I hear too many people say “I wish I was as brave as you”… come on in, I’m not brave. Just resilient. You have to be when there is not a regular wage check coming in.
Resilience comes down to planning, especially planning to squirrel away resources (assets, contacts, knowledge) against the time you need them. These resources are abundant yet undervalued in paid employment, before you jump ship and go it alone.
Yes, I agree with you here. I hadn’t thought about it in these terms, but you are absolutely right. As a business owner I am always doing stuff to safeguard against the future. Which is why the phone rarely stops ringing and I always have someone to call when needed.
Mr Van Lieshout said he was not subject to bank pressure because he owned properties outright "and that's something that should not be used against me — for the fact I've been very frugal and that I've taken care of my affairs".
"As I could, I owned my own premises because that got rid of two of the biggest worries in my life, which were banks and landlords," he said.
"I hated bank managers because I feared them because they had control over me.
"Second thing was I had an early dislike for landlords because as a retailer … you had to negotiate with them all the time."
Mr Van Lieshout said: "What I'm saying here can give me a lot of trouble because people say, 'Well, he's in a very sound, financial position and he won't do this, he won't do that'."
"But I always kept capital reserves in [my] business," he said.
"I couldn't go bust because I always made sure that I kept substantial reserves — always — because as far as I was concerned, I had two responsibilities: one was to be able to pay the staff at all times and secondly, my suppliers.
"I'm very, very paranoid — always very paranoid — about ever going bust.'
Heather the reference below is now a bit dated (early COVID), but it's the story of a landlord that had the foresight to plan ahead while his tenants bleated about how unfair everything was. A great wake-up call for anyone in business.
All of these points mentioned are true. Seems like it would be better to at least give a few actionable ways to overcome not getting started.
"Way #2 - Do It All Yourself"
First off, many people first getting started do not have money to outsource tasks, and they have no choice but to do it themselves. Often the resources we have available to grow our businesses are time and money. Many people feel they have no money, but only time to work with.
So outsourcing for them is difficult, even if it's only a limiting belief.
Second, it's generally a good thing when you are starting to actually learn how every aspect of your business works. At least at a competent level. Otherwise when you start outsourcing everything you are quite likely to waste a lot of money just trusting that people are good at things that they might not be so great at. If you have no eye for it, because you have no experience in it, it can make you pretty gullible. Sometimes you really do need to just bear down and work through the unpleasant task of learning your own business.
Too often people blow money on things without truly learning what their actual importance is in their business, and with no true understanding of what the skill is even worth to their business.
"Way #3 - No Strategy, No Worries"
I agree with everything you said in this one. It's tongue and cheek and full of mockery, but true, as far as reducing overhead is concerned and being very conservative with your spending in business.
However, I would say that a Macbook for your business IS tax deductible, so that is not deserving of mockery really. It's actually just good advice.
And also if we look back at "Way 1" I would play Devil's Advocate and just say between not getting started at all and getting started with no true strategy, I would take the latter, with a plan to adjust on the fly as I go. People will get far better results that way.
"Way #4 - Any Customer Is A Good Customer"
I definitly think its critical to definer your ideal customer. You'll make far more sales. However, if you are making any sales at all, then you probably have been defined BY your customers as the guy/gal who does SOMETHING. If you can figure out what that is, then you can reverse engineer the thought process and make far more sales.
I say this because many people get into business selling something without having truly defined their ideal customers, and more often, they have defined their ideal customers wrong, and start adjusting as they go, as they get more actual customer data.
"Way #5 - Ignore Your Network"
Agreed here. A network is important. Even when you move outside of niche, people tend to try to put others in a box. You'd be surprised at how many people in your network might actually transfer in some way shape or form to your new niche. You just never know unless you poke your nose around and find out.
Hey Kam, first up thank you so much for writing in such detail. I appreciate it. Can I make 3 observations?
1. The early drafts of this article were not written as negatives - but one of my Substack heroes @cammipham uses this 'negative not positive' tilt with devastating impact and I thought I should give it a crack.
2. I have an article scheduled to drop on Tuesday, which may explain why this article is general in nature. I'll leave it at that :-)
3. I drafted this with an existing solopreneur/ business owner in mind. #1 highlights the dithering I see when someone 'starts but doesn't start' or even worse, they start half-hearted, like they expect to fail. #2 targets the fierce independent who takes no advice or help. #3 is for those with a great idea but no roadmap so they flip flop from one strategy to another, never really embracing it and staying the course. And yes, MBPs are tax deductible but when cash is in short supply, you make do with the 5 year old Lenovo. #4 I see often, companies desperate for revenue take on anything they can and end up with an upset customer and a loss on the deal. #5 is for the new solopreneurs who discount the network effect that comes for free as an employee.
nice one Banana Stand. "Started from scratch" over 2 years ago. Soulpreneur. Still scratching away every day. And loving it! But it's not all unicorns 🦄 and rainbows 🌈
Yes, failure is easier than you think - it's also critically necessary in a Business of One. Often as possible.
I hear too many people say “I wish I was as brave as you”… come on in, I’m not brave. Just resilient. You have to be when there is not a regular wage check coming in.
