Business is not that hard

[Mr4213]

Its true. Its not hard, it just takes a lot of work.

This is mainly for the people who are like I was. I would sit there and read a ton of business books. Sit and plot, spend all day just thinking. Trying to figure out what to do. What to sell. Where to start. Coming up with reasons why this or that idea wouldn't work. That has its place, but you need to escape that or you will never get anywhere I promise. In the Army I've been taught making a bad decision on the battlefield is better than making no decision. It's much better for you to jump in and fail, than never start and not learn anything.

Its very easy for people to feel overwhelmed with business. Or feel like its far more difficult than it is.

I view business as simply a system that generates money. The goal is to automate the system and get passive income. You work on it piece by piece. Its an assembly line to me. You work on and automate the assembly line piece by piece. Generally speaking, this is not hard. But it takes a lot of hard work.

To oversimplify it this is how I view it.

Get phone to ring-----Answer phone and get sale-------logistically plan and complete job-----get money

Automate calls (marketing)----Automate inbound calls(sales)-----Automate job completion (project management)

Obviously many details factor into this. But that is as oversimplified as I can make it.

I saw @SteveO mention something once that really hit home for me. Its probably one of the best things I've ever read on these forums.

He was talking about how you don't "need" a lot of the things you think you need to start a business. This is 100% correct. My business was started with next to nothing. I took the little savings I had and went all in. I didn't take people's money, I didn't borrow money. Very often people think they "need" things that they really do not. If its not 100% needed for the business to function legally you do not need it. Money can actually be more of a detriment to a new company than a positive. And if you need something that cost a lot of money. Can you get it other ways? Always look for other ways. Even if you have the money. If you are able to accomplish things without money, you will be able to accomplish far more when you have money.

I love talking about business and giving people my advice. I've talked to all of my friends and tried to get them to "see it". I've found that its usually just a waste of time. You can give someone the keys to success. But that doesn't mean they will use them.

I think business comes down to the qualities of a person. If I handed people a solid business plan, most of them would crash and burn. Because they do not have the qualities to succeed. A mentor can teach you business principals, but no mentor can teach you to keep going when you want to quit. No mentor can teach you to "want it", people give up so easily. People "want" a lot of things, but most people wont try and grab them. In the past I have offered friends the chance to join my company. They sat there and figured out a whole bunch of reasons why they shouldn't, or why it wouldn't work. They said no. Here I am months later just chugging along, despite the risk, despite the uncertainty, despite the shitty days.

No one can change your internal qualities besides yourself. So if you are on the fence, then jump in. Make a shitty decision and learn from it. That's far better than doing nothing. My entire life was drastically changed by one decision to jump in. Everything I have now is because I acted on a THOUGHT months ago. I have had so much personal growth since that day. That same thought could have been in anyone's mind. But I guarantee most people wouldn't act on that thought. Your mind is hardwired to work against you. Theres a legitimate time to listen to yourself. There is also a legitimate time to ignore the reasons why not to, and just do it.

The qualities are far more important than the business plan.

 

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[TheGrind]

It depends completely on the industry. Some businesses are complex as hell.

 

[Jean-Pierre]

Great post @Mr4213

It depends completely on the industry. Some businesses are complex as hell.

It's only a hard/complex as you make it. Sure some of the technical parts of the process is technically complicated but the base model of making money is always the same.

I'm not a huge fan of idolising people or writing business plans (but I like learning from them)... have a quick read through Elon Musk's "Master Plan, Part Deux"
https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/blog/master-plan-part-deux?redirect=no
It's a great example of how someone who can take something so complicated as making a car company/utility company and explain it so simply and with such a clear vision. For him, it's just putting together pieces of the puzzle together. Sure the pieces require a lot of technical expertise but in the end, you just need to put them together in a way that will work.

 

[Brian C.]

"Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to keep things simple." - Richard Branson

 

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[ApparentHorizon]

This is mainly for the people who are like I was. I would sit there and read a ton of business books. Sit and plot, spend all day just thinking. Trying to figure out what to do. What to sell. Where to start. Coming up with reasons why this or that idea wouldn't work. That has its place, but you need to escape that or you will never get anywhere I promise. In the Army I've been taught making a bad decision on the battlefield is better than making no decision. It's much better for you to jump in and fail, than never start and not learn anything.

The beauty of what we do comes from taking complex problems and coming up with a simple solution.

I admire those who serve because they have something the rest of us don't. I'm not sure exactly what that is (discipline, endurance, (?)...) , but if 1/3 of the top CEOs come from a similar background, there's something to be said.

It depends completely on the industry. Some businesses are complex as hell.

• "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." -Einstein

It's relative...

When I was in high school I remember taking standardized tests nearly every 1-2 weeks. Some were "hard" some were "easy."

What actually made them hard? Lack of knowledge and experience. Lack of studying and understanding.

What's the reason you can't start a business in aeronautical development or bio-pharmaceutical research? Same reason I couldn't pass some simple tests.​

It's fun to rag on traditional institutions on this forum, but there's always a positive experience you can take away from any event, regardless of how mundane it is.

 

[SteveO]

Its very easy for people to feel overwhelmed with business. Or feel like its far more difficult than it is.

Making a mountain out of a molehill is natural for many of us. Good post!

 

[nradam123]

Making a mountain out of a molehill is natural for many of us. Good post!

This is such a huge sticking point for me.

I feel like people like Tim Ferriss tries to make it super easy but a lot of others try to appear way too hard.
Sometimes I am confused whether i am doing something dumb or i am just holding back. I am putting the work, but i do not see any progress. And then sometimes i have to relax a few days to figure everything out. For me until now business is really hard.

 

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[Mr4213]

It depends completely on the industry. Some businesses are complex as hell.

Regardless of the industry I would say the qualities are by far the most important aspect. You can hand someone a perfect business plan. But most people would still fail.

Also, regardless of the industry I would say most businesses (if not all) fall into this process

1) Get leads (Marketing)
2) Close leads (Sales)
3) Provide service/product (Project management)

I view this process the same for pretty much all business. How each of those three things are done is what is different.

Regardless of what you do the same questions would usually be asked.

1) How can I get people to call me? How can I get my name out there? Who am I trying to sell to? ect ect
2) How am I going to close the sales? What kind of pricing am I going with? ect ect
3) How can I get the service or product delivered in the way expected by the customer? ect ect

Some businesses can be complex as hell to operate I agree. But at the end of the day, its the same oversimplified process.

Find people that want to buy it-----Sell it----Provide it---Get money

 

[Salvador8907]

In the Army I've been taught making a bad decision on the battlefield is better than making no decision. It's much better for you to jump in and fail, than never start and not learn anything.

This is why I have so much respect for our troops.

 

[nradam123]

Regardless of the industry I would say the qualities are by far the most important aspect. You can hand someone a perfect business plan. But most people would still fail.

Also, regardless of the industry I would say most businesses (if not all) fall into this process

1) Get leads (Marketing)
2) Close leads (Sales)
3) Provide service/product (Project management)

I view this process the same for pretty much all business. How each of those three things are done is what is different.

Regardless of what you do the same questions would usually be asked.

1) How can I get people to call me? How can I get my name out there? Who am I trying to sell to? ect ect
2) How am I going to close the sales? What kind of pricing am I going with? ect ect
3) How can I get the service or product delivered in the way expected by the customer? ect ect

Some businesses can be complex as hell to operate I agree. But at the end of the day, its the same oversimplified process.

Find people that want to buy it-----Sell it----Provide it---Get money

This is exactly what I am trying to fix in my game at the moment, I am so glad.
I have a habit of dabbling and I just wrote yesterday about my primary focus in this thread - https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...grit-how-do-i-fix-it.69074/page-2#post-550672 and it seems to match with yours. I think its the right realization.

 

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