The Gutman Group

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Deciding to start your own business is a huge step in your life. Whether it is a step forward of back is for you to decide.

Some hunchbacked apes will tell you that you are out of your mind if you want to start your own business; they will tell you that you will surely fail, they will throw statistics at you such as 96% of all businesses go under and many will even set your car on fire to prevent you from getting to the post office in order to send in your business registration papers.

Amidst all the screaming, agony, hurling of heavy objects and insults, remember one thing: only you can decide if going through a business venture will be risky or not.

There is a good chance after reading that last sentence you are sitting there with your mouth gaping open with a shaking, open palm – once occupied by half a donut which now lies dormant on the floor, covered in dust. Let me clear things up here.

What I mean by you deciding whether or not going into business is risky or not is that it all ultimately depends on what you are capable of or what you are willing to do.

Regarding your business ideas

It is my humble and oh-so important belief that any business idea has potential and, if well followed through, can make you rich enough to be able to afford your own private helicopter in every city in the world… forged out of gold.

I repeat: ANY business idea has potential. In the end, it all depends on how you position the product or service that you are selling. In future articles, I will explain positioning, but for now, all I ask is that you do not throw out any idea that you may have no matter how moronic it may seem at first…at least give it some thought. Nowadays, a market can be found for virtually any product or service…you just have to be able to show or convince people that they are in need of it.

Who do you think you are?

Expanding on the whole risk aspect of going into business…in the end it all depends on who you are. What applies to your friend, Jimmy “The Mop” may not necessarily apply to you – so what you have to do is sit down and dissect yourself (not literally, otherwise you may require assistance from your friend, “The Mop”) – consider your life, your personality, your abilities, people that depend on you and people that you depend on as a start.

If you’re a single mother with seven small children and a mortgage that needs to be paid, there is good chance that a steady paycheque will do you better than venturing out into the world of capitalism.

On the other hand, if you are a college student with no expenses or people depending on you then that is a completely different story.

In the end, it all depends on what you want to do. Personally, I’m all for doing what makes you happy – as long as it can viably bring you money. Every step that you take should bring you closer to your picture of your ideal life.

Society sucks

That’s precisely why I despise today’s social standards and the fact that unless you attend college you are deemed a social degenerate and are cast away to lurking in the shadows and to feed off of dead bird carcasses. But instead of waling and moaning like everyone else, I am here to do something about this problem – hence this site.

You’ve probably heard this a million times before, “Study hard and get good grades and you will find a high-paying job with great benefits.” What there people are ultimately selling is the idea of safety and stability.

The problem with that is that safety and stability usually comes with the mild hindrance of being so bored with your life that you sometimes consider running into incoming traffic with a sack over your head because you can’t bare the idea of going on another day.

Personally, I find that doing something you hate for the rest of your life in exchange for a steady paycheque is infinitely riskier than doing what you love.  You’ve also probably heard this saying many times before, “Do what you love and the money will follow.”

I’m not here to convince you to drop out of college and to start a business, so I’m only going to say one more thing about that subject: according to the latest Forbes 400 list of richest people in the world, the educational institution that churned out the most billionaires was Harvard. The second place spot? Life (or:  no formal education).

Something tells me that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and the myriad of other filthy rich people who don’t have a shiny diploma to supplement their mountains of cash aren’t regretting their decisions.

A little thing called Opportunity Cost

The greatest measuring of decisions that you can ever do is by determining the opportunity cost of that decision, or in layman’s terms: “what could have been.”

For instance, if you decide to spend New Year’s Eve with your family instead of going to a bar, your opportunity cost is missing out on large amounts of alcohol, having less people to socialize with and losing the possibility of waking up with a bulging headache next to a naked and somewhat unfortunate-looking individual who you have never seen before in your life.

Do the exact same thing with the opportunities that await you in your life: list the pros and cons of going into business versus continuing whatever it is that you are doing now and then determine which opportunity cost is higher. Be completely honest with yourself, since you’re only going to end up hurting yourself in the end.

It might help to actually have a business idea in mind in order to be able to effectively measure your opportunity cost, this way you can compare potential earnings to the earnings that you currently make – since I’m assuming money plays a big factor in your life.

Having a hard time coming up with a business idea? Here’s a simple little 8-step routine that should help you get started (stolen from an older article):

1. List your interests – do you enjoy drugging people and stealing their kidneys? Consider becoming a black-market kidney distributor.

2. List your skills – good with harpoons? Consider starting a whale-hunting enterprise.

3. List your personality traits – can’t stand watching people in pain? Start a euthanasia clinic.

4. Determine your risk tolerance – can’t afford to get sued?  Then the business ideas mentioned above probably won’t be very good ideas.

5. Determine your budget – it might be a little hard to open up a seven-acre mall complete with a rollercoaster and petting zoo if you only have $2.61 in your bank account, in which case starting an online business (which takes very little capital) might be a somewhat better idea.

6. Research – read some books, take some classes, read more articles on this magical website – do anything to expand your knowledge and open up your mind to new possibilities (no, I do not actually mean taking acid).

7. Do some actual research – have a sweet business venture in mind? Find some companies that specialize in what you want to do and take one of the head-honchos out to lunch; you’d be surprised how many of them would be willing to do so.

8. Get off your lazy ass – ‘Nuff said.

I also release a business idea every Monday to help get your brain working (see our daily headlines on the front page).

Final Thoughts

The most important reason I see for going into business other in the realm of money matters, is the fact that having your own business gives you the wonderful option of having your money work for you, as opposed to you working for your money (what most jobs entail and exactly what the college mentality supports).

This article is long enough as it is, so instead read Part One of my free eBook which very nicely explains the virtues of having your money work for you.

You can download it here or read an online version of it here.

In the end, do what you think is right; but once you have made your decision, stick to it. Do what you love and don’t let any inbred mongrel convince you otherwise – only you can decide what is right for you.

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