Entrepreneurial Advice

I had the privilege of having breakfast with a man that I respect yesterday. I wanted to talk to him about starting businesses and how to balance that in life. Here is some of what he told me:

• The vision for his own business was never an ‘if’ but always a ‘when.’
• Get started in manageable increments, then, with confidence, step into a larger arena.
• If you have some form of expertise, stick with it, few will have niche talents like yours.
• Develop/participate in/use a community of peers to have somewhere to take your produce and ideas for feedback and buy-ins.
• Find your niche, where competition is thin and you can excel.
• Have a defined plan for a set amount of time to realize/sharpen your vision.
• His toughest lesson was not heeding the advice that he often sought about business practices, trying to step outside of his expertise without a vision for his efforts.
• Once you have a clear vision, with tenure, capital should not be a worry.
• Be smarter, know the laws/maxims/industry standards (repetition rings true over time).
• Lead from above, the business depends on the people who do the work.
• Don’t put someone in an administrative position who isn’t smarter about and can’t do their job better than you can.
• Take your time to achieve retirement, it is supposed to take 45 years anyway.
• Don’t rush into marriage/family/business, it leads to being over-stressed and under-financed.
• Get as much education as you can, it makes the physical work easier.
• Have the character to own business mistakes, being a real man in your marriage, and constantly work on the relationship whether you are in a boom or bust season. It takes reassurance either way.
• Make sure that your priorities are correct when investing: wife, family, business, friends. You only get one shot at some of them.