# I've just realized something, at 21.



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

My calling in life is to start my own business. I'm not sure exactly what, how, or when yet, but I am determined that this is the path I want to go down. Perhaps something involving music, even. Anyone have insights into entrepreneurship?


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> I'm not sure exactly what, how, or when yet


That is usually the first step, to know what, how and when....



> Anyone have insights into entrepreneurship?


In my experience, you need a substantial financial buffer to be able set up your own business. You need to clarify all the upfront costs (including advertising in whatever way), and you should not expect the business to generate any income for many months (colleague shop or restaurant owners here state that 6-12 months is typically the time before the business becomes a profit centre - if you're lucky). So that's another pot of money you should have upfront to get through that period.

Of course, running your own successful business sounds great and often is a hoot, but keep an eye on the negatives as well. Apart from the uncertain financial situation, be prepared to work far more than regular working hours (including financial administration, tax forms etc), and depending on the type of business you may need to compromise often. As an example, my wife ran her own business (with a business partner) when we met: they had an art gallery. My wife made the paintings, her business partner took care of sales, tax, etc. She made a reasonable living out of it. But my wife had to spend more than half of her time making art she did not like at all, but which was easy to sell.


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

^^^ Yes that's why I'm not trying to open a store or to sell any of my own creations. I am thinking of creating an online platform, maybe something like a LinkedIn for musicians / artists. The nature of their jobs is structured entirely differently from other careers and so they require different networking platforms.

Thanks for the input.


----------



## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

I've run my own business since 2004. Whatever you decide to do, my best advice on the guiding principles on how to make a success of your business:

1.	Find the right clients
2.	Focus most of your effort on "sales"
3.	Incentivise others you work with to align their interests with yours
4.	Engage through seeking input from others
5.	Measure and manage client satisfaction
6.	Seek value in purchasing
7.	Continuously improve process efficiency
8.	Manage your clients' expectations
9.	Keep your business model simple
10.	Develop relationships

Some random thoughts:
- At the moment of truth, the best sales person wins. Outstanding execution in selling your, "Product", is a sustained competitive advantage
- Execute with precision. Pursue simple things done savagely well. You don’t have to be perfect, just being a little good at something is better than not at all
- High-value activities commonly get low time-allocation. Don't waste your time on low-value activity, even if you enjoy it or are good at it. Identify the best practices that guarantee results
- Clients and relationships matter, and the most important decision you make is how and when you engage with your clients and prospects
- The “80/20 Rule” exists, but know that it’s 90/10
- Competing on price or quality shows you’re at point of diminishing returns


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Hi Chilham, thanks for the advice.

May I ask what area (generally speaking) is your business in?


----------



## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

We are a training company. We help business people communicate with more impact. We are business-to-business, "B2B", not a business-to-consumer, "B2C", enterprise as perhaps your initial ideas suggest you might become, but the principles are the same.


----------



## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Art Rock said:


> That is usually the first step, to know what, how and when....
> 
> In my experience, you need a substantial financial buffer to be able set up your own business. You need to clarify all the upfront costs (including advertising in whatever way), and you should not expect the business to generate any income for many months (colleague shop or restaurant owners here state that 6-12 months is typically the time before the business becomes a profit centre - if you're lucky). So that's another pot of money you should have upfront to get through that period.
> 
> Of course, running your own successful business sounds great and often is a hoot, but keep an eye on the negatives as well. Apart from the uncertain financial situation, be prepared to work far more than regular working hours (including financial administration, tax forms etc), and depending on the type of business you may need to compromise often. As an example, my wife ran her own business (with a business partner) when we met: they had an art gallery. My wife made the paintings, her business partner took care of sales, tax, etc. She made a reasonable living out of it. *But my wife had to spend more than half of her time making art she did not like at all, but which was easy to sell.*


Ain't THAT the truth?

It reminds me of a great many pop and rock singers, musicians, and bands I enjoy. After becoming successful because of their compositions, their playing, their singing, with most there comes a time when _*"The Suits"*_ discover their marketability, and pressure them to create "*hits*". They usually attempt to comply, and the art often suffers for it.

I can think of so many examples. Even *Paul McCartney* and *George Harrison* changed up albums (Red Rose Speedway, and Somewhere In England, respectively) between finishing them and releasing them because they were rejected by the moneychangers. Yes stopped with the complex musical epics in the mid-1970s and concentrated on shorter radio-friendly songs. "Super Group" *Asia*, assembled from members of Progressive Rock juggernauts, went for simplicity. Same with *Chicago, Genesis, Starcastle, ELP*, and even *Gentle Giant*.


----------



## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

*I've just realized something, at 21.*

At least you still have your youth. I'm three times your age, and haven't realized anything.


----------



## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Most entrepreneurs are in their 40s and 50s. It helps to get a good amount of industry experience first, so you can understand where the room to improve is and that becomes your business' value proposition. You can also start consulting, and if your business takes off you hire people to do the work you don't want to do for you.


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

That's why you go into new and speculative tech industries as a young person. Sure, you don't understand it, but no one does!


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

How about funding from early stage VCs? Anyone know anything about navigating that process?


----------



## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

I work in a big retail company last 5 months and Ive learned a lot...I wish I could have a business in flower sale...Good luck.


