5 Things They Don’t Teach You in Business School About Being an Entrepreneur
Ah, the life of an entrepreneur. Come up with a business idea, write your business plan, line up a bunch of venture funding, and retire to a private island a few short years later when you go public.
If you’re heading off to business school right now, reading this on your iPhone, dreaming of buying your own island – sorry for the ice bath of reality I’m about to dump on you.
5 Things They Don’t Teach you in Business School About Being an Entrepreneur
1. You’re more likely to make a living than make the Forbes 500
Most entrepreneurs end up making a living, and some make a really nice living doing what they love. Very few end up buying their own island, they’re too busy saving for their kids college and making the mortgage payments.
2. There is no money line to get in
There are a lot of you’s out there competing over very scarce resources. But don’t think you’ll just get in line and pick up your check. You’ll definitely need to be the cream of the crop to attract venture funding. More realistically, look for alternative sources of funds.
3. It’s more about you than your plan
Business success has more to do with you than anything else. The best plans mean nothing in the hands of the wrong person.
4. You’re in sales, whether you think so or not
Every business on the planet is selling something. You’re either selling a product, idea, or yourself…learn sales fundamentals, and apply them to everything you’re doing.
5. You’re going to fail
Yep, you will fail. You will probably fail multiple times. If that concerns you, pick another path for your life. If it doesn’t concern you that you will be an utter failure at some point, good – with every failure you get one step closer to success, cliché but true.
Conclusion
Being an entrepreneur can be the most satisfying thing you’ll do with your life. Understand there’s a lot more to it than supply/demand curves, business plans, target markets, or financial projections.
Most of it won’t be taught in Business 101, it’ll just be up to you – but that’s part of being an entrepreneur.
I’ll let you get back to summer vacation now…
Photo credit: losmininos
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Great list overall Smallbizbee. Number 5, in my opinion, is one of the most important for entrepreneurs to realize. There is no such thing as succeeding immediately, and without any failure. As an entrepreneur, you will fail at one time or another.
Not just business schools, most of the business courses or startup courses that are available online can’t teach you the things that you have listed as well.
This only shows one thing, to become true entrepreneurs, you need to take action instead of just learning new things all the time without applying them or actually starting out.
This is all so true, Matt. And a lot of people don’t realize they’ll be doing their own marketing, networking, paperwork, invoicing, answering e-mails/telephone, etc. It’s craziness. Maybe entrepreneurs should be called crazipreneurs! LOL
There cannot not be many entrepreneurs that started their first business or first few businesses and were just flat out successful. The only ones that come to my mind are the creators of YouTube because they were so young. How many businesses could they have created by that age? Now, I am thinking about Bill Gates. He was basically a baby when Microsoft starting rocking the business world.
Hi Matt,
I guess #5 is what often stops people from taking the plunge. Too many people are held back by the thought that they might fail. However, people need to realise it doesn’t take much capital to start a home based business nowadays, especially an online business.
And it doesn’t really matter if you’re just making a living from your business rather than make the Forbes 500. If you could start a business that generates a decent income and let it run on autopilot eventually, isn’t that still better than working your butt off to make someone else rich?
Besides, a home based business can be started as a part-time business, meaning you don’t have to quit your job to start one and it takes only a few hundred to a few thousand bucks to start one, which is extremely low risk.
If successful, your part-time business will turn out to be your best insurance and retirement plan. This is also something they don’t teach you in school about being an entrepreneur.
Cheers~
Mark
I just started my own biz and it’s a lot of work. More hours than I was working at my full-time gig. With that said, I know the benefits will pay off directly to me and not to others + I love what I do. There will be highs – like winning my first customer yesterday, and lows, like not knowing how I’m going to pay August’s bills b/c invoicing terms…I’m constantly learning and iterating based off my learnings, that’s how I win. You can do it too.
Best,
Ryan Taft
http://www.squidoo.com/Catalyst-Marketers
There is definitely a lot of tedious work that has to get done in business as well. The textbooks definitely leave out the parts about 12+ hour days, repetitive data entry, cubicles, and office politics. This is a good dose of reality for many recent grads who have just or soon will be entering the work world. I love numbers 4 and 5. Many people never thought of themselves as sales people and the idea of failing among a coddled generation is a completely foreign concept. There is great knowledge and experience to be gained from failing.
