Do you want to read it in Spanish?, read it here
After 4+ businesses failures, these are my learnings
I always dreamed to succeed in businesses., yet I made the three noob mistakes I will share in this post that led me to fail, sadly.
Yet, I know — you know, mistakes make us wiser, they are the best teacher you will ever have.
Zero doubt, they are part of the equation to succeed.
But, let me ask you something, is there any logical reason to make them and fail if you are aware of them?.
I would say an absolute NO. Do you disagree with it? I guess no, too.
Indeed, if you really want to succeed in any sort of business, regardless how big or small they are, you should avoid those noob mistakes so you can save yourself to fall down strong both financially and mentally.
Believe me, they might put us on crazy dark financial and mental state. I went through that dark zone. I don't recommend it at all.
Yet, I won't lie you. I am not a guru businessman, I am a far way away of it.
I am a short man who still believe that business is one of the best way to create fulfillment, joy and as its natural force will bring money to your family table as a bottom line.
Don't yet believe me?
Let me give you more context about my beginning.
I was a really poor farmer who grew up in the countryside. My dad is still a farmer too. Kind of a retiree.
Yet, for some strange and dark forces, in my veins run colorful blood of the desire to be an entrepreneur.
I don't really know why.
I didn't get an economic or business-related degree. I am a software engineer now, instead.
I haven't enough preparation on the business literacy, either.
I just tried to do things based on my knowledge, learnings and experiences I’ve got along the way.
I rolled out a few several businesses just with the gut, grit, and hoping things would work.
Dancing this song led me to make the next noob business mistakes.
1. Thinking small and unscalable businesses
Let’s start out a Pupuseria business (pupusas = my country’s typical food)
A friend responded to me when I told him I wanted to start a local business.
Pupusas — El Salvador the most delicious typical food — by the author
This idea was great on its own. Here in my country, most of the population loves Pupusas as hell.
It made total sense to think on this idea right away.
Yet, the first mistake here was thinking small. I will tell you why in the following passages.
Secondly, these kinds of businesses are not easy to scale because on one side you need a lot of upfront money to roll them out and management several places requires a lot of time and effort.
Either way, I got started.
This was not my fault and is not an excuse either.
My parents, friends, neighbors and the context where I grew up forced to start out something to survive.
Read it again, please.
Yes, I needed to survive and put some breads on my family’s table.
So the business idea of selling anything locally to my neighbors was the faster way to put money in my pocket and for sure bread on my family’s table.
Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that thinking small is wrong, I bet on starting small, instead, in fact that’s how most successful businesses started.
With thinking small, I am referencing to the way we see our business. The vision we have.
Our mind is plagued with belief that aim for a renown brand is impossible, we often just think to sell stuff based on a physical location.
An unscalable business guarantees a failure, looking wherever you look at it.
Why?
Because the cost to keep running will take a toll on you there’s no way to increase the sales, the demand is limited to a physical and geographic location.
You might have a very limited audience.
Going back to my small local typical food business, the idea and the concept was original. But there was a problem I did not see at first:
— Location
We were at a place that did not attract a good number of tourists or local persons.
If we wanted to open the business in other place, we needed to pay more in rent and taxes, since the land where we established it was mine I avoided it.
I ended up running it on that land, but after some months of using my paycheck to keep it running, I gave up and closed it.
2. Weak and unauthentic relationships and connections
Your network is your net worth — Porter Gale
Even when this idea is hated by a few ones and loved by others, I just love it.
Regardless of that, the reality is that networking is one of the most important business skills in today’s centric-business world.
In fact, one predictor of your business success will be the size and openness of your network.
Put simply, a contact in your contact list or your social contacts — who you follow or who follows you, might change the destiny of your business ideas.
Your ideas are not worthwhile if you don't have support from the guys who have the money, experience and the connections to spread your business.
Takeaway
- Build strong and meaningful connections. Nobody likes a faker, so be authentic when building connections. Please, stop seeing everybody as a transaction.
- Take the long view: As Warren Buffett said, “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago”. So start today planting those seed (connections) to see the fruitful later.
- Network outside your industry bubble. Meet with people out of your influence circle.
3. Partner with the wrong investor and co founders
To me, this is one of the most crucial factor to succeed on any business.
On any of my businesses attempts, I didn't choose a wrong partner at all.
I do think in two small business I started off, my partners were the right one somehow.
In both case we were close friend and colleagues. We knew each other very well.
We both wanted to build and have a business from the ground up. Not only that, but we were aligned on the vision to build something big.
Yet, this is what most of the people wish — have a business and be their own boss.
The sad reality is that this the bestseller tale of our generation.
Starting and building a successful business is a far way more than just wanting to be your own boss.
It requires the skill of choosing the right partner or investor. But damn!, who is the right one?
To me, a right partner should fit into this :
- Being able to do the right, always.
- Being crystal honest
- Being humble and supportive
- Being committed with the business mission
- Obsessed and focused to fix a problem, not the money we will get from.
Certainly, there are more things we should list here, but I bet to say that all the rest does not matter if any of the above is broke.
Ending Thoughts
Most of us want to build either a micro, small, medium or big business. The idea is great, but it is fruitless without execution.
On the opposite, if you execute it and if you really want to succeed in business, you should ensure to avoid the three following noob mistakes.
Starting small is not the same as thinking small.
Avoid to think small and on unscalable business. Local businesses are great, but you can think out of the box on how to make them scalable.
Building strong connections is key to succeed. In fact, as Porter Gale stated, your network is your net worth.
On top of that, you can be a solopreneur if that you desire, but if you partner with someone else ensure both are aligned and fit goals, obsession level, principles and vision.
Finally, if knowing this you fail, don't hurt yourself. Failure is just part of the journey. It is part of the success equation.
Thanks for reading!
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