We all know about the importance of conveying our ideas in effectively, especially in business when it comes to telling prospective customers what it is we’re selling and why they consider buying from us. If you’re like me, you think this is true, but you might be terribly wrong when it comes to implementation.

For example, about a month and a half ago I was out at a small party. There was a laptop that everyone was using and since Blue Sky Local came up in conversation, so I showed the website to a couple of friends. For each person who I showed the website to, he would stare at the site for a minute or two, then look up at me and say, “Ok… neat…” or “Ok, I don’t get it, like… what does your business do?” This should have been a red flag at the time, I rationalized and ignored it for several weeks. Finally, after speaking with an entrepreneur friend of mine last week, Matt Turcotte, I was re-reminded of of this feedback.

Now that I am proposing a redesign of the website (see above), I’ve realized the mistake I’ve made—that the current design and text on the site simply hasn’t conveyed the key points of our service in a simple and succinct manner so that anyone, including my mother (who is definitely not a technology person) or friends (who are not in our target market), will quickly “get it.”

The assumption I’m making here is that if they don’t understand what my business is in 30 seconds or less, how can I expect prospective clients to understand it? It’s a reasonable assumption. If your customers do not easily comprehend what it is you’re selling and why it’s valuable, they are much less likely to buy from you.

My mistake was not keeping this at the fore-front of my mind and not testing the site design more frequently with friends and family members earlier on. In addition, my desire was to convey what was “cool” about our service rather than why it is useful to potential clients.

In Review:

• When designing your website, put aside any personal desire you may have to explain why your product is awesome
• Ask your current customers or users what they find value about the service
• Test understanding of the website’s design with people outside of your target market (this may seem counter intuitive, but it’s important)
• Don’t ignore the feedback you get—take it to heart and translate it into design changes!

Note: I am writing this post in support of the MESS Express company and my friend Matt Kochman. My hope is that after reading the short article below you will join me in supporting his business and the company’s mission.

Matt’s goal is to raise $6,500 in order to attend a business incubator for social enterprise called the Unreasonable Institute. Any contribution amount would help to achieve this goal. Only the first 25 of the 33 finalists to raise the necessary funds will be selected to attend the incubator program for 10 weeks, where each entrepreneur will receive coaching and numerous networking opportunities to expand their start-up companies.

I’ve known Matt Kochman for over a year now. Him and I were classmates at Cornell when he started his uniquely branded student transportation business, M.E.S.S. Express LLC. “M.E.S.S.” stands for Moving Every Student Safely, but it’s also a joke, since college kids can be a “mess” after partying or staying out too late. MESS Express helps college students to avoid having to make what can be a fatal decision: to drive home while intoxicated.The company seeks to help the 2.6 million college students who make this poor decision every year by transporting them safely across campus via group busing and taxi services. From a high level point of view, it’s best described as a for-profit social advocacy group.

Last year the company grew quickly, and generated six figures in revenue providing busing services for students at 2 college campuses. The company is profitable and already preparing to expand to Syracuse later this year.

In addition, Matt has begun pushing forward on the taxi cab front, which he believes offers a more scalable expansion opportunity for growing the business and the brand. Students or their parents will be able to purchase pre-paid taxi cards which the student can use at their discretion throughout the semester to catch a ride back to their dorm or apartment. Payment will be simple: just swipe your card through a card reader located inside the taxi–tip is included.

Matt’s business model works and his push into implementing the pre-paid taxi cards shows a strong desire to scale the company into something much bigger. Some potential investors may criticize the business for having little that is proprietary. To the contrary, the partnership deals that MESS Express is cutting with local transportation companies, student organizations, and universities provides a significant barrier to any potential competitor looking to copy this model. In addition, the brand is unique, perfectly humorous and serious at the same time, as well as trademarked.

Matt and the MESS Express team are seeking your support in order to help them further their mission to provide safe and timely transportation for every college student across the country. Please consider investing in the company and the cause today.

Kerry and I have been friends since our junior year in college, over two years now. The first time I can recall meeting Kerry, I remember feeling sort of amateurish in her presence because I thought at first that she had the hurried air of a graduate student or an aspiring PhD. I had to hustle alongside her in order to keep up and make plans to talk again. From that first encounter she was kind, enthusiastic, and, above all, persistently positive.

