What Not to Do When Starting a Business
A Candid Guide from Someone Who's Been There
For starters, don't go into the weekend without reading this 🤣
You might have come across a lot of advice about what you should do, but there's little talk about what you shouldn't.
Here's a small list of things you shouldn't do:
1. Quit Your Job Because You Hate It
If you are doing it for ego or because you hate your job, don't get into it. Switch jobs if you need.
2. Start Without Money in the Bank
Don't do it if you don't have a 12-month financial runway. Yup, read that again. For the first year or two, you are not going to make money (most businesses don't).
Three months in and you're stressing over rent or groceries? Well, you are already doomed. Building a business requires you to be creative, and creativity flows when the mind is freer. Stay out of debt.
3. Skip Marketing
Don't start a business if you are not willing to learn sales, marketing, and social media. Today, these are the bare minimum skills to even qualify as an entrepreneur. 90% of everything a business does is marketing.
4. Try to Be the Next Big Thing
Don't try to reinvent the wheel - meaning, pick something that's working in the market and try to make it way better. That's your first attempt.
If you can't improve and sell something that's really working, you won't be able to sell something new anyway. Oh, and there's nothing new under the sun. So, don't bother. Imitate, don't innovate.
5. Fall in Love With Your Idea
If you think you have the greatest idea in the world, don't start a business. You are too much in love with your idea and won't be able to handle the hard criticism it will receive once it's out there.
Plus, ideas are cheap. The real juice is in execution. Remember:
Great idea, shitty execution = shitty business
Ok-ish idea, great execution = Good Business
6. Count on Friends and Family
Your friends and family are your well-wishers? No. They only care about looking good and would say nice things about your idea/business but won't buy anything. This is a reality.
7. Think It's a Quick Game
Don't do it for style. Don't do it if you are not ready to commit at least a decade to building a business.
You won't be making real money in the first 2-3 years of business. Scaling and real growth would happen after 1,000 days or maybe more. There are exceptional cases where this doesn't stand true, but for most businesses, it does.
These pointers are based on our learning as co-founders who have attempted building a business. We are still figuring out a successful route to building a successful business, but for sure, we have had our learnings of what not to do.
Alrighty, that would be all from my end.
Cheers to the creatives 🍻
Ciao
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