When thinking about accomplished entrepreneurs (I mean they made millions) most people take their lifestyle for granted (i.e. having money to burn) because it’s really hard to think that some of them started from nothing. Usually their lifestyle is what motivates wanna-be entrepreneurs to start a business, but in the same time their lifestyle makes difficult to see the hard work they have put into creating a business and that sometimes they faced the same dilemmas as any entrepreneur: having no money to start a business and looking for a unique business idea.
I’m not what you would call an accomplished entrepreneur (didn’t make millions) but lucky enough I had the chance to recently interview Mike Michalowicz, serial entrepreneur and author of the book The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. So, how did Mike started his entrepreneurship path?
“Mike Michalowicz started his first business at the age of 24, moving his young family to the only safe place he could afford - a retirement village. With limited resources and no experience, he systematically grew a multi-million dollar technology business, sleeping in conference rooms to avoid hotel costs. After selling his first company, Mike launched a new business the very next day, and in less than three years, sold it to a Fortune 500.”
We have discussed about starting a business on a bootstrapped model and here is what I found out:
Cristian: Most people are afraid starting a business because they fear they will never make enough money to cover the costs. What advice can you give them?
Mike: Starting a business is first and foremost about surviving it’s NOT about thriving. Too many entrepreneurs go in to business thinking that they can sustain their current standard of life and launch a business, but that is not the case. Often a new entrepreneurial endeavor requires taking one (or two) steps back first, then a giant leap forward.
So to overcome the fear of, I’ll never make enough, determine what is the minimum you would be willing to deal with. Would you be willing to move back in with your parents or a friends basement? Would you be willing to eat beans and rice for a year? How economical would you be willing to go? Then actually do it! Start living on the cheap and start building your business. You will not only afford yourself ample time to launch, but you will defeat that nagging fear of not having enough money. Slowly but surely your business will grow and so will your discipline to growing a healthy, fiscally responsible company.
We have also talked about the entrepreneurs that are really afraid to start a business because they don’t have an unique business idea:
Cristian: What advice could you give entrepreneurs that are afraid to start because they don’t have that unique, excellent business idea?
Mike: Ideas are a dime a dozen, so don’t worry about that. Instead find something that is totally consistent with your life’s passion. Something that you can’t wait to wake up and start doing, every single day of your life… NOT for the money, but just because you love it. That will be a field that you will lead in, and the money (and their will be lots of it) is just a big nice bonus.
See the rest of the interview with Mike Michalowicz, Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur here.
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This is a guest post from Cristian Dorobantescu, a strategic expert specialized in online software sales with a vast experience in business development and entrepreneurship, delivering successful out-of-the-box initiatives. He enjoys writing the Small Business Entrepreneur blog and the Entrepreneur-Interviews blog.
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