They say you can tell when a person is truly smiling because the muscles around their eyes are engaged, crinkled, making them squint from the happiness radiating from their smile below. Kerry’s smile is always true, especially from that first time that I met her, wherein she knew nothing about me.

Kerry loves people, and that is why anyone who has met her is instantly drawn into the desire to know her better. People are attracted to Kerry because she is able to see the good in anyone upon first meeting them. She is confident in her belief in that goodness and everyone she meets is no doubt validated and grateful because of it.

In classes that she and I took together, I couldn’t help but notice how Kerry excelled. When she answered a Professor’s question, the students around me would scrunch up their eyebrows into strange formations of incredulity because the conscious, knowledgeable manner with which she answered was stupefying to them.

Kerry worked hard, much more diligently than the rest of us and that’s why she always knew the answer. Kerry is too modest to bring it up, but she did in fact graduate a year ahead of our class as valedictorian, and then went on to get her masters in a single year. I should also mention that she did this while working three jobs simultaneously. A mutual friend of ours was once baffled by the site of her open notebook planner because every portion of her day was crammed with meetings and scheduled down the minute… for the next two weeks.

There are a few key character lessons that I’ve learned from Kerry. First of all, you are only limited to what you can achieve in so much as you believe that there is a limit. “What drives you, Kerry?” I once asked. “Always raising the bar,” she responded.

Second, the rule of positive attraction applies in life; this means that if you know what you want, you believe in yourself, and you act with the greatest passion, enthusiasm, and work ethic toward that goal, you will achieve it. I consider myself a very capable person, but there were a few times that I needed someone to lean on. At times like those Kerry would listen and remind me of this principle, even though she probably was not explicitly aware of it at the time.

Third, and finally, everyone has potential. As much as you believe in your own ability, you must believe in the ability of others. People will fail, they will make mistakes, and they will let you down. However one must realize that the best talent in the world is not innate, but is instead developed over time and with practice.

Kerry has repeatedly taught me these lessons over the last two years. They continue to inspire me to be a better entrepreneur and a better person. If you never have the opportunity to meet Kerry, I hope you will at least take these same lessons to heart.

Have you ever had a business idea? If you’re like most people, you’ll have at least a few ideas for possible businesses in your lifetime. But how would you know if your business idea is any good? The following five questions to ask yourself before investing your time and money should help guide you to the answer:

How does my business make money?

Money is the lifeblood of your business. Don’t get all idealistic on me and start talking about community and users and growth and puppies and kittens. I don’t care and more importantly your customers, the people who pay the bills, won’t care. Explain how your business is going to make money and keep it simple. What will be valuable about what your company makes or does that will motivate a customer to buy from you? Customers will likely buy from you if you are meeting a need or solving a problem.

For example, “We sell state of the art podcasting software that records sound crisper and clearer than anything else on the market, at only $10 per download,” or “We let visitors to our site send large media files over the internet for free, and charge a premium fee for sending files larger than 2 Gigabytes.”

How soon can the business start making money?

The easier it is for your business to start making money sooner rather than later, the more likely it will survive long enough to grow and thrive. Starting a consulting business can be great because you can start making money immediately and start up costs a very low, if any.

For instanceI’ve done a few website design jobs in the past to pull in some extra cash. Those opportunities came from acquaintances, friends, or networking. If you’re interested in making millions and building a business that’s larger than just you, this can be a poor model for entrepreneurial success, but it will pay the bills.

If you’re not going to start a consulting business, but say instead, a web-based business, how soon can you start making money from your idea? Well let’s see, you’ll need the website, a payment solution, traffic to the site, oh yeah and customers who are motivated to buy! It’s a similar story with a brick and mortar type of business, though the fixed costs and start-up costs will be significantly larger.

Building the core operating components of your business takes time, and during that time money is flowing out of your bank account without any flowing in. The sooner you get to be cashflow positive, the more likely you’ll succeed in the long run.

How risky is it?

The level of risk you will undertake in bringing your business idea to market is directly correlated, unfortunately, to how unique it is and second, how crowded the market space is. There is an inverted relationship between uniqueness and how crowded the market space is (e.g. the more unique your concept, the less competition you have to deal with, but also the less likely you can be confident that it will succeed).

