Entrepreneurs are curious by nature, yet time and time again, we’ve come across entrepreneurs who say they are ready to start a business. Yet, in my meetings with clients, I ask some basic questions about running of the business, like, “why are you different?” or “How will customers learn about your business?” and “How are you pricing your effort?” or “Who is your direct competitor?” And, I get that look of fear, or of confusion. Yet, these are basic “business 101” questions.
I’m equally dumbfounded because these same clients are truly brilliant in many respects, either in coming up with a brand new product, a clever new service, or reinventing an existing product that makes me shake my head and think, “Why didn’t I think of that!”
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
― Benjamin Franklin
This blog may be one of the most important ones we post since it hits on something that’s hard to swallow for most entrepreneurs, that is, first: “yes, there are some things you don’t know about your business,” and secondly, “it’s okay that you don’t.”
What we would like to have our readers take away is to accept that very important facet about running a business: there will be things that you don’t know, and that you must get out of your own ego and be ready to obtain and listen to expertise from those who have been there, no matter what.
To prove my point, after a conversation with a client who said, “I have no competition,” I then spoke with a business investor and asked what he thought. “That is one of the biggest red flags in our business,” he said. “We will, right there on the spot, turn down any request for capital when we hear a potential customer say there is no competition. Every business has competition.”
Be on the winning side of a business, take off your know-it-all-hat, and consider these points:
- Entrepreneurs are inundated and yes sometimes overwhelmed, with the questions and issues that come with running a business; one must find solutions to understand them, and prioritize their order of importance in your business.
- Entrepreneurs may have something against doing research because it “slows them down,” or “takes too long,” or they just want to stay in action mode. That’s okay. Then, get someone in who likes to do that stuff.
- Maybe you don’t want to know the truth, that there is a business two miles away that offers the same brilliant service. And to that I say, “Find a way to make yours different and better.” One must put on their big boy, or big girl, pants and deal with it.
- The excitement of starting a business is like a drug, and the momentum just keeps growing as the business moves along. But, if you’re too caught up in the trees, and not looking at the forest, there may be a big fall ahead.
Dr. Bert Shlensky is president of www.startupconnection.net. He and the Startup Connection team specialize in helping entrepreneurs assess and creatively resolve business questions.
