If you read his autobiography, you'll see how much encouragement his parents gave Branson. Infact they even mortgaged their house a second time to pay for his first publication "Student".
This is a guy who has been told all his life that he can do whatever he puts his mind to.
So when he's backed up against a wall, he doesnt see the wall. He just keeps trying till he succeeds.
If you dont have this kind of mindset then I think desperation will kill you.
Essentially (IMHO) you have to put yourself in a position where you have the time and emotional strength to devote to a startup.
For me, this is to have a day job and work during the weekends and during the nighttime.
I used play a lot of sports and go out a lot. I just stopped doing that and put more time into my startup when I realised
A - "If I dont do this I'll ALWAYS be working for someone else". (That really really really scares me.)
B- Worse "I never put in a SERIOUS EFFORT to start my own company".
Just imagining myself thinking these thoughts when I'm 40 is a HUGE motivating factor.
Its the equivalent of the Samurai contemplating their death. "Your going to be 40 in 10 years. Now what are you going to do tonite?"
I am 40 (well 39). It's pretty disheartening; I have a bunch of things-I'd-like-to-do but no money, and have never been good at talking up money or even asking for it. Indeed, part of the problem is an excess of belief in the 'do what you love and the money will come' ethic. It might, but you've got to be good at marketing, plus there are times when you will simply get ripped off.
Not blaming the system or anything like that, but if you start out from the wrong place or make a few bad decisions at non-obvious but critical turning points, burning desire isn't always enough. EDIT: I don't mean in the sense of I'm going to lie down and die now, but that effort + ambition doesn't always translate to a successful payoff.
The way I look at it is that its a long journey where the biggest problem is basically the beliefs that you have. I think you have to really grow out of the beliefs that are holding you back. (By "you" I mean everyone ... not specifically you :) ...
Ie you have to have the mental courage to call yourself out and change to have success. For eg: I've always said that I can never play politics but I realise that when I start my own firm, I will probably have to at some point. So I study how the guys at work do that.
I've abhorred schmoozing to get anything but at some point I might have to do that to land a big client.
If you realise this is the kind of commitment its going to take, I think you'll have better success.
Essentially some particular thing is stopping you from making money. This could range from:
1. Your product is not useful
2. Your bliefs arent congruent to what is real in the world
3. Your relationship with your business partner isnt helping.
4. etc.
IF you think about it, it really could be anything. And running a business is a process of finding whats wrong and fixing it.
So you basically have to keep realising whats working and whats not. This becomes really hard when it comes down to your beliefs. And I think thats what holds back a fair number of entrepreneurs. They are unwilling to change their beliefs.
Eg: They see no one is using their product but they still believe it will work out. They see no revenue from their keywords and still they use the same ones.
Anyway I hope this process is what will make me sucessful. But even this could be wrong :) ...
I think that statement is incomplete. It should be 'do what you love [that users will love too] and the money will come'. Also, I think it might help to try and find partners that are strong in areas you are weak, for example, someone great at sales/marketing.
Quite so. If I sound cynical, it's just that I'm 'on the rebound' right now from a somewhat unwise business pairing. (Dammit! someone else already registered hermitcrab.com :) )
This is a guy who has been told all his life that he can do whatever he puts his mind to.
So when he's backed up against a wall, he doesnt see the wall. He just keeps trying till he succeeds.
If you dont have this kind of mindset then I think desperation will kill you.
Essentially (IMHO) you have to put yourself in a position where you have the time and emotional strength to devote to a startup.
For me, this is to have a day job and work during the weekends and during the nighttime.
I used play a lot of sports and go out a lot. I just stopped doing that and put more time into my startup when I realised
A - "If I dont do this I'll ALWAYS be working for someone else". (That really really really scares me.)
B- Worse "I never put in a SERIOUS EFFORT to start my own company".
Just imagining myself thinking these thoughts when I'm 40 is a HUGE motivating factor.
Its the equivalent of the Samurai contemplating their death. "Your going to be 40 in 10 years. Now what are you going to do tonite?"