{"id":6537,"date":"2018-12-03T16:59:25","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T16:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=6537"},"modified":"2021-01-11T22:12:10","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T22:12:10","slug":"only-stupid-entrepreneurs-build-their-wings-on-the-way-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/only-stupid-entrepreneurs-build-their-wings-on-the-way-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Only Stupid Entrepreneurs Build Their Wings on the Way Down"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\"Only<\/div>\n
\n

Ray Bradbury once said:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we listened to our intellect, we\u2019d never have a love affair. We\u2019d never have a friendship. We\u2019d never go into business, because we\u2019d be cynical. Well, that\u2019s nonsense. You\u2019ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

This has become bastardized into the often used quote\u2026 \u201cTo be an Entrepreneur you have to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

However, I have a problem with the \u201cWe\u2019d never go into business\u201d part when it comes to jumping off cliffs without a good pair of wings, and especially the way the bastardized quote has weaved it\u2019s way into common entrepreneurial advice.\u00a0I implore people, especially those selling around this idea, to stop sharing this shit and convincing people it\u2019s what an entrepreneur is\u2026 because too many buy into it and then fail because of this ridiculous encouragement.<\/p>\n

What it should say is: An UNSUCCESSFUL entrepreneur (or a foolish entrepreneur) is someone who jumps off a cliff without a clue as to how to fly. Entrepreneurism has nothing to do with blind faith. Sure, there\u2019s an element of risk as with anything new and untried, but it\u2019s a calculated risk based on at least a passing knowledge of things like projected market demand, the competition, startup costs, financing, all the factors that are going to have a major impact on the idea\u2019s viability.<\/p>\n

You need enough data (empirical and\/or conjectural) to be able to put some figures together from which you can make reasonable projections about the likelihood of success. Then if things look promising, for goodness sakes plan. That\u2019s your wings \u2013 a business plan. Build them before you jump. Doesn\u2019t sound as sexy, but neither does losing your shirt on something that could have easily been avoided with a little planning.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve talked before about how I don\u2019t usually do my planning on paper. But when it comes to starting a new venture, you\u2019re going to have to write it down. For one thing, if you need to get investors or financing, they\u2019re going to want to see it in wiriting.<\/p>\n

Expanding on your research, create a plan that will launch the business and yield your expected rate of return within your required period of time. The saying \u201cTime is money\u201d really is true. Rent, payroll, interest, taxes, utilities all eat away at capital while you\u2019re trying to build an income stream. This is the point where you really need to do your homework. When you plan, you visualize how things will come together, the order in which things must be done and where you need to be at certain waypoints. That helps you focus on crucial accomplishments and the time tables for reaching those goals. Depending on your degree of expertise and the nature of your venture, you might bring in legal, accounting, marketing or other professional consultants as needed to help in your plan\u2019s development and to verify that you can actually do what you need to do and get it done when you need it to be done.<\/p>\n

Now, you\u2019re not going to be able to plan for every detail or contingency. I suppose you could say the wings are incomplete. A good business plan is never complete. Life and the business environment is too complicated. It\u2019s always changing so the business plan has to flex and change with it. It\u2019s always evolving. But starting with a plan provides a set of targets that will help you plot your way forward. As you implement your plan, you can measure actual results for comparison to make new projections giving you a window into the future.<\/p>\n

Ultimately the business environment is out of your control. Unexpected changes in the economy, regulations, new competitors, new technologies are always just over the horizon. Twitter started as a podcast platform called Odeo. Shortly after they got up and running, iTunes moved into the podcast niche, and they had to transform. The plan had to change. Starbucks started as an espresso machine and coffee vendor. Flickr started as a role-playing game. Wrigley of Wrigley\u2019s Gum started by selling baking powder and soap and was giving away the gum as a freebie.<\/p>\n

Plans change; that\u2019s a fact of life, and it will never stop. But that\u2019s not a reason not to plan. The data and the insights provided by the plan help you make the crucial decisions necessary to make the change and land on your feet.A smart entrepreneur is someone with a plan, but when things go wrong or don\u2019t work, he quickly redirects and forms a new plan. None of this jump-off-and-then-build-wings crap.\u00a0Just sayin\u2026 hate this nonsense. Those are the entrepreneurs who fail.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

#FollowThePath<\/a>\u2026\u00a0#NoLetUp<\/a><\/p>\n

Previously posted at\u00a0TedRubin.co<\/a>m<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ray Bradbury once said: \u201cIf we listened to our intellect, we\u2019d never have a love affair. We\u2019d never have a friendship. We\u2019d never go into business, because we\u2019d be cynical. Well, that\u2019s nonsense. You\u2019ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-tedrubin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6537"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6538,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6537\/revisions\/6538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}