Locally and globally we are watching with concern as this new virus – the coronavirus or covid-19 spreads.20% of small businesses fail in their first year, 30% fail in their second year, 50% fail after five years, and 70% of small business owners don’t make it past 10 years in business. (Fundera, March 2020)
Statistics like that might make it sound like starting a business is a fool’s game.
But it’s not. I don’t believe for one second that it’s foolish to follow your vision and throw yourself into something you love. When you can build something big and lasting out of just an idea, it is incomparably rewarding, fulfilling and fun.
Of course, this thing called entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. When I spoke to Entrepreneur in Residence Michael Hyatt for episode 29 of I’m a Millionaire! So Now What? he pointed out:
“…being an entrepreneur and starting a company is not for everybody so do not feel you have to. There seems to be amazing pressure out there for people in their early 20s right now to start a company. And I think that’s generally wrong. I think very few people – maybe one in ten -- should run their own company.”
Starting, scaling and sustaining isn’t easy. It takes an immense amount of commitment, a lot of resilience and a willingness to make mistakes.
As Michael added: “If you do start a company, if it’s not working out, it’s okay to stop and it’s okay to ask for help. And it’s okay to just not go forward. Fail fast and move on.”
I think you need a touch of thick skin to run and scale a business – because of that ‘fail fast and move on’ part. In business, failure is part of success. And persistence, through failure, is critical.
In my current-favourite, most-quoted book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, author Jim Collins is quick to point out that “Luck favours the persistent.”
Nobody finds it easy to fall and get up over and over again. Not everybody is going to choose to earn their living taking risks, admitting mistakes, healing wounds and then going again. I’ve written before about building your business by choosing Big Hairy Audacious Goals. (BHAGs) Well, just deciding to start a business is one Audacious Goal in itself!
“Indeed, most entrepreneurs have a built-in BHAG: To just get off the ground and reach a point where survival is no longer in question is huge and audacious for most start ups.”
That’s Jim Collins again, page 111 of Built to Last.
Listen, I’m not trying to sound like a Debbie Downer (remember that character from Saturday Night Live? *womp, womp*)… you know I support the Self Made Nation and their incredible contribution to our economy!
And when it comes to being a founder, business owner or entrepreneur, I don’t believe you ‘either have it or you don’t’. If you’ve come up with a solution you know people need, and you have a clear vision that’s strong and bright enough to guide you even on rough days, you’ll be able to figure it out. But you will have to learn to take risks, recover and persist.
Serial entrepreneur Chris Stanton explained it like this in I’m a Millionaire! So Now What? episode 109:
“Sometimes it’s just in you. You wake up every day, and you come to a point where you look in the mirror (and know) that you’d rather fail than not have tried an idea. When you come to that point, you’ve got to try it, and the best thing to do is try it when you’re young. I was 29 years old, (with) lots of room to recover in case the first one failed which was a very high percentage that it would fail. But yes, if you can do it when you’re young and have some time to recover, it’s not the end of the world.”
In my more recent podcast interview with Paul Vallee, Spin Off to Scale Up, Paul confessed:
“I’ve always kind of wanted to be an entrepreneur. I started my first couple of companies during my undergrad kind of like for fun. I founded another company shortly after graduating with a different idea, and all three of those companies failed spectacularly for a variety of reasons. But where the odds are not in your favour, the answer is persistence. If you needed to roll on a six-sided dice, no amount of luck is going to get you the six, but persistence gets you the six quite reliably.”
Right? Remember, luck favours the persistent.
If you’re a founder who persisted, I’m sure you have your own stories of mistakes, mis-steps and failures along your entrepreneurial path. Those are important stories to tell.
I know one of the best parts of our May event Double to Sell with Cameron Herold: How to Make a Cash Rich Exit will be hearing the stories of founders who failed, persisted AND went on to orchestrate a cash rich exit. Please apply to attend this high-octane workshop for business owners who want a cash-rich exit in 10 years or less.
Get more info here. *Please note: Double to Sell is being postponed to November 4, 2020. Thank you, Colleen