Five things entrepreneurs should never do #blindpost
This is a blindpost based on the James Altucher article, Five Things Entrepreneurs Should Never Do. Per the blindpost rules I did not read the article before I wrote this, but rather used the title and wrote my own post.
Five things entrepreneurs should never do:
1. An entrepreneur should never think that failure is a bad thing. Failure is part of the game when you’re an entrepreneur. Hopefully you can fail in small ways so you continue to learn and evolve, because its the scale of the fail that’s important.
2. An entrepreneur should never take more money than they need. First of all, the more money you take (we’re talking funding from angels or VCs) the more pressure you feel. And the more you start to wonder what the people that gave you the money want you to do vs. going with your gut and trusting your instincts and vision.
3. An entrepreneur should never end up in a passion-less position. A guy who loves to bake bread and make cakes starts a bakery. Pretty soon 90% of his time is managing the employees, overseeing the finances, worrying about the marketing…pretty much anything other than making cake. And he’s miserable. I was lucky enough to start my first company because I loved making websites but then I quickly learned that more than anything, I loved running and growing a business. So for me that transition was perfect. But for many people the allure of entrepreneurship can lead them to enjoying their “job” less because they aren’t doing what they truly love. You can still be an entrepreneur and do the things you love, just find the right partner(s).
4. An entrepreneur should never forget about growth. This might sound obvious but I’ve seen it many times. An entrepreneur wins a new account or gets a new order and then suddenly for the next several months they’re focused on delivering against that new business and fail to remember to keep the pipeline full. I particularly think that growing a business is the hardest thing to accomplish and I frequently push entrepreneurs to find ways to make more of their time focused on growth than anything else.
5. An entrepreneur should never let their business overtake the truly important things in their life. Starting a company is a ridiculously difficult endeavor and it takes an almost impossible amount of effort to pull it off. But that doesn’t mean you have to let it take over your life and it definitely doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the things in your life that are the most important (for me that would be my family). One of the most successful entrepreneurs I know has a “rhythm for life” that you should check out. It won’t be easy, but it can be done.
~ if you liked this blindpost, here are more you can check out. And a handful of my friends will suggest blindposts for me to write from time to time, please feel free to do that too!
