I am an entrepreneur. I started my own e-commerce company a few years ago and have never looked back since. Best decision of my life. Not to say that it was all easy and rosy, I had to deal with a lot of hard work, stress, and uncertainty. But it was all worth it. Now I have so much freedom to do what I really like - travel more, meet people, read, watch movies etc.
Many of my friends and people I meet ask me about my entrepreneurial journey. Not to say that I am an expert or a highly accomplished one (far from it, I still have a long long way to go and many more things to do!). However one common belief I find amongst most people who want to start a business is that they are always looking for something new and innovative. They believe that is the only way to start a new business - doing something that is not there in the market or something that no one has ever done before. Now, we do need entrepreneurs who do precisely that - start or make something that didn't exist before. The world would be a very different place without these guys and I have a huge amount of respect for them. In fact, the amount of risk they take is astronomical - the chances that your company will survive are very very low. Which brings me back to my point - when you want to start a new business it really does not have to be something new. In fact, it really does not have to have anything new about it! Its all about the execution. It is far less risky to enter a market or implement an idea that has already been done before, but just do it better. The fact that there are people doing a particular thing already establishes that the thing itself is feasible and can be made into a business. That is 80% of the battle - finding something that will actually make money. And if someone is already making money doing it, then you just have to do it better!
Having said this, my ultimate goal is to do something that is innovative - something that has not been done before. Just that it would have been so much more difficult and risky to do this without any financial stability or experience running a company. Now that I have this experience and a bit of financial stability with my successful ecommerce business - it gives me much more room to try and do something truly innovative.
My philosophy in business (and life in general) is always to cover the base. Never take any risk that can completely destroy something, not matter how much the upside is. I always like to cover the base so even if shit hits the fan, I know whats the worst that can happen and I know that I can handle it. I am not saying that I always, without fail, follow this principle (I can think of many cases where I haven't) but I do try to as much as I can and certainly more than most people I know or have met.
So in short, a new business does not have to be something brand new. You just have to do it better than the next guy. And make sure you always cover the base i.e. know the downside and be prepared for the worst case scenario in anything in life and business. Sounds a bit preachy, but I think I am in a preachy mood today so what the heck...
Many of my friends and people I meet ask me about my entrepreneurial journey. Not to say that I am an expert or a highly accomplished one (far from it, I still have a long long way to go and many more things to do!). However one common belief I find amongst most people who want to start a business is that they are always looking for something new and innovative. They believe that is the only way to start a new business - doing something that is not there in the market or something that no one has ever done before. Now, we do need entrepreneurs who do precisely that - start or make something that didn't exist before. The world would be a very different place without these guys and I have a huge amount of respect for them. In fact, the amount of risk they take is astronomical - the chances that your company will survive are very very low. Which brings me back to my point - when you want to start a new business it really does not have to be something new. In fact, it really does not have to have anything new about it! Its all about the execution. It is far less risky to enter a market or implement an idea that has already been done before, but just do it better. The fact that there are people doing a particular thing already establishes that the thing itself is feasible and can be made into a business. That is 80% of the battle - finding something that will actually make money. And if someone is already making money doing it, then you just have to do it better!
Having said this, my ultimate goal is to do something that is innovative - something that has not been done before. Just that it would have been so much more difficult and risky to do this without any financial stability or experience running a company. Now that I have this experience and a bit of financial stability with my successful ecommerce business - it gives me much more room to try and do something truly innovative.
My philosophy in business (and life in general) is always to cover the base. Never take any risk that can completely destroy something, not matter how much the upside is. I always like to cover the base so even if shit hits the fan, I know whats the worst that can happen and I know that I can handle it. I am not saying that I always, without fail, follow this principle (I can think of many cases where I haven't) but I do try to as much as I can and certainly more than most people I know or have met.
So in short, a new business does not have to be something brand new. You just have to do it better than the next guy. And make sure you always cover the base i.e. know the downside and be prepared for the worst case scenario in anything in life and business. Sounds a bit preachy, but I think I am in a preachy mood today so what the heck...
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