how do i become a sucessful entreprenuer?

fate is what we make wrote:

I have great ideas to start businesses but dont know where to start or how to make them explode. Any tips?

Dynamite factory, fireworks distributor? Just a guess.

Find a mentor...research successful people in your area and reach out to someone you emulate. Call them, introduce yourself as a fan or theirs and you'd like to have the opportunity to take them to lunch to bounce some ideas off of them...

mwwwin wrote:

Find a mentor...research successful people in your area and reach out to someone you emulate. Call them, introduce yourself as a fan or theirs and you'd like to have the opportunity to take them to lunch to bounce some ideas off of them...

Worst idea ever!!! What, take some stranger out to lunch and tell him your great ideas so he can steal them?! Are you kidding?

Do not follow that retards advice.

Get a day job to pay the bills. Start working on your idea on the side. Plan to live poor and have your work week for both jobs to be about 70 hrs/week for the next 5 years. Have a little bit of good luck and you are there.

mwwwin wrote:

Find a mentor...research successful people in your area and reach out to someone you emulate. Call them, introduce yourself as a fan or theirs and you'd like to have the opportunity to take them to lunch to bounce some ideas off of them...

Normally I would agree with this, but the other poster is right. I did this about 5 years ago; mainly just to get some insight and advice. The guy liked my ideas and said, "Why wait? Let's do it now!" I got caught up in the excitement and went with it. Two years later I realized my ideas were being executed incorrectly, I had no power and I was working for an asshole - not with him.

I had to purchase the company from him after some very, very uncomfortable and awkward conversations. I lost a lot of money in that deal.

It is okay to ask for advice and help, but never, never give away the ideas. You are naive, and that is not your fault. Be careful. Good luck.

Look up S.C.O.R.E. and call those guys. They are mostly retired successful entrepenuers and they exist to help guys like you start a business.

My business partner and I used them and they provide invaluable insight into your business idea(s).

The old adage about "ideas are dime-a-dozen" definitely applies here. We all have great ideas but actually putting them into motion and making them real is next to impossible.

But it CAN be done. Be prepared to work A LOT and be extremely poor for awhile. Forget having a social life. But keep running! It will keep you sane.

I am now slightly over a year into my second start up and the ball is slowly starting to pick up steam. I never left my day job so I could have steady income while developing my new business.

There are definitely some things you need to ask yourself (and others):

Is there a need for your product/idea/website, etc?

You need to run some numbers to see if the idea is even economically feasible. (the SCORE guys really want to know this)

any other questions, let me know.

I say GO FOR IT as it may be the most rewarding thing you have everr done.

I successfully started a company 6 years ago. Before starting out, I took some local entrepreneurs out to lunch one at a time. Not to get them to critique my ideas, but more to ask them their story and what they would do differently if they had to do it again. I got a couple of very insightful ideas from that.

Then, in my view it isn't so much about planning, as the textbooks will tell you. It is having a good idea of what you want to do, but being very opportunistic as opportunities arise. My company isn't what I envisioned it to be and if I wasn't willing to react and change along the way we wouldn't be in business.

Regarding SCORE, it depends a bit on what your idea is if I would recommend going to them. That is hit or miss depending on how good the individual you work with is.

Don't get too focused on the competition. In general, check them out and then ignore them. I think a lot of small businesses focus way too much on the competition. Do whatever you do incredibly well. There is never a lot of competition for that.

And ... how hard you have to work is a bit overstated. Yes, you have to be willing to work long hours and have your nights and weekends ruined at a moments notice. If you aren't willing to make it a priority you probably don't have what it takes. But, I don't work any more hours than I did in the corporate world - maybe 50 a week.