The crossroads: how much have you invested in your startup?

[schwarzberg]

The point where it goes from hobbie/project to real business.

How much time and money have you invested in your startup so far?

Is anyone a bit precautious, weary, scared of spending money on it because it is where the rubber meets the road? Is it okay for you to be worried that you may not be successful this time round (on this particular business idea)? Do you have to 5000% believe that you will be successful? I'm quite a negative person, low self-esteem, etc.

 

[Sam Cowley]

Of course everyone will be cautious when starting up a business. You never know if it's going to succeed even though you have done market research, preparation and advertising to the point where you think you will be "Stable".

Im generally a positive person but in situations like this where people say "My business is going to get off to a great start, I know it" you have to be honest with them and say you can't know what is going to happen. You have to be confident and believe that your business is going to succeed and it most likely will. Stick with it, don't give up and stay loyal to your customers even through the tough times, it will be worth it in the long run.

 

[DavidWH]

It's all about weighing up the risks.

There's no guarantee's anything will work, luckily for me/us my family has been involved in the business for many years, so have plenty of connections & knowledge.

We bought out a company from a family member, from an outsider looking in we could see the problems, and had confidence it 'should' work... it's not happened over night though!

It's still daunting when you have a considerable chunk of money invested and you find yourself spending more (of the businesses) money to continue to improve, such as staff/machinery, but finally things are picking up momentum.

 

[Cherrie Hub]

Hi, yes they always say you need to be a positive force to push the company forward against all odds, of course you have to believe you will be successful. I have recently discovered there is no magic formula to success, just hard work, hard work and hard work. So I try to put as much as I can of my time and energy to the company. With internet business the overheards are low - no premises to rent etc. But, still in my first year, I put most of the money back into business, buying stock etc. They say the first year is the most difficult, and once you go through it, it will get easier, and you'll start seeing profit.

 

[J4m3s@Finanscapes]

@schwarzberg this is one of the biggest (maybe THE biggest) question for any entrepreneur.

Everyone tells you that you've got to be 100% committed, believe in yourself and work your socks-off, don't give up. And they're right. Then you read how it's important to know when to stop throwing good money after bad, to know when an idea's simply not going to work. You can't argue with that either!

It's not enough to work IN the business, you have to work ON it.
* That means regularly going back as you learn more about your market and your customers. Check the assumptions you made when you decided it was a good business idea.
* Update your forecasts based on what you've learnt too - this is the heart of working ON your business: making informed decisions.
* When you realise things aren't quite how you thought they would be (that's a dead cert), actually change your business to take advantage of it - it's crazy to ignore a better path.

There are no awards for sticking-at something when you've learnt that something different would be better (even if that means a fairly fundamental shift). They call it "pivoting" in lean startup terms.

But when all's said and done: you won't really know whether you're giving up too early or flogging a dead horse until this particular business is all over and you're either on the beach or back working for someone else.

Then the question is: what are you going to do differently next time