Great post. I think that although you can teach the basics necessary for being an entrepreneur – how to write a business plan, where to find funding, etc. – it’s really a learn-by-doing process to come to the 5 realizations above. Every entrepreneur learns lessons along the way, and these are the lessons that dictate whether a business will succeed or fail. And let’s remember – failing in this case isn’t a bad thing.
@The Gooroo
With failure comes learning, simple as that. Very few succeed immediately.
Matt
@WayneLiew
That’s the step many people miss – ACTION! You have to just go do it, and don’t let the fear of failure hold you back.
Good to see you back here Wayne, take care.
Matt
@Michele
I think you coined a new phrase – Crazipreneurs! I know what you mean, for a long time I was the Owner, CEO, President, VP, Director of Marketing, PR, Customer Service Rep, Outside Sales, IT, IS, Janitor, Cleaning Lady, and Maintenance Man of my company.
Matt
@Top Ten
Instant success is so rare, yet many people shoot for it because it’s what gets all the attention. Thinking you’ll be the next YouTube or Bill Gates, and have instant success is like saying playing in the NBA right out of High School is easy because LeBron James did it. You make a great point, that kind of success is rare!
Matt
I enjoyed your article very much. Another thing that isn’t taught in college is, turn obstacles into opportunities.
It is liking learning to surf, the first wave throws you but you get back on the board.
@Mark Foo
You’re right, there’s ways to “baby step” into business ownership. You don’t need to take the plunge all at once, get your feet wet, see how it goes, and then grow. Good point.
Matt
@Ryan
It can feel like a roller coaster, but just hang on and enjoy the ride!
Matt
LOL – Matt, you make me tired just reading that comment! And, it’s nice to coin new terms–and fun!
@Rich
Unfortunately sales has a negative connotation in our society. Yet to be successful you HAVE to sell. We all are selling something, and that’s okay, we just need to focus on selling the right way and there is nothing negative about it.
Matt
@Erin
If failing was a bad thing, they would have put me away a long time ago! You learn as much or more from what goes wrong than what goes right, it’s keeping it all in perspective and continuing to move forward that makes the difference.
Matt
@BunnygotBlog
That’s a great analogy with surfing. And really with anything we learn. Our life is filled with failure if you think about it, yet we keep getting back up and trying again. Most of us didn’t walk the first time we tried to stand upright, and if we’d all given up on it after one shot you’d see a lot more adults crawling around right now
Matt
This is good. I guarantee I have that failing thing down.
But then, so did Michael Jordan. It pays to be stubborn.
Also add cutting out the middleman (anyone who is charging you for an expense you can research & do yourself for free)Example would be an Accountant charging you a quaterly consulting fee. You can seek the irs.gov to do all that for free & get free tax forms with examples on how to fill out also. See my tax forms article on my blog for futher details. Another example cutting out banks, & using O/D direct methods or cutting out the stock broker & opening up a brokerage account yourself by reading books & researching smart billionares (Warren Buffet) See my blog for these discussions if interested in why I cut middlemen out & do myself. Any entreprenuer can do this buy using “your brain & internet) as middleman & saving on capital expenditure expenses.
This is a fantastic heads up. I think you’re never really prepared for getting into business for yourself. I’ve found that it’s never quite like you imagined and every business venture brings unique challenges.
Of course, having said what Business School might not prepare you for, attending will help you develop and grow your business. There are so many skills you will learn that, while not a requirement for success, can make the path to success an easier one to tread. You don’t need formal schooling to ‘make it’ but every entrepreneur has a lot to learn and Business School is a great way to do learn the basics.
@Pat
You’re right…Michael Jordan missed more shots than he made, yet he continued to shoot and look how it worked out for him!
Thanks for coming by,
Matt
@Rebecca
I agree, there are positives to B-school. One thing I found out is that you develop a pretty good network in B-school. You never know when you may need something that one of your former classmates can provide down the road for you.
Appreciate your comment,
Matt
@April: It’s fantastic to cut out the middleman if you find the expense is unreasonable but it is also a good idea to leverage your time with outsourcing. Often, there are aspects of our business that others could do more effectively. I love to use lawn mowing as an example. It would take me three hours to mow the lawn at my house. If I hire a professional lawn mower he’ll have it done in an hour. The cost of paying him for an hour’s work is far less than I could make in the three hours I am losing doing it myself.
