If you Can’t Do the Obvious, You are Out of Business

Sometimes the best way to know whether your startup will be successful or not is from the questions you ask when looking for an answer.

I’ve read many questions in Quora, Yahoo! Answers and some other Q&A sites, asking the simplest things on entrepreneurship – something like: I have a great idea, how to find someone who can help me execute it.

To me, it’s a lousy question. Sorry.

You have Google at your fingertip – literally. Just use any devices you have and start googling. That’s it. However, some people keep on doing it for one reason or another – i.e. “I have a website. How to promote it?” “I have a store. How to get customers” “I am a freelancer. How to get people to hire me?” “I have a great app idea. How to find a developer for it?”

Those are legitimate questions – 3 decades ago, where information was not easily accessible like today. But right at this minute, information overload happens, which means that it’s super-easy to find the answers to the 101 questions.

Such questions bug me: If you don’t know how to find something that can get you started in your business, then how will you be able to survive the competition?

Let my man, Gary Vaynerchuk, explains it to you in his in-your-face style (just watch this video – you’ll gonna love it):

Entrepreneurship is hard. Even for experts.

Some of the best apps out there have failed time and time again. Even if everyone in the company working hard to execute the business plan, they could still get out of business. Why? Because entrepreneurship is hard.

Starting up is not easy. There’s a reason why most startups won’t survive beyond the first 12 months. You can have the best team members in the world, with tons of experience, but the business world is so complex that you need to be creative and quick to response the market needs.

And, oh, don’t forget about timing. There are always windows of opportunity. When the windows close, you are out of favor from the market. When your business is there before the window opens, getting your startup off the ground would be difficult.

How do I know the above? Simple. I’ve been there, and I suck at it – I still am sometimes.

My laziness cost me my business

I missed so many opportunities. I lack the struggle needed to get things done. I lack the resilience – sometimes. But one thing I know for sure: You need to know the basics before you play the game, and you need to hustle for everything. If you don’t, you’ll lose even before you start playing the game.

I was investing in two franchise units. I thought franchising is easy – just follow the guide and you’ll succeed; that what was pitched by the marketing team, it seems. So I passively followed what my franchisor was telling me to do.

I was wrong. So wrong.

I lost both franchise units and I’m out of business. Because I’m lazy. I’m lazy to learn about franchising. I’m lazy to find ways to improve my franchise units.

Let’s track back to the topic early in this article: If you don’t know how to find what’s crucial for your startup, then how will you be able to survive the competition, which is full of creative and talented entrepreneurs wanting do achieve the same thing as you do? How can you win in the competition, if you can’t solve the basics – say, looking for the thing that matters to your business?

If you want funding info, don’t ask others and expect them to spoon-feed you. Instead, find more info about it – search the web, inquire your Chambers of Commerce, ask your friends and family for recommendation… the bottom line, do something. If you really put up the effort, you’ll find it – definitely.

If you want a business partner who is a developer, just find it on entrepreneurship and tech forums. Browse Freelancer.com. Anything. Again, don’t just ask silly questions and hope that someone will bring everything to your table and spoon-feed you.

The bottom line – don’t be lazy. Don’t be a spoiled brat. Just. Don’t. Please. For your own sake.

To conclude…

Please take my words with a pinch of salt. If you don’t like what I’m saying, I’m sorry – but I need to let you know that there is no place in the business world for someone who doesn’t want to hustle. I was making the same mistakes, that cost me dearly. I don’t want you to do the same, silly mistakes I’ve made in the past.

I have my fair share of whining and lazying around. But I’ve learned from my past failures that if you want to survive in the business world, you need to ask the right question and take the right action.

Want to retire to the beach? Do things that will lead you to retiring to the beach. Want to work 4-hour workweek like Tim Ferris does? Do things that will enable you to do just that. Want to do anything you want without worrying about money? Do things that will give you the ability to be financially independent.