The other day, by chance, I came across a book by Javier Fernández Aguado called “Emprendedores. Las claves del éxito” (Entrepreneurs: the keys to success). Its content is quite concise and interesting, and I’m going to take the liberty of doing a remix of some of the ideas he puts forward for making decisions about entrepreneurship and a business idea.
1. Getting a decision wrong is not the end of anything. It usually helps bring you back down to earth. Believing you are perfect is the first step towards imperfection.
2. Things that look easy end up getting complicated. The business you think can’t fail usually does. Nobody gets behind the wheel thinking they are going to be killed in a car accident that day. Nobody starts a company thinking they are going to lose time and money in the venture. Optimism must not be blind. Rigour is essential.
3. The difficulties of a first business are very useful for your own training and professional development. Among other reasons, because when we face obstacles we learn to know ourselves, and we also learn who our real friends are and who are just fair-weather opportunists.
4. There is no shortcut without work. When you think you have discovered a new system for improving the company, it often turns out that your highly original method was already invented by someone else.
5. Quite a few entrepreneurs think at the start that they are going to eat the world. After a while, some only manage half the planet. A little later, they can’t even get a crumb. In the end, a few are eaten by their creditors.
6. At first it seems there is time for everything. As the years go by, we feel we have no time for anything and have to give up some activities to do others. Learning to manage your hours is an urgent and fundamental lesson for any entrepreneur.
7. Four eyes see more than two, eight eyes see more than four and 16 eyes see more than eight. But there comes a point where, if we have to listen to so many people to make a decision, we will never make up our minds. It is wise to choose a small number of advisers, and wiser still for those advisers to be valuable professionals.
8. No job is contemptible, and nobody has the right to look down on anyone else. Only those who protect the dignity of others can ask that their own not be trampled on.
9. Financing is often cited as one of the main obstacles for entrepreneurs. Well, good business projects almost always get off the ground.
10. The usual problem is not a shortage of means but a poverty of will. A bad business idea with money never reaches port. A brilliant idea without money ends up finding its way.
Further reading
- The 10 best films about business and investing
- How to start your business with no money
- How to run a business in times of crisis
- Reasons why a new business fails
- You can be a successful entrepreneur
Featured image: Twam, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
