I saw David’s post yesterday on being a great time to start a business which led me to Caterina’s post on it being a bad time to start a company

I feel that anytime is the right time to start a company. External forces are not what makes a company succeed or fail. It is your passion, commitment and love for your idea that will make or break a company. And just as in life, a successful company is not about the destination, it is about the journey.

1. You should do what you love.

All this talk about VC’s, competition, talent pools and web 2.0 is pointless. (Brian owes $1 to the banned-terms jar. -Ed.) If you plan to start a company, it should be something that you are passionate about. The best ideas always come from passionate people, and passion is contagious. Your love of what you do will attract other like-minded people, be they talent or customers. The lifeblood of your company will be your unwavering love for your idea: this will always breed happiness, confidence, authenticity, truthfulness and perseverance from yourselves and whomever you deal with.

2. Anytime is the right time to do what you love.

There is no right or wrong time to do what you love. Just as in life, once you’ve identified what will bring you happiness and satisfaction, go after it with dedication and spirit. Do not procrastinate—advance directly to GO! It is a big leap and can look very scary, but I guarantee you, whatever happens, if you love what you do, it will be worth it. You may not get it right the first time, but if you are even thinking of starting a business, I bet you will look back at the early days as some the best in your life.

3. Find someone to support and coach you through it.

Finding solace and support in others is crucial. You are making one of the biggest decisions in your life and you should have a few folks around you to help keep it together. Talking to your partner and family up front about why you want to start a company and the challenges you may face both personally and financially are crucial. Without their support, you cannot succeed. But also seek out a coach or mentor. It could be someone in your industry who has also started a business, an attorney or accountant (who won’t charge you for advice), someone from the Small Business Association, or maybe just a friend or family member with no experience at all. Identifying your support system will make the worst of times feel a little better and maybe even a little fun.

4. If you do what you love, rewards will follow.

Set the expectation from the get-go that you are not starting a company just for the paycheck. A company takes time and you will encounter many challenges. You should be doing something that you would be willing to do for free, as there could often be times that you will. The biggest rewards come from doing what you love and living your dream of being a entrepreneur, not the paycheck, no matter how big or small it may be.

5. Have an exit plan, but more importantly have a business plan.

It is okay to want to make money with hopes of cashing out at $500 zillion, but your exit plan should not be your business plan. Build a business that you love and plan to care and feed for many years. If your golden opportunity comes along sooner than expected, fantastic. But that should never be your goal from the beginning. Remember that no one likes working with or for someone that is just out to make a buck.

We launched Blue Flavor at the worst time of the year to start an agency: in October, just as most project budgets are winding down for the fiscal year. But the time was right for us to do what we loved.

We talked openly and honestly to each other about what we did and didn’t want to do. We were up front with our families that the first several months could hurt, and we took the plunge.

We are still just starting out. We’ve had some very tough days and still have many challenges in front of us. But the worst day at Blue Flavor is light-years away from the worst day I had working for someone else.

Regardless of how bad it may seem, we are doing what we love to do.

Comment on this entry...

1. Rick Turoczy March 31st, 2006 at 12:23 p.m.

   Excellent and compelling points, Brian. Thanks for sharing these little nuggets of love, well applied.

   Keep up the good work.

2. Russ Whitney March 31st, 2006 at 1:11 p.m.

   I like your comments. This reminds me of “Art of the Start” by Guy Kawasaki - Great book by the way.

3. Mark March 31st, 2006 at 3:09 p.m.

   Just what we needed to hear! I think “advance directly to GO!” is going to be our new mantra. Thanks Brian! :)

4. Travis March 31st, 2006 at 5:13 p.m.

   I totally agree. I’ve been working on my web services business for years and it has its ups and down as everything but I’ve stuck with it because I enjoy what I do - and enjoy helping people. With that type of attitude I don’t think you can lose - people always want some help :-)

5. Chris Jennings March 31st, 2006 at 9:55 p.m.

   I like you guys.

   I’m with you 100% with the passion concept, I mean… You can only fake something for so long before losing all interest.

   “Don’t follow trends, you’ll never catch up.”

   I hope I just coined that quote, ha!