Resilience comes down to planning, especially planning to squirrel away resources (assets, contacts, knowledge) against the time you need them. These resources are abundant yet undervalued in paid employment, before you jump ship and go it alone.
Yes, I agree with you here. I hadn’t thought about it in these terms, but you are absolutely right. As a business owner I am always doing stuff to safeguard against the future. Which is why the phone rarely stops ringing and I always have someone to call when needed.
Here's the kicker extract:
Mr Van Lieshout said he was not subject to bank pressure because he owned properties outright "and that's something that should not be used against me — for the fact I've been very frugal and that I've taken care of my affairs".
"As I could, I owned my own premises because that got rid of two of the biggest worries in my life, which were banks and landlords," he said.
"I hated bank managers because I feared them because they had control over me.
"Second thing was I had an early dislike for landlords because as a retailer … you had to negotiate with them all the time."
Mr Van Lieshout said: "What I'm saying here can give me a lot of trouble because people say, 'Well, he's in a very sound, financial position and he won't do this, he won't do that'."
"But I always kept capital reserves in [my] business," he said.
"I couldn't go bust because I always made sure that I kept substantial reserves — always — because as far as I was concerned, I had two responsibilities: one was to be able to pay the staff at all times and secondly, my suppliers.
"I'm very, very paranoid — always very paranoid — about ever going bust.'
Heather the reference below is now a bit dated (early COVID), but it's the story of a landlord that had the foresight to plan ahead while his tenants bleated about how unfair everything was. A great wake-up call for anyone in business.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-31/coronavirus-queensland-business-landlords-small-business-rents/12101808
I feel called out, but the good thing is I changed some of those very fast.
Thank you for this list!
"Way #1 - Don’t Even Start"
All of these points mentioned are true. Seems like it would be better to at least give a few actionable ways to overcome not getting started.
"Way #2 - Do It All Yourself"
First off, many people first getting started do not have money to outsource tasks, and they have no choice but to do it themselves. Often the resources we have available to grow our businesses are time and money. Many people feel they have no money, but only time to work with.
So outsourcing for them is difficult, even if it's only a limiting belief.
Second, it's generally a good thing when you are starting to actually learn how every aspect of your business works. At least at a competent level. Otherwise when you start outsourcing everything you are quite likely to waste a lot of money just trusting that people are good at things that they might not be so great at. If you have no eye for it, because you have no experience in it, it can make you pretty gullible. Sometimes you really do need to just bear down and work through the unpleasant task of learning your own business.
Too often people blow money on things without truly learning what their actual importance is in their business, and with no true understanding of what the skill is even worth to their business.
"Way #3 - No Strategy, No Worries"
I agree with everything you said in this one. It's tongue and cheek and full of mockery, but true, as far as reducing overhead is concerned and being very conservative with your spending in business.
However, I would say that a Macbook for your business IS tax deductible, so that is not deserving of mockery really. It's actually just good advice.
And also if we look back at "Way 1" I would play Devil's Advocate and just say between not getting started at all and getting started with no true strategy, I would take the latter, with a plan to adjust on the fly as I go. People will get far better results that way.
"Way #4 - Any Customer Is A Good Customer"
I definitly think its critical to definer your ideal customer. You'll make far more sales. However, if you are making any sales at all, then you probably have been defined BY your customers as the guy/gal who does SOMETHING. If you can figure out what that is, then you can reverse engineer the thought process and make far more sales.
I say this because many people get into business selling something without having truly defined their ideal customers, and more often, they have defined their ideal customers wrong, and start adjusting as they go, as they get more actual customer data.
"Way #5 - Ignore Your Network"
Agreed here. A network is important. Even when you move outside of niche, people tend to try to put others in a box. You'd be surprised at how many people in your network might actually transfer in some way shape or form to your new niche. You just never know unless you poke your nose around and find out.
Hey Kam, first up thank you so much for writing in such detail. I appreciate it. Can I make 3 observations?
1. The early drafts of this article were not written as negatives - but one of my Substack heroes @cammipham uses this 'negative not positive' tilt with devastating impact and I thought I should give it a crack.
2. I have an article scheduled to drop on Tuesday, which may explain why this article is general in nature. I'll leave it at that :-)
3. I drafted this with an existing solopreneur/ business owner in mind. #1 highlights the dithering I see when someone 'starts but doesn't start' or even worse, they start half-hearted, like they expect to fail. #2 targets the fierce independent who takes no advice or help. #3 is for those with a great idea but no roadmap so they flip flop from one strategy to another, never really embracing it and staying the course. And yes, MBPs are tax deductible but when cash is in short supply, you make do with the 5 year old Lenovo. #4 I see often, companies desperate for revenue take on anything they can and end up with an upset customer and a loss on the deal. #5 is for the new solopreneurs who discount the network effect that comes for free as an employee.
Thanks again Kam.
Hey great replies here Mark. I’ll second that motion for the 5 year old Lenovo. Many a bad ass businesses started and thrive on such.
nice one Banana Stand. "Started from scratch" over 2 years ago. Soulpreneur. Still scratching away every day. And loving it! But it's not all unicorns 🦄 and rainbows 🌈
Yes, failure is easier than you think - it's also critically necessary in a Business of One. Often as possible.