Seven questions every entrepreneur must think about

I think many future entrepreneurs are repeatedly pensive like Hamlet: to start a business or not to start a business. This is an esoteric issue.

If we wanted statisticians to answer this question, then most of them did not answer the question, because in terms of statistics, most of the start-up companies ended in failure. And the taste of failure is also very bitter, you may lose all your bank deposits, you may lose the mortgage to buy a house, and you will surely lose a few years, those who could have spent the time you can enjoy life: go out to eat, Traveling, drinking and chatting with friends, even your girlfriend will decide to leave for a financially stable man to get married.

And as a not-yet-successful non-famous entrepreneur, I specifically compiled this list for your reference to test if you were ready to jump into the sea, which could save you years of loneliness and There are a lot of hard work on sleepless nights, plus almost all your bank deposits.

Do you start a business because you want to be the kind of "boss" you've ever seen?

Do you want to start a business because you want to be a "boss?" If, as a "boss," it means having a female secretary sitting on your thigh and holding a phone in your hand, you can easily get a million-dollar business? Or you are the boss from then on, you can for those who do not put your eyes on the manager yelling, let them see you in fact what kind of person?

Wake up, you are not watching the movie? The truth is: you work hard for years, every day for 16 hours, the company is the only one who does not receive your salary; employees in fact, simply despise you in private. Moreover, the employee's salary is likely to be the money you mortgage your property; every colleague colleague gathering, they have been promoted to become a certain multinational company vice president or CEO of China, has just returned from a holiday in Bali, and you even Can not afford such a trip, and friends together, listen to them talk about their own journey Aventure, you are embarrassed to say that all your holiday nights, in fact, are poking ass pile code.

When your friends look at you with the envy of the boss, ask where you go Happy, you say: Oh, buddy stack code at home, go out to play too expensive? Beautiful secretary? Do not want to think, even you Girlfriend know each other back.

Do you start a business just because of money?

You know you do not know, most business people have failed, not only did not make money, or even lose their own work earned, or can be used to down payment of money to buy a house! You become the failure of the possibility of more than 80% of entrepreneurs, if You failed, lost all the money, you still feel do not regret it?

We each need money. You can buy the house you want, travel to your favorite place, pursue your favorite woman and have more options. However, the money is not good enough for you to make such a big sacrifice.

Are you sure you want to do what you are doing now for money? Did not you hate cooking all the time? What, are you going to have a lunch express right now? You definitely have to deal with the owners of those flies on the roadside, Because they are the only people who are willing to work with you and you may sometimes have to go to their dirty kitchen and send the fish-flavored pork that customers place at your personal iPhone client to their office in Guomao For 28 yuan a guest order, you may count your commission may be only 2.8 yuan? You want to hire people to do this dirty job? That may mean that your profits all bath?

Are you sure you can do this, not for money? I know your business plan may be more decent than this example, but the truth is the same, executing your business means a lot of fun and hard work, Perhaps it is even more terrible is tedious work, if not what you love, you sure you can keep your teeth down? Once again, you have to listen to Jobs's advice: Do something you love. So, even if you failed, But worth the ride.

3. Can you tolerate 5 to 10 years of lonely life?

Maybe you soon discovered that you have no friends. Your colleague and friend are talking about where to go for a newly opened Thai restaurant, maybe a gift back in Paris, maybe even a summer holiday in Yalong Bay, Sanya, or who is on stock futures It also made a fortune, which did not include paid leave and training abroad for that multinational company.

Are you sure you'll endure the sympathy of your classmates for a long time? You will find that you are getting less and less in common. If you finally succeed, it will all change, but before that, maybe this long night can last 5-10 years. Are you sure you can endure such a long life?

4. All your investment is your bank card, are you still going to do this?

Business fundamentally has nothing to do with financing, business is your own business. The reason why everyone now equates entrepreneurship and financing is because there is an extraordinary place on our planet called Silicon Valley. In the past few decades, there have been countless tech start-ups in the area on the edge of San Francisco. Gathering countless dream geeks and deep-pockets venture capitalists.

But unless you live in Silicon Valley, your chances of getting an investment will not be higher than if your shooting star hit your home's roof. This means you need to start with your own money.

Most entrepreneurs never get any investment, do not be fooled by the cover of Fortune magazine, and of course they like to write successful stories, and if you succeed, they write because they just make their living from writing these stories, The truth is that most entrepreneurs are never seen because failure stories are not what readers want to read or help them sell more magazines and advertise more.

In the worst case, you may even starve, do you really decide to start a business?

5. Do you have the necessary skills to develop a prototype of a product?

Do you have the ability to program or build a prototype of your own? If you can, can you find someone who can do this and is willing to jump with you? If you're going to someone else to do this for you, then you have to team What value? People why can not do it yourself?

If you do not have any skills, then you have to be passionate enough to find followers with these skills, but you have to point the team in a way that's your job. And have vision, definitely not read a few books so simple. You need long-term thinking, trying, failing, thinking, trying again, until you succeed, you need values ​​and goals that a team can follow.

6. Do you have a business model, rather than "wait for more of our users, we can start selling ads"

Do you have a business model for your idea? Please do not tell me "When we have accumulated a lot of users, we can sell ads." Please do not tell me such a story.

Globally, Google, which may rely on advertising for its livelihood, may have Facebook and Twitter in the future, but all of these companies rely on unprecedented innovation and billions of users. You can not assume that you are the next Google.

Can you accept the failure?

Even if your answers to all of the above questions are positive, you are a passionate genius, you love adventures, you're out of pants, you work 24 hours a day, and you can still fail in a matter of years, Probability.

Can you accept this result?

If most of your answers to the questions above are positive, let's begin. I wish you good luck and be your next entrepreneur. I hope you can be a lucky few successful, not only enrich your own life, financial satisfaction, but, in the words of Steve Jobs: "leave a mark in the universe."

Bon Voyage.