Antonio Centeno’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
Understand why you are starting your own business –Figure out why you want your own business and write it down so that you can stay on track. The happiest people I’ve met are those who not only achieved their goals, but realized they achieved them and then took the time to enjoy their success. Starting your own company is giving everything you have for possibly years on end with no guarantee of financial success; but if done right, the satisfaction of choosing your own path makes an 18 hour workday seem, well, more like an adventure than work.
Start immediately – Do not wait for the perfect moment, because the perfect moment to start a business will never come. People in their teens/twenties are too young, in their thirties they have to be safe for the kids, in their forties they are used to having money, and beyond fifty they are told it’s too late. If you want to start something, start it now – make time immediately, today. Pull an all-nighter and write your business plan. Tomorrow will turn into next week, a month later into years, and in 2020 you’ll wonder what could have been if you had only acted.
Don’t quit your day job – Things move a lot slower than you plan them to; projections that have you making 100K in profits meets the reality of you barely reaching break even. In situations like this it’s nice to have a steady source of income. Yes, you’ll grow slower; but unless you have someone who can cover the basic expenses try to hold on to that steady paycheck and learn to better manage your time.
Plan – Going into Iraq with the initial forces, my unit had spent months planning our routes and tactics. We knew exactly how many gallons of fuel we would burn, rounds of ammo we would expend, and medical supplies we would use. Within days all of these plans were trashed as the campaign transformed into something no one had predicted. However we never missed a beat, because the thorough planning process had prepared us for any eventuality by forcing us to know our capabilities and resources cold. Business situations change and company plans are scrapped, but if you’ve worked through multiple scenarios you’ll be much better equipped to meet any market challenge. Planning forces you to think through ideas and allows others to review them and point out strengths and weaknesses.
Take the road less traveled – I know a lot of intelligent people who have started technology companies in Silicon Valley & Austin. Unfortunately most of them are in industries overflowing with smart people and as such they work for peanuts on technologies that will never live up to the lofty expectations set by Google, Twitter, and all the other overachievers. If you have a tech skill set, consider going into an industry that desperately needs your services and where you would be a valuable resource vs. a commodity. I was talking with an automotive repair shop owner who knew nothing about how to attract clients searching for him on the web – a quick Google search showed neither did his competition as that not a single one had online reviews or a website that was search engine optimized. Think of the impact the right person could have on this one local market.
Keep expenses in check – Watch every penny. Venture capital funded companies receive all the press with their multi-million dollar investments, but the vast majority of small businesses are bootstrapped. And that’s a good thing; it forces you to be ruthless as to what you spend money on and forces you to seek a return on investment for every dollar doled out. The director Robert Rodriguez said something to the effect that a lack of funds forces a person to ratchet up their creativity. Google search how he funded his first film, El Mariachi, to see what I’m talking about.
Read and contribute to your field – Everyone that wants to be good in their field knows they need to read up on the industry. But if you want to be one of the best, take it to the next level. Voraciously devour everything written about your market, and start reading about other industries with the goal of understanding how ideas in these industries are applicable to your field. When it becomes hard for you to find new industry data, sit down and write yourself. Nothing facilitates an education like the discipline and research required to contribute a useful essay to a field of knowledge.
Persistence – Starting your own business is a marathon, not a 100 meter dash. It’s long, grueling, and there are stretches where you’ll hit a wall and want to quit. You will have days that have you moving backwards and weeks that you appear to have made no gain at all; worse your competition may appear to be growing faster and even leap ahead. But measure your progress over months, and from this perspective you’ll see just how far you’ve traveled. View success as profitability and staying in business, not necessarily being better than your competition (they may not be as successful as you imagine them to be….and if they are then you have the option of being a fast follower)
Believe in yourself – If you’re not confident in your company or idea, why should anyone else be? The key to being sure of your eventual success is to have properly prepared – write your business plan, run through the numbers, and ask the hard questions early. After you’ve made it through this, you’ll find it’s rare that someone can rattle your confidence or ask a question that you haven’t heard before.
Throw out your Television – Magically you’ll find time you never knew you had; stop watching life and start living it.
Mr. Antonio Centeno is the president of A Tailor Suit, an online custom clothier. He was also a U.S. Marine Corp officer for the Iraq War. Courtesy of The Art of Manliness.
