See anything wrong with this?
I’m not being vague for the sake of being concise. We literally just had a a handful of discussions about ideas, looked up the legal requirements, declared “we are starting a business”, and secured the business license, sellers permit, fictitious business name, and federal ID number. Bam! We are in business.
See anything wrong yet?
Bingo! No business plan! Guess we took that opening quote too seriously! It’s like going skydiving with half of a parachute, you might not die but you’re going to crash pretty hard.
Sure, we did a bit a brainstorming basic research about start up costs, how we would pay for everything, what kind of products we would sell, and of course, owner titles, roles, and responsibilities, because what’s the purpose of owning a business if you can’t have a cool, bigger than life title?
Well, what I learned in college is that the purpose of any for profit business is to provide something of value in exchange for money to make a profit! Duh! We skipped right over that part. Like I said, we did do some research and a bit of planning, but we became so enthralled with the grandiose vision of being business owners that we figured we would be successful no matter what. Just start the business and figure the rest out later.
Oh yeah, the name. So our planning was so disjointed that all three owners never confirmed how the name was spelled, we just assumed, and you know what they say, right? So we filed the name and paid extra fees a few more times to legally change the name. That was all within the first couple months, before we even knew what we were going to sell or who we were going to sell it too when it was finally created.
Lesson number one; poor planning costs time and money. Two very valuable resources when you run a business.
How did it turn out you ask? Stay tuned for part 3 where I share how jumping into this fire BURNED!…(and not the good kind of burn)
Talk Soon,
Kevin W – @LEAP272
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