To use my own start-up as an example, Bluesky Local is marketed as a unique service with respect to it’s focus on helping restaurants to fight the negative sales effects of weather, seasons, and time with automated coupon marketing. This is risky because there are no other examples of successful companies trying to solve the specific problem we are and in a similar manner that we are proposing to solve it.

Why will your customers care?

This deals with your value proposition. By how much is your service better, faster, and cheaper than what’s already on the market? Does your product of service help your customers to make money or save money? How much will they make or save with your service, what are the specific numbers?

In answering this question you need to understand that creating a successful product requires a focus and understanding of what the customer wants. Most of the time customers don’t know what they want until you give it to them and say, “Here, use this.”

As an entrepreneur it is your job is understand your customer’s needs and desires, and then feed him a product or service that fits into those needs like a perfect puzzle piece.

Why will it fail?

This is a critical question and one that is difficult to answer objective (because of your passion for the idea) and before you execute a business plan (sometimes crazy ideas will work, life can be unpredictable).

The best place to start in answering this question is to look at the key assumptions needed in order for your business model to work. Again I will take Bluesky Local as the example here. In order to work Bluesky Local needs:

1. Restaurant owners or managers to log in to our website to use the service, such as sending out promotions manually, scheduling them for a later date, or automating them to happen on a regular basis. If the business owner doesn’t do at least this, than they will see no results because no coupon promotions will be sent.
2. The restaurant needs a customer contact list to distribute it’s promotions to, and for best results it needs to be permission-based. If they don’t have or work to build a customer list, then they will see no benefits from the service.
3. Customers receiving the coupons will be motivated to redeem the offers.

After you understand you core assumptions you want to work to minimize them as much as possible. The assumptions I listed above are already minimized (and there used to be more core assumptions than that). To further minimize them however we have (or might in the future) take the following steps:

1. Provide suggested coupon offers that work to minimize typing and thinking; rig the service to automatically send the best possible coupon at the best time without any additional input from the business owner.
2. Allow business owners to import an existing customer list that they might have; implement viral features that allow them to build a customer list extremely quickly through friendly, web-based referrals; leverage an distribution they might already have, such as through Facebook.
3. Make it easier for customers to redeem by developing an IPhone or Android app to display the coupons so they don’t have to print the coupons; send the coupons in the form of text messages to customers cellphones.

By minimizing your model’s core assumptions you increase the likelihood of success.

The Bottom-Line

Most business ideas will fail. By asking yourself these tough questions upfront you will maximize your chances of success. In the end if you’re serious about being an entrepreneur, you’re going ot have to take a risk somewhere and you’re going to have to work hard to achieve your business goals. Fellow entrepreneurs like myself as happy to lend a hand along the way, so don’t be shy to ask for help or advice.

Are there any other questions entrepreneurs should be asking themselves before they invest?

Successful start-ups are like an orchestra. You ultimately aspire to have an organized group of people with varying skills working together to make something beautiful and valuable (an end product or service). Meanwhile you, the founder, stand at the podium and conduct the organization’s beat and tempo during the performance.

I look at companies like Great Black Speakers and I think there is no better analogy than this. GBA was founded by a friend of mine named Lawrence Watkins. The company is profitable and has therefore reached “cruising altitude” to take a phrase from Paul Graham’s latest essay.

Lawrence would be the first to tell you that before you he was able to reach the point where he is today as the conductor of his business, he had to start out by learning to play many instruments and fill multiple roles within the company.

Today Lawrence acts as the owner of the company, shaping strategy from a top level point of view. His company employs 10-13 people working remotely through out the country and the world. They include web developers, designers, management personnel, etc. They are organized as one body toward the company’s goal of inspiring people, of which money and profit are a by-product.

Operating your growing start-up from a top-level point of view is a goal to aspire to, and it is not usually something entrepreneurs who are bootstrapping are able to do. Even though this is typically not possible at the outset due to limited capital, make sure to keep it in mind as you go about the daily grind of building your business.

To repeat, successful start-ups are an orchestration of human talent. Once you reach this point it should be music to your ears. Plan for it, aspire to it.

