"If I could sum it up in one word, I'd have to say, 'naiveness'. Lack of a business plan, lack of a sustainable business concept, lack of foresight and planning, lack of knowledge, lack of self esteem, lack of understanding payroll and overhead, lack of this and lack of that. It all centers around some form of being naive."

People also seem to follow the conventional method of business startup too much for these days. With many businesses you really should just go out and sell. Then if sells are good, you can build a real business around that. Not all businesses can be started this way, but many can. Business savy folk just contact their network and get signed contracts to buy the product and violia new business! People spend too much money creating a business plan, retaining an accountant, marketing firm, etc. before they even know if there is a market for the business (product). Remember, not all businesses can be started this way. But one thing is for sure without sales, I doubt any business will do well.


"When I go to entrepreneur get together's, networking sessions, marketing forays, and read the boards here, there is a common thread that sticks out in all of them. Some putz shoving his business card in my hand with the tag-line "I have a revolutionary business idea I'm about to drop onto mankind, and all I need is a little bit of money to get things rolling." Or, "Make millions with my product/sales pitch/internet site/m2m/insert generic-get-rich-scheme-here""

Yes, this happens to me also. I have been trying for a while to find entrepreneurs in my area of the country to team up with and I get the same sales bullsh_t at the meetings and events that you get. It is as if the goal of the various small business agencies is to prevent entrepreneurs from getting together instead of helping them connect.


"...reason is because people mistake enthusiasm, desire and ambition with actual substance."

Actually, those are the only substance needed. Everything else you need can be gotten one way or another. You may have to beg, borrow, or steal. But if you have enough desire, you'll find a way!


"Of the many things I think people are naive about going into new ventures, it's that they think they'll somehow magically have customers lined up at their storefront when that sign is turned around from closed to open on the first day."

Another reason to sell first! If you can't get customers by bringing your product to them, then you're probably not gonna' get them to come to you.


"How ever your choose to do it, be it from previous clients, networking, marketing or plain ol' advertising, people won't know you exist until you tell them."

This falls under the "whatever it takes" approach. If you have to paint yourself orange and stand next to the road giving away samples, then do it!


"The next thing you get to figure out, is how much your overhead will be beating you up every month, for a year. Because it will probably take that much time just to get a pathetic trickle of customers to walk through your door."

Here again, not all businesses can be started without a conventional approach. But, maybe the next day you could be on the corner with a box of retail items ready to sell. If you can't make enough sales on that corner to save enough money to get a storefront then you don't have a good buiness (product).


"I've always been a big advocate of internet and service oriented ventures precisely because I've always been a big stickler about overhead."

Those are good businesses to start under the non-conventional method I've been talking about.


"And considering 94% of Americans make less then a six figure income, it will probably take you the better part of a decade, if not flat out bankruptcy to clear that up."

Your only investment in bootstrapping a business is the cost of the product and maybe not even that if you're smart! So, you should have very little money spent before you find out whether the business idea is good or not.

If you have a business idea, just pick up the phone and start selling. Or get in the car and start selling. If you can't sell your product, then you probably can't sell the idea to investors either.