Top Myths About Starting A Business
From our experience consulting to entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small businesses over the past ten years, we’ve gained much exposure to the realities of starting and growing businesses. We thought it would be interesting — and hopefully instructive — to lay out some of the myths and assumptions of aspiring entrepreneurs.
1. It Is Only Worth Doing If You Become the Next Google. The vast majority of small businesses will always remain just that — small businesses. The odds of starting a business and have it become the next Google or a publicly-traded company are very, very small. While we would never discourage entrepreneurs for aiming for the stars, it is also important to have success metrics grounded in probability. An expectation of a minimum of 2years of very, very hard work with little financial return but with a lot of learning (and some fun hopefully as well) involved is a good starting point. From this first milestone, then and only then should there start to be an expectation of significant wealth-building. Find that balance between the long term vision and the Monday morning action plan — and success, while not guaranteed, is very likely.
2. The Government Is Your Enemy. Having said the above, in the mixed economy in which we live, government revenue opportunities, on a local, state, federal, and international level, have never been greater for small business. While slow, meandering, and confusing to approach, governments have much to recommend them as clients and customers, not the least of which is that once sold, government clients pay well and are not bad debt risks. A somewhat trite but very important credo to remember when selling to governments, even more so than in business, is that “it is not as much what you know but who you know.”
3. The Government Is Your Friend. We are constantly astounded by the regulatory and paperwork maze that a startup company needs to negotiate and constantly monitor to both start and maintain a business. It is a significant time, money, and energy drain that detracts from the main value creation intent of a new business. Our best advice in this regard — as resources are available — is to find competent legal and accounting counsel, to both advise upon and outsource the regulatory burden, so you can focus on business-building.
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