Having a business is a tough gig.
There, I said it.
Yet I look around at some business owners and all they can blog and talk about is how hard it is.
If that’s you, it’s time to grow up and get onto actually making some money.
Difficulty is Table Stakes … But Sometimes It’s a Sign Your Business is Failing
Difficulty is required to play the game. If it wasn’t, wouldn’t everybody be Elon Musk or Bill Gates?
Difficulty has to become as much a part of your daily life as that morning cup of coffee. Accept it.
But certain types of difficulty aren’t always a normal vital sign of being an entrepreneur.
Starting a business from the ground up? That’s definitely going to be a challenge even for serial entrepreneurs.
Entering a crowded market? Yep, that’ll also be a challenge.
Have a product that has a 75% return rate? Well, then there’s something really wrong happening. Maybe it’s your positioning, or worse, maybe it’s the product itself.
Diagnose the difficulty. If it’s table stakes, move along. If not, you’d better get onto fixing it before it gets more difficult.
Good Business Plans Prepare You for Difficulty
Are you surprised how hard it is because you didn’t have a business plan? Or did your business plan just suck altogether?
If you spend the proper time researching, analyzing, brainstorming, and planning, you’ll get a sense for the difficulty. Will there be surprises along the way? Absolutely.
Sometimes the level of effort indicated by a business plan might cause you to abandon the idea. Either because you lack the resources or because you realized you weren’t passionate enough about the idea after all.
Redirect Your Time and Energy
If entrepreneurs feel the need to be writing anything, we should be writing about the how-tos and philosophies. How to start the business, run the business, grow the business, and diagnose what’s wrong with the business.
But hold up. Is your business even where you want it to be?
If it isn’t, I’d spend less time blogging about it and more time getting it there.
Come back when you have and I promise you’ll have something different to talk about.
