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An entrepreneur lives inside all of us. Some people are lucky enough, and brave enough at a young age, to act on those entrepreneurial instincts while others talk a massive game but never make the leap and go it alone.
Mike Podesto, the founder of Find My Profession, took a leap of faith, quit his job, and started his own company. He’s now the CEO of a business that handles the job searching tasks for executives and CEO and gets paid handsomely to do so.
In this piece for Forbes, Podesto explains the three obstacles that prevent potential entrepreneurs from breaking out on their own. The first obstruction isn’t physical or financial. It’s a mindset.
“There is no perfect time to quit your job and start a company,” Podesto explains. “The fact is, no business can be 100% prepared for what’s to come.”
Podesto speaks from experience. He struggled internally with finding “the best time” and continuously asked himself questions about the amount of money he needed in savings and how far along his side business should be before committing to it full time.
His advice is to always keep an open mind about the business and be ever-evolving in the services provided to customers.
“Don’t get too attached to any one idea and don’t be afraid of change. Every great entrepreneur is able to roll with the changes and adapt to meet the needs of their customers.”
The second biggest obstacle, in Podesto’s estimation, is overplanning. “The secret to starting a business is to plan less and do more,” Podesto warns. “The best way to become an expert at something is to practice. No amount of planning or preparation will ever come close to real life experiences.”
Finally, Podesto warns, anyone starting a business should be ready to weather the storm of unpredictability and more than a few failures. In other words, get ready to eat shit for a while.
“When I first started my company, things were not glamorous by any means,” Podesto admits. “I took a $70,000 pay cut, I moved four times in one year, I worked 80-plus hour weeks, my business partner quit, I acquired $40,000 in debt, and I changed the game plan over 20 times. You simply can’t plan for these sorts of events. Change is bound to happen. The best way to find out what works is to find out what doesn’t work.”
The CEO is glad he took a leap of faith and wouldn’t change anything about his journey and ends with this advice about starting a business.
“The best way to grow and develop a business is not to research and plan. It is to do and fail.”
[via Forbes]
Chris Illuminati is a 5-time published author and recovering a**hole who writes about career advice, gear and occasionally pro wrestling. Follow him on Twitter.