6. Chris Yeh April 1st, 2006 at 8:39 a.m.

   Great sentiments.

   About a month ago, I wrote a similar post called, Do What You Love (Because No One Really Knows What Will Make Money).

   <a href=”http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com/2006/03/do-what-you-love-because-no-one-really.html” rel=”nofollow” > <a href=”http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com/2006/03/do-what-you-love-because-no-one-really.html” rel=”nofollow” >http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com/2006/03/do-what-you-love-because-no-one-really.html</a> </a>

   The point is, when it comes down to it, doing something for the money is like selling years off your precious, finite, all-too-brief life in exchange for the mere possibility of the money.

   To me, that’s a sucker’s bet. If you must have money, you can still pursue your goal—just restrict your set of possible careers to the ones you can love.

7. Dave Sharp April 1st, 2006 at 12:09 p.m.

   A couple of other points to keep in mind… Choose your partners carefully. Take on the right customers from the start. Strive for Balance. Life is short/death is long.

8. Nestor April 2nd, 2006 at 6:33 p.m.

   Hi Brian, I just found your blog and I liked what I read. I am creating a blog for one of my classes in school, and just wanted to share with you a couple of articles:

   <b> “5 Key Attributes found in Entrepreneurs” </b> Acording to Rhiannon Williamson from Shelter Offshore, every great entrepreneur naturally has 5 key attributes that sets them aside from their competition and that ensure they will succeed where others may fail

   <a href=”http://neoentrepreneur.blogspot.com/2006/03/5-key-attributes-found-in_16.html” rel=”nofollow” > Visit our blog</a>

   What does it take? I don’t think you have to be born with the following characteristics to succeed as an entrepreneur, but instead, you can develop some of them:

   1. A high level of drive and energy
   2. Enough self-confidence to take carefully calculated, moderate risks
   3. A clear idea of money as a way of keeping score, and as a means of generating more money still
   4. The ability to get others to work with you and for you productively
   5. High but realistic achievable goals
   6. The belief that you can control your own destiny
   7. Readiness to learn from your own mistakes and failures
   8. A long-term vision of the future of your business
   9. Intense competitive urge, with self-imposed standards

   Visit us at http://www.neoentrepreneur.blogspot.com

9. joy April 3rd, 2006 at 12:06 p.m.

   great article. concise & direct, and totally spot-on. i’m in the process of getting things together to start a business and have definitely tried waiting for the “right time” when it’s really always the right time… thanks for the extra motivation!

10. Jason April 11th, 2006 at 2:27 p.m.

    I echo what Joy days. The timing is always right, you just need to get over your fears and do it.

11. Razib Ahmed April 15th, 2006 at 6:52 a.m.

    If you do what you love, rewards will follow- I agree to this idea 100% and I just wish that I had believed about it with ten or fifteen years earlier. When you are a college student or a university student, and this is the best time to do something that you like and I’m sure if you are persistent than you’ll get your reward sooner later.

12. basetta May 1st, 2006 at 12:49 p.m.

    I just discovered this blog through lifehacker and I gotta say it’s so inspiring, thanx!

13. Chokdee May 2nd, 2006 at 12:47 a.m.

    Excellent advice all around. Thx for the post!

    Recently my mother asked me “What are you going to teach your kids?” I replied, “I am going to teach them to follow their dreams.” She asked, “How will you do that?” I replied, “By following my own…”.

    I left a well paid gig recently because the environment was uninspiring and full of apathy and bitterness. Then I started to look for another shop but began to realise that this might be the best time to strike out on my own.

14. sohbet March 24th, 2007 at 5:45 p.m.

    thanks you

15. Darlene March 26th, 2007 at 11:49 a.m.

    Good points! I agree. Anytime is the Right Time to Start a Company Do what you love. When you do what you love, it’s not work. It’s fun. You will express enthusiasm and your potential customers will feel it.

16. sohbet April 30th, 2007 at 8:27 p.m.

    thanks you webmaster..

17. sohbet April 30th, 2007 at 8:28 p.m.

    thanks editors and webmaster

18. Patch Jan. 16th, 2008 at 1:27 p.m.

    Excellent :) That encourages me alot.

Add a comment