Asteeeg! Beyond traditional careers and conventional lifestyle

Business is hard. Make no mistake about that.

You’ve heard the statistics… around 9 out of 10 businesses fail in the first 2 years. Ouch. We hear about miracle stories from entrepreneurs, published in GoNegosyo or Entrepreneur mag. What you don’t hear about are the equally intelligent and talented people who somehow had to close down their business.

So, for the undeterred entrepreneurs out there, how do you increase the chances of making it and being published in the next issue of Entrep magazine?

Stack the deck in your favor. Tilt the odds towards you staying in business. It may involve doing some unglamorous or counter-intuitive things, but you’ll be thankful when you fail to close that deal and still have enough money left in the bank for next salary.

Here are some ways to help yourself stay in business:

• Don’t quit your job first. Yes, seriously. Phil Knight was an accountant when he hired his first salesman to sell imported running shoes under Blue Ribbon Sports, his first company. Only later did he have his own brand in Nike, find Michael Jordan, and become a billionaire.
• Don’t get caught up in spending to become a “professional” company. So, you’re starting a company. You need to rent an office in Makati, hire a receptionist, buy a fancy laptop, and hire five employees. Right? Wrong! Try to do exactly none of these if you can help it. Work from home, answer your calls, give work to freelancers, and make do with whatever equipment you have. When you’ve made enough from project income to buy something for the company, that’s when you do it. Believe me, I’ve been on both ends of this situation.
• Do have a partner whom you can make a great team with. Business is hard enough already, it’s even harder when you do it alone. Having a partner with complementary skills is a great way to share your burdens and make sure you don’t go crazy, especially if you feel that the world is turning against you. At least, there’s always someone in your corner
• Do always prepare for contingencies. Murphy’s law seems especially true in business - contracts don’t get signed, work gets delayed, people get sick at the wrong time, your Internet is down, etc. etc. Most of these can be worked around with a good contingency plan. Having extra cash in the bank, a backup person for the project, or generally another way to do things is always good to have so that you’re not caught with your pants down.
• Do always remember your vision for the company. It doesn’t even have to be in a shiny plaque, or even a written statement at all - when things are going tough, it’s your belief in what you are doing and what your company stands for that will carry things through. For entrepreneurs, it’s not running out of money that’s the fatal blow to their company - it’s the day they stop believing in it that it dies.