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A lot of people set out to start a business. The perception of flexibility, independence, respect, and potential wealth are big draws. The millennial way of expressing this is to found a “startup.” The underlying motivations for a startup are often exactly the same but with two scoops of trendiness and pretentiousness about “making the world a better place” plopped on top.
Now, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with setting out to launch a business or startup. Pathwright is a little of both. But I think a lot of well-intentioned people have been sold a formula for starting a successful business that looks like this:
What should I do? = gain independence + flexibility + wealth + respect … (And, oh yeah, make the world a better place.)
We’re told that if we really want any part of this delicious pie badly enough and use the right methods, then we too could create the next Facebook, Uber, Apple, or ________. I’d argue from experience (and the research) that this is the wrong equation. It’s wrong in that it leads well-meaning people to approach starting a business with mindsets that don’t usually end well:
- ? The Cookie-Cutter Mindset leads people to attempt to start a business with someone else’s playbook or ready-made kit. Most of the time, this means that someone up the chain — the people peddling the playbook — are the only ones making the real money. This is easiest to see in multi-level marketing, but it’s pervasive in entrepreneurship books, blogs, and the like.
- ? The Genius Idea Mindset stems from a belief that million+ dollar products are made from brilliant ideas. In startup land, this mindset leads people to focus on honing their pitch for some new, innovate idea and courting venture capitalists to fund it instead of getting good at actually creating something someone would actually pay for. All the successful business people I know understand that ideas alone are worthless.
- ? The Serial Entrepreneur Mindset is one that many aspire to, but very few people can actually pull off. Sure, there are the rare people uniquely able to start or turnaround just about any type of business, sell it off at a profit, and then move on to the next. But the problem is that the people who buy these businesses tend to be wealthy people looking to maximize their investment. This dynamic morphs the business into the big business stereotype that’s all about maximizing profit for the owners at the biggest cost to employees and customers they can get away with.
Millions of people fall into one of these mindsets, so it’s no surprise that there are billion dollar industries built around preying on their hopes and dreams through multi-level marketing schemes, get-rich-quick style books, courses, seminars, and even many MBA programs.
So what’s a better way to think about starting a business or startup?
Well, I think the first step is to back up and ask a more fundamental question first: What is my ideal work?
Keep reading for two big factors—your trade and your core value—that help settle your direction. It's too long to include all of here, but you should click through. I love how practical Paul’s write-up is!
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