Friday, January 28, 2011

The Early Stages



During the early stages you are hoping to gain some little traction. You start with the germ of an idea. You try to build a small team. You put together the basic idea for the business. You produce a deck, a few slides. You read up, read up, read up.

You, of course, project success. Big success. But even when you make progress there are times when you fall, there are times when you are moving backwards instead. You try to do it a different way. You tack a little.

You create a slide deck. You pitch. You pitch again. You rework what you have. You hope. That is important: you hope. You might even find a few people who believe in you. You start small, you think big. You will meet people who think you are crazy, crazy for even trying.

First and foremost you start with you. You need fire in the belly. When not giving up is your most important quality, there you depend on you. You have to see when others don't. You have to keep getting up after each fall. You have to see cracks, openings, and you have to go for them.

You pay personal prices. But you have to feel like they are worth it.

You have to keep at it. You have to work it. You have to keep reaching out to people. And, yes, you do have to ask for money. You have to ask around. You have to ask for intros. You have to ask for money. You have to keep touching base with whatever little, small team you might have assembled.

You have to stay put. You have to go for that inch.

During the early stages the germ of the idea should be enough to sustain you. Because that is all you got.

There are hurdles. Sure, there are hurdles. That is why it's called entrepreneurship. Can you climb the hurdles? Can you jump the hurdles? Can you go around the hurdles? Can you do whatever it takes?
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