Your Entrepreneurship / Startup Experience - How was it ?

I always been thinking to start an online biz or an offline biz,
but I'm afraid of failure. (I'm sure many others too)

Share your experience about your Startup/Entrepreneur journey

 

My experiences over the past 25 years as a start-up sales/marketing guy have been great, horrible and everything in between. However, it has always been an interesting ride and, overall, has provided quite well for me and my family. Here is the quote that I use most often when discussing being an entrepreneur. I do not know who said it first:

A successful entrepreneur is someone who is:

Stubborn enough...

To stick around long enough...

To get lucky!

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ekaterinawalter/2013/12/30/30-powerful-quotes-on-failure/

 

I'm on marketing since a lot as well and I found Affiliate Marketing to be the best activity for anyone who wants to begin an online business with a small investment. It's also challenging, because you start with a small amount of dollars, but really satisfactory once you understand how anything works.

It's obvious that medium and big companies have other goals than small webpreneurs, means producing and selling products and dealing with expensive advertising but it's not my case (or yours, I presume).

 

Not really an entrepreneur here, more of a freelancer, but I certainly had an interesting journey. After I finished college I realized that I hate my profession and everything that has to do with it. I was desperate and it seemed to me that I wasted 4 years of studying and hard work on something I don't love. I couldn't find a job, nor did I want a job in that area so I decided going freelance, since I've always loved graphic design and it was my hobby since 13 years of age. It has been an a great experience so far and I couldn't imagine myself anything except that.

 

You sure sound like an entrepreneur to me. You have started your own business as a freelancer and are surviving with it. That's pretty good and very entrepreneurial!

 

Being a freelancer involves not only working as one, but also striving to get more business, marketing yourself effectively, negotiating tactfully, a knack to read what potential customers need and/or want and the ability to deliver it as flawlessly as possible. I guess this is the role entrepreneurs primarily play. To be a successful freelancer, you've to be a good entrepreneur as well.

 

Failure? Sometimes you have to PRAY for failure. That's one of the main ways one can learn and improve. Otherwise you can stomp the same grounds for years and never come close to any real success.

 

My whole Internet Marketing experience has been a hit or miss. I've gone several months earning around $400 per week on ClickBank off a simple YouTube video that went viral to not earning a single dime another several months later. I'm still plugging away and trying more SEO and other areas I think can earn me something. I'm just looking for something more steady on the income. I've been going at this since 2007.

 

I have been into online marketing at various levels for a few years now, and I can say that fear of failure was such a hard thing for me to overcome. I'd try something, it didn't work instantly, and I gave up. This is too common a mentality, and it only can hurt you. You need to put yourself out there in any area of your life if you have any hope of succeeding. Fear of failure is a self fulfilling prophecy. Taking the risk is the only way you will ever really know. Otherwise you will spend your whole life with that "what could have been" mindset.

 

frustrating...

 

It's been 3 years when I my mind shifted from employee mindset to business mindset. After working for a company for 4 years and not getting no where my dreams while my other friends who immediately started a business after they graduated are already starting to live their dreams.

It was a lot of stress and failures from the start to be honest, my mindset was stretched and I've been pushed a lot outside my comfort zone. I've learned a lot during the past few years and been happy with the results so far.

 

If you're afraid to fail get a normal job instead! It's better to try and fail rather than not trying at all! You gotta change your mindset buddy!

 

I remember that I've started from reading. Here You've got infographic with a list of necessary books

http://divante.co/blog/books-startup-founders-read/

 

The main secret of success is not to spend your own money, you need to find some investments.
There is many investors now who will give your some money without any promissories except the share of your future company.

 

Failure in an Entrepreneur journey is somewhat like your stepping stone more of like a stair that leads you to the top.
And when your at the top you could easily see and manipulate the business you so desire.
Because through failure you get know the weaknesses of your business. Its like growing a plant, without knowing the things that prevent it from growing (like a weed) the plant will never grow and bear fruits. Well, my advice is failure is part of building a business what is important is hard work and patience.

 

Entrepreneurship and advanced business skills and experience are important to the innovation process, and can be a more important factor than access to financing. For example, research suggests that which hinders their development of innovation and high-growth strategies . If you can prove that your entrepreneur experience has given you any of these you are a strong candidate either way. If I ever saw an applicant with founder-experience this was evaluated after all the other stuff, albeit it might exhibit e.g. great passion and leadership abilities.