The other aspect to consider is that I’ll do an amateur job and would have to buy and maintain my own equipment. Hiring someone who works in the field on a regular basis saves me these additional expenses and takes advantage of his expert skill. Meanwhile, I’m using my expert skill in other areas that are cost effective.
If you can do your own accounting and enjoy doing it, then do it. But, if you’re like me and get a big headache from all those numbers and finance terms it makes more sense to avoid the stress and frustration by hiring an expert. Of course, if you can get professional services for free, that’s even better still! So long as the quality is comparable.
Great article – I know someone who is a talented event planner. She started her own company but keeps saying she “doesn’t know how to sell” Guess hdow much business she has?
@Jill
Not sure how much business she has, but one thing I do know – the better at selling she gets the *more* biz she will get! It’s just something we all have to do, and most of us can improve on.
Matt
Hi Matt – Thanks for your comment. Sad part is that I”ve been trying to work with her on selling skills for about a year now. Sometimes you just have to let go – what it really boils down to is the “can’t” is an excuse for “I don’t want to.” She’s a one woman show and can’t afford to hire someone to do the job for her. If you don’t do the leg work, you don’t get the business. It’s that simple.
I’m not an enterprenuer -
But you could take all 5 really as points you were not taught about Life itself. Thanks.
Hey Jill,
Thanks for this list, it’s somewhat obvious, but definitely things people don’t think about. In my mind, the best part about being an entrepreneur is building something that you own, something that you’re proud of, and something you can pass down to your kids. As Garyvee always says, “legacy is greater than currency.”
The life of an entrepreneur is certainly interesting, and one I’m looking forward to.
@JoeStampone1
@Lawrence
I agree…much of this transcends entrepreneurship, and relates to life as well. Especially the failing part!
Matt
@Joe
That is a great Gary V quote, and if you remember it in everything you do, you’ll be just fine.
Thanks for coming by,
Matt
I remarkably agree with your article, especially number 5. Most tenderfoot entrepreneurs can’t get over their first ever brush with failure and they eventually give up easily. Business is somewhat similar to life. You don’t get the most of it when you give up too soon.
Great insight. From my experience #3 and #5 are not only really important, but interrelated. Those who don’t understand #3 often get overly flustered when they fail. Over-reaction to failure if often the ultimate business killer.
@Strategic
“Business is somewhat similar to life. You don’t get the most of it when you give up too soon”
That’s a great point, and I always wonder how many people throw in the towel right before finding success…had they stuck with it just a bit longer, where would they be now?
Matt
@Ken
You’re right, 3 and 5 do go hand in hand. I believe you have to have a strong sense of self to be able to handle failure.
Matt
Successful businesspeople are, almost to a person, outstanding improvisers. Improvisers instantly see the game in a business scenario and know how to play it in a way that achieves the objective.
You have to accept failure and learn from it – only by doing this will you succeed.
Great insight, selling your brand, your company, your idea is very important. I think it’s something that a lot of people forget, getting caught up in the business side of things, vowing to leave the world of sales when they decided to become an entrepreneur.
Very nice and to the point.
I love a short, concise, yet punchy article that drives home the facts. This doesn’t deter me as an entrepreneur but motivates me further to be one of the few who really do crack it big. I can’t help but scratch that entrepreneurial itch!
Keep up the good work
I personally think that not too much of time should be wasted in planning. You can automatically learn from your failures. Plan–do–check–act cycle can be followed for carrying out change.
http://www.base2system.com
Ali Syed
I recently asked a friend of mine, who is on the left side of the R. Kiyosaki quadrant (employee), what keeps him from becoming an entrepreneur like me. His major fear was: “I am afraid I will fail”.
How true #5 is, indeed!
Cool writeup, and some very valid points…however, the fundamental flaw I find in this argument is the need for VC. Why are entrepreneurs so tied to the thinking that they need venture capital to get anything accomplished. There are thousands of bootstrapped startups that haven’t taken a dime to get off the ground. Besides having to jump through umpteen hoops to secure funding, at the end of the day – you owe no one anything. Every single cent you makes belongs to the business, and not to stakeholders.
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You hit me on the spot with this article. Failing is part and parcel of every business that is why I must never be afraid of it but rather learn. Many Thanks!
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