When we last left off, Charlie and Ted were pushing hard to get their start-ups off the ground. Both are now about 5 months out of the gate. Charlie has 4 customers and is charging $75 per Digi-Widget, while Ted has 10 customers and is charging $100 per Digi-Widget. Both believe that the service is at a point where they can begin to scale the service.

Chapter 3: Growing Pains

Charlie:

1. Kicks it up fundraising efforts a notch, goes to Angels and a few VC’s to make presentations on why they should invest in his Digi-Widgets company.
2. The business plan is rejected by all potential investors–it’s too early and they’re not comfortable. One month has passed, Charlie is watching his bank account.
3. Hustles for another month, and manages to raise $500,000 in funding, but not on the best terms. He is forced to give up 40% of his company in return.
4. Doubles the size of his team to 10. But this is a good thing because the 5 new hires are experienced sales people and engineers. The burn rate is raised to $80,000 per month, everyone gets a raise.
5. All of the engineers need to make use of their time, so they start adding features to the service. All of the sales people need to also make use of their time so they start selling to businesses. They sell 100 Digi-Wdigets in a month. Nice.
6. Sells 50 more the next month, however, they start receiving strange customer complaints about the product. Unsure of what to do, Charlie hires 2 more engineer and tells them to add two key features that should fix the issue. Charlie gives a pep talk to the sales people because output was half of what it was last month. There’s tension as he suggests that compensation be tied more directly to commission rather than a base salary.
7. The sales team squeaks out 40 sales, but 50 of the first 100 sales stop buying the Digi-Widgets, and send them back. Charlie is livid and panicked. He meets with his advisors and investors who encourage him to let a few of the engineers go who seem to not be performing. Charlie does so and gives a pep talk to the whole team immediately following. They all go out for drinks later that week–hopefully to forget this difficult episode, thinks Charlie…

Ted:

1. Puts his head down with his business partner: they create a back-end sales management system hosted on the web
2. Creates sales scripts, power point decks, a sales training and support process, and other sales materials.
3. Has virtually no money, just enough to pay for rent, food, and internet.
4. Uses Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Craigslist to find people who are willing to work on a commission basis selling the Digi-Widgets to customers. After a month he has found 5 sales people willing to sell it at 50% commission.
5. Trains the sales people to the best of his ability. Afterwards they start selling to businesses, but it’s rough going because they aren’t very experienced at selling this type of product. Though they only sell 15 Digi-Widgets, Ted and his partner are elated because they have enough money now to keep the company going a little longer.
6. Ted works with the sales team to refine and tweak the sales scripts on how to overcome obstacles that commonly come up when they pitch the product. Ted recruits two more sales people; his networking pays off when he snags a bonus engineer who’s willing to work for equity in the company. They make 25 sales that month. Ted is focused and encouraged.
7. The Digi-Widget malfunctions and orders are delayed by one month. Luckily the new engineer on board is an ace and able to fix it, as well as stabilize some other potentially faulty features for future use. Ted breathes easy, they still have enough cash to last a while. Though the new orders were delayed and had to be discounted 50% to make up for it, there were 60 new sales. Ted hires and trains 3 more sales people.

