A few years back, when I started my first company, I really missed a real business plan. Actually, I didn’t even know what that was. Trying to look back at that time, it’s actually kind of scary thinking about it and that decision wasn’t very smart. Ask any business expert out there and he will tell you that you should always have a business plan for your company and if you don’t have it, the chances of success are limited. Even though most startups are similar, in the beginning and failing department they can be different. You can define an entrepreneur as someone that starts and works on a business. What I use as a definition is “one that starts and works on a business despite the problems”. Statistically, 19 out of 20 new businesses will fail in the first 2 years of their existence.
What successful companies have in common is that they want to succeed even though there are many obstacles in their path. Speaking from my own experience, there were plenty of days when I was ready to quit. But, I continued despite all the problems. The key here is not as much your desire to succeed, but your refusal to fail. Failure shouldn’t be an option. When you make a decision, the process lets you choose either pain or pleasure. Your decision is based on what pleasure you get from the result, or on avoiding the pain. For me, failure has always been my pain. That’s why in business and life I will do everything possible to avoid failure.
You should never start a company dreaming that you will be in a sports car or on a yacht someday. You also shouldn’t be influenced by failure. Consider your success as being only based on your own performance.