@brian_armstrong Hasn't there always been serious competition?
Great Britain, then along came World Wars 1 and 2 and the USSR became the next competition.
After the Soviets, there was EU. And China after EU.
See?
Trying to go big in entrepreneurship with zero experience, zero capital and zero network is one of the best ways to end up with a JOB!
Let me tell you a secret:
You have to crawl before you can walk and eventually run.
Business is all about momentum.
If you set big, exciting, world changing goals the little stuff you need to do to learn and get some momentum won't be exciting or feasible for you.
Getting a few customers or making $25,000 won't feel like it moves the needle so you'll try to jump past it.
When I started my pick up and student storage business, my first goal was to get 100 customers.
The next year my goal was to get $50k in my checking account (financial freedom for me as a 22 year old) and well over 1 year of runway.
The next year my goal was 3,000 customers and over $1 million in revenue.
The next year it was to put $500k in our company checking account after all expenses and taxes were paid.
The next year it was building my first self storage facility from the ground up (this took 2 years).
The year after that we tried to build a second facility and we failed.
The year after that we decided to buy one and we succeeded.
The year after that I wanted to buy 3 properties and we ended up buying 4!
A few years later and now we have 62 properties, a massive portfolio and I own several other companies that are growing fast.
Notice something about my goals:
1. All of these were short term goals. (1 year)
2. None of these were sexy, far fetched goals.
3. All of them were achievable and realistic.
4. I didn't accomplish all of them.
My advice:
If you can get excited about the little stuff and making realistic progress each year, you can win.
Big swings are great when you already have cash flow!
The thing that crushes so many is they take the big swing before they know what they’re doing and end up failing.
They run back to a job with their tail between their legs.
Most rich people I know got rich doing common things uncommonly well.
They focused on stacking small wins each year.
For 95%+ of people reading this, this is the best way to succeed.
Effort and time are inversely proportional. Effort compresses time.
That's why in whatever you do;
More effort = less time taken
Less effort = more time taken
Ask yourself:
What does every successful business that you admire do to win?
The answers are often obvious and simple:
They answer the phones.
They respond to emails in 15 minutes or less.
They have sales reps making 15-20 cold calls per day.
They run simple but effective Google and Meta ads.
They are on time. They process quotes and invoices quickly.
They use basic software to add efficiencies to their business.
They have learned how to hire, manage, and delegate so they can scale.
They provide simple services with repeatable systems that any new hire could learn and implement after a few weeks or months of training.
They don't reinvent the wheel.
They focus on the basic blocking and tackling and running the plays that they KNOW will work.
The same plays that have worked for millions of other businesses all over the world for many, many years.
The best rewards in life come from playing long games. Your physical and mental health, personal relationships, and wealth are a direct result of your ability to be consistent and disciplined. You win by doing the boring stuff over and over and over again.
@danroberts0101 Well laid out.
Each layer of the business compounds the one on top of it, and once all the ducks are in a row, it's gets incredibly hard to just fail
Especially because it's still a sellers market