Emotion, passion and excitement are at a fever pitch when you’re a startup entrepreneur. You feel you can take on the world. You have all sorts of plans for bringing your dreams to reality.
That’s all well and good; very good, in fact. You’re going to need that drive and hold those dreams close. But it’s important to mix a strong dose of reason with those heady, intoxicating elements.
Be realistically conservative
You’ve charted the course, and you have an ambitious action agenda. You’re going to invest $15,000 in capital expenses, buy $12,000 worth of merchandise and inventory, pay rent for a trendy office suite and be profitable within three months of operation, because the world is going to love what you’re offering. Right?
Whoa, buddy! Down, boy! Simmer down, sister!
Typically in business, things take a lot longer and are much costlier than the average entrepreneur projects.
Time is the answer. Your awareness campaign takes time. Customer comfort and word of mouth takes time. Learning best business practices takes time. Patience, as in most things, is a virtue.
Wrap enthusiasm around solid, data-driven plans
Any core assumption you make about the performance of your business should have some strong roots in logic, rationality or supporting data. If you’re missing a key piece of that data, be ultra-conservative.
If you’re conservative from the get-go, you have a sporting chance. You get the right type of financing. You have the right amount of patience.
Copyright 2009 StartupNation, LLC
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