Tag Archive for 'Small Business'

How far are you willing to go?

Published on December 1, 2009 in business, future and personal. Closed Tags: , .
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I’ve had the pleasure of having front row seats to watch my friend Jason develop his business Jackthreads (check it out, it’s a private shopping community) over the last 4 or so years.  Things are going very well for Jason now as his membership and revenue numbers continue to explode month over month.  More importantly he’s now able to work full time doing something he loves with customers and employees who also love what he’s doing.   The business is now drawing all sorts of interest from investors to partners to customers.  Everyone seems impressed by this thing that seemingly popped up over night.  I can tell you, it didn’t.

Jason took the long path here.  He started out 4 years ago with a totally different business model. He has had more than a few people tell him he was crazy, that his idea was off, that he had no business building something like that from Columbus, OH.   He had all kinds of jobs from bar back to sales consultant to selling towels just to sustain himself while he worked through this concept.  He burned through at least 5 different programming groups / teams and watched his development process drag on and on. He had to work tirelessly just to get someone to give him a chance to test his concept.   He had more than a few “what the hell am I doing,” moments.  There were more moments where quitting made more sense than going on.   Obviously, he chose to stick with it.

As an entrepreneur, you are going to have lots of “what the hell am I doing,” moments.  It’s a key part of the journey. In fact most cases are like Jason’s, where you must go through the grind of work and doubt until you finally see some traction.  The deciding factor ultimately is how you deal with those moments.  Do you stop as so many do, and as I have done?  Or do you push through as Jason did.  How many moments of doubt, how many “no’s,” moments of frustration, odd jobs are you willing to go through to see your idea to fruition?  How far are you willing to go?

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NY Times article on unemployment leading to entrepreneurship

Published on August 25, 2009 in business and personal. Closed Tags: , , , , .

I enjoyed this article in yesterday’s times about people who have become entrepreneurs after losing their jobs in the most recent recession.  I guess this is really unsurprising, and there have been numerous articles about this of late, but it’s always nice to see.  It seems with each new downturn, there is a significant upturn in people turning to entrepreneurship.  There is no cheaper and better time to go out and be an entrepreneur as the cost of starting a business has come down to literally a few hundred bucks (including legal).  Even better is that the costs required to sustain a business have come way down as well, so the hurdle to sustainability is significantly lower for a vast majority of these entrepreneurs.  But something I hadn’t thought of until today…the one huge hurdle that remains, especially for older first time entrepreneurs, is health insurance.  The people mentioned in this article are used to good health care coverage provided by their employers.  As an entrepreneur not only are you on your own in terms of health care coverage, but it is WAY more expensive as an individual or small business.  I have to wonder how many people thought about pursuing a more entrepreneurial path, but had to turn back because of health care coverage.  I think that’s a shame..it’s clear to see that encouraging more people to go out and create is good for us all, so lowering and removing the health care hurdle could be a significant stimulus in itself.  (not making a political statement here, just an observation).  There can, should, and will always be hurdles to entrepreneurship.  I just don’t think health care coverage should be one.

Ny Times: Unemployment can lead to Entrepreneurship

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Jeff Bezos on Passion

Published on August 25, 2009 in business, links and personal. Closed Tags: , , , , , .
NEW YORK - MARCH 3: (FILE) Founder and CEO of...
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Enjoyed this comment from founder of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos on the role of passion in starting a business…

One of the huge mistakes people make is that they try to force an interest on themselves. If you’re really interested in software and computer science, you should focus on that. But if you’re really interested in medicine, and you decide you’re going to become an Internet entrepreneur because it looks like everybody else is doing well, then that’s probably not going to work. You don’t choose your passions, your passions choose you. One of the reasons you saw so many companies that were formed in 1998 or 1999 fail is that they were chasing the wave. And that usually doesn’t work. Find that area that you are interested in and passionate about–and wait for the wave to find you.–

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Inputs of Entrepreneurship

Published on February 25, 2009 in business. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .
Layfield is one of a generation of UK entrepre...
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I’ve been thinking and wondering a lot lately about what needs to come together to create a working company.  I’m not going to touch the issue of “successful,” company because that’s really impossible to quantify (at least for me), so instead I’m just going to look at what I think is needed to make a “working” company, defined as one that is growing, can meet all of its financial obligations, and support the entrepreneurs behind it.  As best as I can see it there are 4 inputs required to create a working company (all either provided or gathered  by the entrepreneur):

  1. time
  2. expertise (includes a network of contacts)
  3. money
  4. energy / passion
  5. **Luck

I struggled with putting energy and passion in this list because I think it is more important than any of those items, and it influences them all.  The odds are (and we always hear about this) the more passionate you are about what you’re working on, the more leverage you’ll have on everything else (time, money, expertise).  If you’re passionate, you will find a way to get all of those ingredients together.  In fact I would say that number 4 is more of the wildcard here.  It can make up for a huge defiency in any of the other items or all.  In fact I guess you could call passion/energy the leverage.  It helps you do more with less.

All of these are needed in some amount to get a company going.   If you’re extremely strong in one area you can make up for a weakness in other areas.  For example if you’re expert in building and managing sales teams, and your new business is in sales of some kind, it will likely take less time, money, and energy on your part to get things up and running.  If you don’t have any money, and you don’t have any expertise in the space you are hoping to work in, then you’ll need to devote a lot more time (and I hope you have the passion to drive you through it).

I added luck with a star because I think all companies need it.  The problem is you can’t really plan on good luck, you can only increase your odds of getting it through time.  The more time you’re able to buy yourself and your business, the more likely you’ll have some luck on your side.

I’m sure a lot of people will wonder where idea fits in all of this.  I”m learning that idea in most cases is not all that important.  It can really help people be excited about what they are working on, but I think mission can do more for making someone passionate.  The idea itself is usually just a starting point, a place to organize resources.  Rarely will the idea you start with be the one that works.  They usually evolve very quickly as more time, money, and expertise are added.

I’d say in my current situation I’m capable of providing some expertise, some money, and some energy…but my best contribution is my time.  Sometimes that really can be frustrating.  Without expertise or money to push things forward, you just need the time to experiment (and make a lot of mistakes).

When setting out to start a business, take a look at the list above.  What, at the moment, are you most capable of bringing to the table?  Are you OK with that?  Can you really give all that is required (especially in $$ or time)?

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