Small business is never easy.
I don't care what tales and stories you hear of entrepreneurs coming up with the perfect idea at the perfect time.
Most such tales are just that. Millionaires aren't typically created overnight and they don't automatically or magically appear when an Internet company goes public.
So to suggest that a great piece of entrepreneurial advice and wisdom can be boiled down into three tiny words is really heresy in many ways.
I don't mean to trivialize the great labor it is to think of, design, and create a small solo business.
This is simply a fun little exercise to see how short and simple I can make a great business principle become.
If I had to give you my best shot at the shortest, most succinct, most "to the point" bit of condensed wisdom I could come up with I would steal a slogan from another business.
I would steal the famous Nike phrase "Just do it!"
When you think about those words and what they mean to an entrepreneur creating and starting a business, you come up with all kinds of thoughts about what it takes to become successful.
Here are some of the business principles and tips that the phrase brings to my mind:
- Get started right now
- Gather courage and strength
- Don't let others talk you out of giving your idea a shot
- Stop procrastinating and get down to doing what it takes right now
- Take the risk and attempt something that may seem nearly impossible
- Study things all you want; but there comes a time when you have to implement
- Execution of a business plan is more important than the plan itself
- Persistence over the long haul overcomes a grundle of mistakes and bad choices
- When you fail or "bomb" in a product offering or strategy, learn and quickly move on
- If you own a solo business, you are the business . . . there's no one else to blame
- "If it is to be, it is up to me"
- Sometimes the most important key to business is momentum - doing something
- Forget excuses and all the reasons for failing and move forward
- Challenges and obstacles are a part of business life; accept them, meet them head on, and figure out a way to get beyond them
- Experiment and try new things in product development, business execution, marketing, and customer relations
I'm sure you can think of other principles that come to mind from the phrase "just do it!" Why not add a comment to this post and let's see how many more great ideas we can come up with.
