Editor’s note: This article was first published in November 2014. The businesses and the people running them are as described in 2014, for example Music City Pizza “today a benchmark in Nashville”; readers should check whether they still operate and whether the founders are still in charge.
Starting your own business can be very hard and very rewarding at the same time. Every entrepreneur has their own story to tell and plenty of advice to pass on to others who one day decide to set out on the road they have already travelled.
We have collected a few anecdotes and tips for future business owners from 6 small business owners featured in Business Insider’s Fast Track series, which brings together a wide variety of curious and inspiring stories.
1. In business, you have to be versatile
For Ben Daitz and Ratha Chaupoly, founders of the sandwich chain Num Pang, the greatest talent an entrepreneur can have is versatility.
“You need to have a lot of different strengths. As a business owner, one day you might be a stock clerk and the next day an accountant. And another day you may need to learn how to cook. You have to be willing to pick up all kinds of skills.”
It is useful advice for entrepreneurs, especially at the beginning, when the budget is tight and the owner has to do all the things that have nothing to do with the stereotypical image of a business owner people have in mind.
2. Your product won’t always be used the way you dreamed
The founders of Ledbury, a luxury clothing store, admit that they want to sell their products, even though their blood has occasionally “boiled” at the way people use them.
“Every summer, lots of women come into our store to buy a dozen of our beautiful Italian-fabric shirts. They are luxury dress shirts for men. But they buy them to wear as a sarong over their bikini at the beach.”
I suppose these entrepreneurs feel the same as when someone makes tinto de verano (Spanish red wine mixed with lemonade or soda) with a gran reserva bottle worth thousands of euros.
3. Don’t be afraid of failure
Tim O’Grady is the founder of Jivejerky, a retailer of homemade jerky based in Moscow. When he was asked, “What advice would you give to someone who aspires to own their own business?”, he replied:
“You can spend your whole life trying to plan something, thinking about the best way to do it, and before you know it, the years have gone by and you never gave shape to your business idea. You never made the decision to go out and take on the world. If you try and fail, you will have made a mistake, but at least you went out and tried. And that is already more than most people do.”
(Read: This is the most important trait of top-tier entrepreneurs)
4. You may do some very strange things before you find your calling
Keith Hayman, owner of Music City Pizza, a restaurant that hosts local bands and charities, says there is nothing wrong with having jobs that have nothing to do with your passion or calling, as long as you don’t get stuck in them.
Before taking the leap and opening his own place (today a benchmark in Nashville), Hayman says he drove a non-alcoholic beer truck all over the country. Today he considers it a waste of time: while he was driving that truck he did have a paycheck at the end of the month, but he was not giving shape to his ideas and dreams.
“You can work at anything to make money, but as soon as you discover that what you are doing is keeping you from fulfilling your dream, you need to make the leap as soon as possible.”
5. You have to be ready for hard times
Stephan Drake is the founder of DPS Skis, a retailer of carbon skis. When he was asked for the best advice he could give a new entrepreneur determined to start a company, Drake replied:
“You have to cultivate the ability to persevere, be tough and prepare yourself mentally to weather the storms, because there will be many storms. That mental preparation for difficulties is, I think, what separates the entrepreneurs who survive from those who don’t.”
6. You have to look on the bright side
Andrew Lindsay created Great Raft Brewing, the first brewery in Louisiana since Prohibition. When he was asked what talent an entrepreneur should have, he replied:
“I’m pretty good at finding the positive side of things in a chaotic situation and moving forward. It has taken us years to get out of some rough patches. If I had focused only on the negative side of the situation, we wouldn’t have made it.”
As you can see, these are simple tips, but they matter a great deal to anyone setting out in the exciting and complicated world of business, where only the daring get started, the mentally strong hold on, and the strategists succeed.
Further reading
- Small businesses: coming back stronger after being on the brink of failure
- How to become an expert at anything
- How to start a new business: the unconventional guide
- Mistakes in small businesses such as bars, restaurants and pubs
Featured image: Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