Chapter4: Scaling and Failing

• Charlie is bothered by the lingering effect of the having to lay off several of the engineers. Team moral is poor, but he’s working hard to be positive.
• Ted promotes his best sales people to sales managers. He needs more administrative help, orders are coming in quicker now. He has stopped making changes to the sales materials and system for the time being. He trains his sales reps on how to train and hire other sales reps. 20 more sales reps are hired from the 5 that are promoted. Ted hires another engineer to help keep up with the maintenance of the product. His monthly burn rate is now $15,000.
• Charlie is sullen: this month’s work turned out a meager 30 sales, meanwhile another several dozen customers return the product and stop ordering. When asked why, they complain that it’s too complicated, it wasn’t what they thought. Charlie asks the engineering team to cut-out features in response but encounters resistance and some bitterness.
• Ted is spending most of his time managing and networking now. Everyone in the company is excited about the growth. Spirits are high as they top 100 sales this month.
• Charlie’s investors seem to be holding back in their meetings with him. He is frustrated and wishes he could wring their true thoughts out of them–they probably think they know what’s best! But who are they?… Time and money are running low. Charlie knows what he has to do. He must lay off most of the staff to conserve cash and simplify the Digi-Widget to its core features, while upping overall quality. It seems like an impossible task.
• Ted’s networking pays off when he enters into a partnership with Digi-Mart to distribute his Digi-Widgets. Sales skyrocket the next month when the first orders come in. They do 1000 sales that month and hire 3 new engineers to help ensure quality.
• Charlie is overwhelmed. He has laid off all of the sales staff and two of the engineers in order to conserve money. He’s offering the remaining team members equity in exchange for severely reduced salaries. Two other members said they needed more and quit. Charlie knew they were disloyal and tells the rest of the team that it’s all for the best. No one believes him.
• Ted starts taking a small salary and rents out a modest office for the growing company.
• Charlie starts doing sales, and remains convinced that his product is valuable and that his company can get its legs back. The company’s burn rate is $6,000 a month. Charlie will continue to fight.
• Ted makes a presentation on his company to a few investors who have invited him to pitch. All of them offer him term sheets, but he graciously turns them down.
• Charlie doesn’t meet much with his investors these days.
• Ted makes the Inc. 500 fastest growing company’s list a few months later.
• Charlie reads about Ted’s company.

…

Questions to consider:

Why did I write this? Was Ted’s success at starting and growing his business a miracle? Was is luck or magic? A trick or skill?

More importantly do you think this is something that can be taught?

What is the importance of being aware of the mistakes others have made in their business experience? What are the different types of mistakes made? Did Ted make any mistakes?

Charlie and Ted are two web entrepreneurs, equal in brain power and wit.

Chapter 1: Background Stats

• Charlie’s company, Charlie Inc., has hired 4 employees and has $100,000 of his own money in start-up capital; Ted Inc. has brought on board one business partner to work on the tech side of things and has $1,000 in capital.
• Charlie Inc. and Ted Inc. both have the same web-based B2B product idea, called Digi-Widgets.
• Their target customers are small to medium sized businesses (SMB’s)
• This is Charlie’s first start-up, while this is Ted’s second (his first one failed)
• Both Charlie and Ted happen to start work on their businesses at the exact same moment on the exact same day…

And they’re off!

Chapter 2: First Steps

Ted:

1. Sets up a make-shift office in his apartment with his business partner.
2. Talks to several customers about his product idea.
3. Designs and sketches what the Digi-Widgets will look like.
4. Asks for feedback.
5. Tries to identify the problem being solved.
6. Asks customers to quantify, in some way, the problem, if it exists.
7. Creates a crude version of the Digi-Widget for customers to use for free.
8. Collects feedback to make changes.
9. Makes changes; unfortunately they don’t have the time or the resources to implement all the features they wanted.
10. After 2 months of hard work, he begins charging $100 per Digi-Widget; 10 customers sign-up.

Charlie:

1. Rents a cheap office for him and his team for $2,500/ month.
2. Pays a modest salary to himself and each of his four employees ($10,000/ month).
3. Charlie and his team set to work building version 1 of the Digi-Widgets.
4. They work with their heads down for 3 months.
5. Charlie in the meantime initiates talks with potential angel investors.
6. Charlie also occasionally goes out and gathers testimonial quotes from potential customers about why they might buy the Digi-Widgets.
7. Builds a few strong relationships with several customers.
8. The 1st version of the Digi-Widget is delivered a month late, but it has all the key features.
9. Customers start using the service for free for 1 month.
10. Makes some changes based on customer feedback and starts charging $75 per Digi-Widget; 4 customers sign-up.

Who will succeed? Both? Neither?

Tune-in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion!

Many internet marketers are peddling false promises on the internet today and appealing the worst in people. “Make $20,000 a month sitting at home, doing nothing.” We’ve all seen this kind of junk. About once a day I’ll get a Twitter user following me who is some sort of “Multi-level Marketing System Rep.”

The lie internet marketers are implicitly and explicitly putting forward is that to run a successful online business you don’t have to work hard or know much of anything, besides their so-called “secrets.” Don’t believe a word of it because it’s all garbage.

