The best advice I could give any entrepreneur after 45 years experience is to accept the concept "You don't know what you don't know". Additionally to understand the definition of an entrepreneur as "An entrepreneur is someone who pursues his or her own vision using other people's time, talent and resources"

Starting your own business to many is often a long time dream. It may have been festering for years until the time was right for a host of reasons. A stumbling point for many is that this was the destination and once reached it never really took off like envisioned. The imagined success never developed. Let's explore some possible reasons.

Is instinct alone enough? Most entrepreneurs have pretty good basic instincts when it comes to their self preservation or success. Street smarts, experience and people intuition have been learned from life experiences. They repel environments that want to control or cap their instincts naturally. For the most part those are positive things which may save you in the future as in the past. Please pay attention to this however! You are probably entering a different game to some degree, and it will be a lot easier for you if you will accept the concept that?You don't know what you don't know?. It is crucial for you to set some things up right from the start and increase you success odds by minimizing wasted time, money and energy. I was just in Atlanta at a 3 day business meeting and had the opportunity to listen to 7 speakers on business building. All were generating high six and seven figure incomes ranging in experience from 6-20 years. All varied by gender, product or service, geography, market style and so on. Yet, they all had one thing in common. They each had a personal business coach, trainer or tutor. I very much support this practice and have personally invested more than $250,000 in fees to my coaches over the years. I feel fortunate that they were able to add tremendously to my profitability and impact on other humans as a result of their work. I encourage you to get a good coach and ?borrow? experience from them in areas you have none, it works! You do not need to be all on your own by yourself all the time-it's your choice!

An entrepreneur is someone who pursues his or her own vision using other people's time, talent and resources. Is this what you would write? Look closely at it. What it says is first; there is a vision and then people and resources are assembled by the creator of the vision in the pursuit of fulfilling the vision. Fred Smith, Founder of FedEx had a vision, Henry Ford and millions of others have also had visions. A very interesting point is that those who failed did not necessarily have a less worthy vision. What they lacked or were unable to attract to their vision was other people's time, talent and resources. Do you have or are you willing to learn the skills to see your vision through the birthing process and into maturity? I feel quite comfortable in saying that if someone has a clear vision and can put their ego on the sidelines occasionally to learn, no business should ever fail.

I would like to share an insight with you. It is most common to entrepreneurs. There is an internal struggle going on emotionally and internally that is at a subconscious level. It is very powerful and most can't articulate it and are oblivious to its being or impact on them. Most entrepreneurs have since an early age strived for ?independence? often known as self sufficiency. They have made choices early about what is best for them, ignoring parents and authority. Usually they are enduring the consequences of defying authority and structure. I had more than one trip to a school principal's office, incurred the discipline of parents and so on. By the age of 16 I was emotionally and economically independent. After all, that was my goal just as it is to some extent with all developing humans. I just seemed to have my foot on the gas more than others and so to me the consequences along the way were nothing more than speed bumps. I'm not suggesting breaking the law, but breaking the rules if they don't make sense is the norm for entrepreneurs. Perhaps making up the rules is a better way to say it. Practicality and expediency are drivers for entrepreneurs; compliance is a constraint and de-motivator. It is interpreted as interference. Ok here comes the connection and reason why many fail. Adults who have developed strong independence have a difficult time allowing themselves to be in first stage learning environments again. Acquiring key skill sets may require first stage learning experiences. First stage learning requires the learner to be dependant while they are being taught. Being dependant is so scary and repulsive to some they will choose failure as an unintended consequence.

Long term success has many elements. Being able to be self analytical and open to learning new skill sets is a must to avoid the painful consequences of "You don't know what you don't know". Solidifying your vision becomes your number one task above everything else. Once you have accomplished this you begin to attract others and leverage your time and resources. Getting help is a choice.