----------



## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Just remember, failure is an important part of the learning process.

I'm the most important person I know.


----------



## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

As usual the best advice came from our green friend Mr Couch-ie...


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

amfortas said:


> *I've just realized something, at 21.*
> 
> At least you still have your youth. I'm three times your age, and haven't realized anything.


Ha! I didn't know what the hell I wanted to do at that age other than stay away from the corporate world or end up in some miserable factory to pay the bills. Luckily I avoided both. Years later I realized what I really should have done was gone to NYC to become a recording engineer. I figured that out too late. Good luck to you, Brahms. With your intelligence and good attitude I'm sure you'll succeed with whatever you choose to do.


----------



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> That's why you go into new and speculative tech industries as a young person. Sure, you don't understand it, but no one does!


The business world is littered with the remnants of startups developing The New Great Thing, and probably software is one of the biggest contributors, as I know all too well. Fortunately my second attempt bore fruit after significant real world experience, so I strongly second the comments about getting to know what the business world really wants, not what you think that they need. They may need it but persuading them to pay for it is a totally different matter. Remember the adage that 'nobody lost their job by recommending Microsoft, IBM etc.'  as it's the corollary to that which bites.


----------



## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

Many businesses today earn lots of douigh by ''selling fog'', something you cannot touch, smell or taste...


----------



## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Flamme said:


> Many businesses today earn lots of douigh by ''selling fog'', something you cannot touch, smell or taste...


But . . . one can see and _feel_ fog.


----------



## Knorf (Jan 16, 2020)

pianozach said:


> But . . . one can see and _feel_ fog.


And sometimes taste it, too... >shudder<


----------



## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

Whatever...


----------



## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

The last person to be executed by guillotine in France was Hamida Djandoubi, convicted in 1977 for the 1968 kidnapping, torture and murder of 22-year-old Élisabeth Bousquet.

That's right.

Beheaded.

By guillotine. At Baumettes Prison in Marseille.

In *1977*.



Capital punishment was abolished in France in 1981.


----------



## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

It was a solid business once. Making guillotines.


----------



## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Flamme said:


> It was a solid business once. Making guillotines.


After 1981 they had to make some cuts.

That means you won't beheading there any time soon.


----------



## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

The Guillotine was supposed to be ahead of its time.

It had cutting edge technology.


----------



## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

In my country there is a saying ''ONLY DEATH IS THE CERTAIN BUSINESS''...It is true even more TODAY...So all the gravediggers, undertakers, funeral homes, coffin designers are having the timees of thei lives...Interestingly all those chaps live very long, aint that pecualiar.


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Entrepreneurship is to some extent a matter of character. You've got to be daring enough to take risks, clever enough to think of a profitable angle, charming enough to get people to give you good deals (investing in you, selling to you [including labor, ideally with genuine effort], purchasing from you), disciplined enough to get up every day and do the work without someone punishing you for not doing it, conscientious enough to do all the paperwork and keep all the records straight, and persistent enough not to give up after the inevitable failures and disappointments. You probably also have to be perceptive enough to know when to break the rules and unscrupulous enough to do so.


----------



## Guest (Jul 22, 2021)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> How about funding from early stage VCs? Anyone know anything about navigating that process?


You are not going to get VC funding without a dramatic track record of success. That can take different forms, perhaps a project that "goes viral" on a shoestring budget. Extensive experience and dramatic success working in the industry you intend to enter is more common.


----------



## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Most important is a workable business model. How feasible is it? I remember having to do these case studies in school. Really quite helpful in getting you into the right mindset. 

Also could be very helpful if you work in the field you're interested in first. That way you gain insight into whatever industry you're thinking of starting a business in, and building relationships with future clientele. 

You have to stick with it to make back your startup capital, and still have the enthusiasm years down the road. If you learn shortly after jumping in that it's hell, and want to get out, you may end up with a huge loss if you invested a lot into it.


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Baron Scarpia said:


> You are not going to get VC funding without a dramatic track record of success. That can take different forms, perhaps a project that "goes viral" on a shoestring budget. Extensive experience and dramatic success working in the industry you intend to enter is more common.


Some college kids I know get VC funding. Someone got 3 million (30 million valuation) for an NFT-ified Instagram. He dropped out of Harvard then and there.


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

starthrower said:


> Good luck to you, Brahms. With your intelligence and good attitude I'm sure you'll succeed with whatever you choose to do.


Thanks, ST. I've been feeling down lately, and this comment was very uplifting.


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Becca said:


> The business world is littered with the remnants of startups developing The New Great Thing, and probably software is one of the biggest contributors, as I know all too well. Fortunately my second attempt bore fruit after significant real world experience, so I strongly second the comments about getting to know what the business world really wants, not what you think that they need. They may need it but persuading them to pay for it is a totally different matter. Remember the adage that 'nobody lost their job by recommending Microsoft, IBM etc.'  as it's the corollary to that which bites.


Did you start a software company?


----------



## Guest (Jul 23, 2021)

....................


----------



## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

amfortas said:


> *I've just realized something, at 21.*
> 
> At least you still have your youth. I'm three times your age, and haven't realized anything.


This is the big truth, for me also, and many thanks because after I red this I feel less alone. Nice WE, my friend.


----------