Most of these charlatans (who poison the waters for honest entrepreneurs like you and I) are piggy-backing on the advice and concepts of more legitimate businesses. For example, HubSpot recently put out a book on Inbound Marketing. It talks about building web traffic and online sales primarily through the creation of interesting content (blog posts, videos, simple & free web services, etc.) among other tactics. I have not yet read the book, but I am very familiar with its concepts, which, at the moment, can work for an online business if done right and can deliver sustainable value.

However the false prophets of the web today are pushing blatant lies with regard to start-up search engine optimization, link building, improved page rank, viral traffic, blah blah blah. I won’t call anyone out specifically in this post, but it’s important to recognize a bad opportunity when you see it.

I also see some shades of gray with regard to books like The 4-Hour Work Week which is both an interesting and an entertaining read. I see shades of gray because the book appeals to an easy human sentiment, which is that most people dream about making a ton of money, quitting their day-jobs to retire to the Bahamas, and telling their boss to f*ck off.

If you’re one of the “true believers” I hate to break it to you but the fact is, sustainable valuable can not be created, maintained and grown if you have a minimal work ethic. Those who have succeeded in the implementation of some of the ideas that 4HWW pushes (business systems, talent outsourcing/ delegation) succeeded because they were willing to work hard upfront, and actually enjoyed the work to a large extent!

That brings me to the point of this post which is this: real value is sustainable over a period of time and the creation and dissemination of real value can require a large investment of capital and labor.

But what do YOU think? Am I off-point or being too vague?

It’s great to “believe in yourself,” and all that jazz, but what are some more concrete, actionable tips you can start using today to be a better decision maker for your start-up business?

1) Trust your judgment over that of others. I emphasize this especially if the advice you’re given is unsolicited. Every entrepreneur has a vision for his or her start-up. If you follow someone else’s advice you are less likely to be passionate about the execution of that vision. So trust your own judgement, even if you fail miserably. At least you’ll learn from it and you won’t be second guessing how it played out, thinking: “If only I had stuck to my guns and done what I thought was best.”

2) Learn to NOT be reactionary. I wrote an earlier post about the metaphor of the Spinning Top, which is related to this. The basic principle here is this: you’re going to be deluged with lots of ideas and suggestions from other people, inside and outside of the company. Be cautious and appropriately paced in turning your attention and resources towards implementing any of those new ideas.

3) When in doubt, defer to the numbers. The biggest reason more people don’t start businesses is because they are afraid of the “risk” that comes with the persistent, high levels of ambiguity. This is the context under which you will make decisions everyday as an entrepreneur (e.g. Why should I make this phone call rather than finish this research survey? Which is a higher priority for the company?). When you are uncomfortable with your ability to make a decision, try to evaluate the facts of the situation. Even better, check to see if there is data to counter or support your choice. This can be one of the most effective tactics for minimizing ambiguity and making better business decisions.

To review, you’re on the ground floor everyday so rate your judgement above that of others; deftly pace the reallocation of resources with regard to implmenting new ideas that come up; and finally focus on that which can be measured.

At one time or another we’ve all dreamed of striking out on our own and starting a business. However for most of us, those dreams get postponed indefinitely for a few key reasons. After reading this post you’ll understand better why this is the case and why most individuals, perhaps yourself included, are apprehensive about the idea.

Here are the most frequently cited reasons:

1. It’s too risky.
2. I have no experience.
3. I’m afraid of failing.
4. I don’t have a good idea.
5. I have no money.
6. I have no time.

The first thing to recognize is that all of these are natural reactions to the thought of actually going out and actively investing yourself in starting a new enterprise. In fact, many of the entrepreneurs I know, including myself, would likely have agree or may have actively held the sentiments above when they first started out.

Let’s break down each of the above reasons.

It’s too risky.

It’s important to recognize what one means by this. Are you risking money? Or are you risking public embarrassment as the result of your business failing?

Risk is an undeniable fact of entrepreneurship. Some entrepreneurs relish the idea of it, others not as much. If you are worried about the financial or social risk, there are a few simple ways to mitigate it.

