I have tried my hand at becoming a businessman with very poor results. As a result of my efforts I not only wasted my time but I also blew up all my savings.
But there are some valuable lessons that can be learnt from my experiences. Anybody can learn these lessons. I hope this article will guide those who are thinking of going into business as a vocation as opposed to taking up a job or becoming a scientist or academic.
So these are the lessons to be learnt:
- The first thing to look at is whether you have the temperament to be a businessman. Speaking for myself I had the temperament of a scientist or a philosopher or a researcher and not that of a businessman. I liked to research and read all the various options open to me. But I never ended up taking any action.
Some psychology is also involved. I have a morbid fear of making mistakes and that is why I did not act and find out by experience whether some plan will work or not. So my time was wasted in reading all the marketing and business books that were recommended.
The biggest mistake you can make in life (or in business) is to be afraid to making mistakes and thereby not take any action.
I think it was Winston Churchill who said that success is the ability to go from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. - If you try your hand at ten ventures and only one is successful then would you think of it as a success or a failure?
From my experience this is a success for the simple reason that you can close down the businesses that were unsuccessful and scale up the one venture which succeeded. Find ten such ventures (that succeed) by being unafraid to fail and you can find yourself earning a handsome amount.
So this is the second lesson – fail quickly and cheaply without much expenditure of time, energy and money so that you can find out what works to make money and you have the resources to continue.
If you are interested in knowing more about this concept please let me know. - Money loves speed. In the world of online business there are very few barriers to entry. So it does not take long for a money making method to become saturated and then it will stop working. So when you discover a method milk it for whatever it is worth for as long it lasts because you can be sure that it will not last very long. You have to be fast to beat the other competitors who can use your method as soon as they cotton on to it.
- Another mistake I made was that I did not learn a marketable skill in all my years of being a online marketer. Had I focussed on learning a skill by reading and trial and error then I would be able to earn through freelancing. So before you go into business learn a few skills that you can bank on if and when your business does not work.
- Next point is that you have to spend money to make money. This is self explanatory.
- Next point is that Internet marketing involves very tedious and mind numbing work unless you outsource to a reliable freelancer. So this is something you have to keep in mind.
Ok so these are the main takeaways from my business failures. I would recommend that you read the following book
This is a classic that will enable you to not fall for seductive sales letters and advertisements. I have spend a lot of money on marketing products that were of no use to me because the product vendor knew psychology. If you read the above book you can guard yourself against such advertisements.
As to my future goals – I would like to stick to my blog and writing about topics I know something about. There may not be much money in philosophy but this is a subject I know and am interested in. I want to stick to what I know.
I hope you liked my article. Please share it on WA, FB and X and let me have your comments, Feedback from my readers keeps me going.
Find this handy. Buy me a coffee