• Meet and talk with entrepreneurs who have started a business (or businesses) before. By building a support network you will be able to draw on the guidance and social resources of others, which can help you to overcome the growing pains that start-ups are bound to go through.
• If you are still truly worried about public embarrassment, then just keep it a secret until you’re comfortable with telling everyone in your social circle. I would not recommend this though. You have much more to gain than to lose by telling others of your new venture.
• As for financial risk, you can mitigate this substantially by substituting your labor for monetary capital. In other words you learn to hustle and work hard. In addition, the internet provides a host of opportunities for would-be start-up entrepreneurs with little capital. Finally, designing your business model with a “bias” for immediate positive cash flow can also help to mitigate financial risk (I will talk more about this in future posts).

Bottom-line: There are several ways to become more comfortable with and to mitigate the inherent risk involved with start-up businesses.

I have no experience.

And neither did I, nor did many of the greatest entrepreneurs when they first started out. You tend to learn as you go. Entrepreneurship is about on the job training. There are plenty of books and blog posts on the subject, but developing your expertise comes from taking initiative and starting-up. Even if it is the smallest of steps at first, what’s important is that you learn directly from your experience and inch closer to realizing your vision.

Bottom-line: Like many careers, you learn as you go. You just have to get comfortable with the increased ambiguity.

I’m afraid of failing.

There are two types of people in this world: those have failed, and those who are afraid of failure. Which group do you think the world’s most successful people fall typically fall into?

If you’re going to be an entrepreneur, you must understand that you are making an implicit decision that the odds are against you and you are more likely than not to fail.

It’s also important to note the relationship between this concern and the first, “It’s too risky.”

Bottom-line: We all fail to achieve our goals at sometime or another. Accept it and then take action!

I don’t have a good idea.

I remember reading from the signature line of a friend’s email. It said, “Ideas are like belly buttons, everyone’s got one.”

Even if you don’t have an idea right now, it’s relatively easy to come up with one.

For example, take anything you see around you or that you use in your daily life, say a calculator (which happens to be sitting next to me on my desk). How could we possibly improve it, make it more unique and marketable? We could make it super small, or super big, or maybe add a graphing screen to it. But these ideas have already been successfully done… How else could it be improved?

Well, how about making it into a remote control of some sort to allow for group participation in the classroom on certain math problems? This is just one example, and there may or may not be a business opportunity there.

The point is, thinking of that idea took less than a minute. If you aren’t the most creative person, then start even simpler. Learn by copying another successful product or service and then work hard at differentiating it and making your’s better, faster, cheaper (as the saying goes).

Bottom-line: You don’t need a great idea to start a business.

I have no money.

Neither do I, but I’ve accomplished more with my latest coupon advertising start-up business in the last 4 months of working with nothing but enough money for food, rent, and an internet connection (not to mention my awesome business partner) than I accomplished in two and a half years while in college and $10,000 in funding.

The beauty of the internet is that you can literally start a business with $0. Why? For one, the internet is extremely scalable with regard to the communication of ideas and content. How would you do it? Let’s say I wanted to start a local web development consulting firm aimed at helping retail stores build websites.

Assume that I am dirt broke, I don’t even have a damn computer, and I am completely ignorant of anything related to web programming or design.

I would start by going to the local library (where they give free computer access). I would learn everything I could about web development and design from free online tutorials. I would recall what I learned with blog posts that could help others who are also trying to learn by signing up for a free website blogging account on Blogger.com.

Over time the blog’s design would be improved based on my growing web development skills, and traffic would improve based on my growing knowledge of what the local retail market wanted from a blog on web design and development. I would learn to track traffic, and eventually I’d put some “open for business” sign or note on the blog telling visitors that I can build them a local retail website for a fee. You get the idea…

Bottom-line: With the advent of the internet you can start a business for free.

I have no time.

This is probably the worst excuse someone can give for not pursuing an entrepreneurial dream.

Two useful quotes come to mind:

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.’ ” -Lao Tzu

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time.  You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” -H. Jackson Brown

Bottom-line: We have more free time today thanks to modern technology than at any other time in human history. Where you choose invest that free time is up to you.

Conclusion

The bottom line of this article is that if you have a sincere interest in starting a business, it is ultimately up to you to take the initiative toward achieving that goal.

It isn’t rocket science. Once you’ve understand why you are apprehensive you just need to find the motivation to act. The motivation to act is something I will cover in my next article.

What do YOU think of my reasoning for this article? What are some other reasons for putting off starting a business?