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Pain is Good
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By:Dan Bliss
As much as you don't want to hear this, when it comes to starting a business, pain can very often be good. Allow me to explain.
In the early stages of startup, many businesses succeed, and many businesses fail. What separates the successful businesses from the failures? Frequently, it’s the ability of the founder to adapt and figure out the best method for generating profits.
In many instances, businesses fail because they haven’t perfected their business models, or because they can’t raise enough cash to continue with operations. These are frustrating times. Entrepreneurs become worried, stressed and uncertain about solutions.
This is called “pain.”
Don’t run from it, and certainly don’t give up. Quitting is what many people do. However, it’s within your control to take a different mental approach. This is when greatness is born. As much as you might dread this moment, embrace it. Absorb it. Cherish it. Learn from it.
The pain you feel will create a sense of urgency and clarity. It’s kind of like shopping for a gift. When you have all the time in the world, you’ll have trouble making up your mind between gifts, stores, prices and colors. Suddenly, when you are late for the party, you will take decisive action.
When you are under the gun, it is the best time to brainstorm. Your ideas will stretch further, and you will give careful consideration to even the craziest ideas. Whether trying to figure out new business methods or find new business partners to approach, use this opportunity to get your creative juices flowing.
I’ll give you a personal example. A business partner and I bought a famous concert club. We were young, and we bit off more than we could chew. We had raised enough money to buy the building and the business, plus some cash for operations. We thought we were buying a healthy, profitable business. Just three months after buying the business, we were broke.
By then, we had extinguished all of our friends, family and credit, just to buy the business. We couldn’t afford our payroll and utilities. We were moving into the dead of winter, and we were going to have the power shut off and miss payroll. Everything was at risk, especially our reputations.
Under all of this pressure, we sat down and brainstormed for hours. We needed to move decisively to save our business. The ideas we came up with were groundbreaking!
We figured out a few ways to alleviate our immediate cash needs, then we turned the business on its ear! We began doing weekend matinee concerts for high school bands and double-shows on Friday and Saturday nights. This allowed us to book over 40 concerts a month, instead of 30. We also changed our booking, marketing, ticketing and staffing procedures to operate more efficiently.
Within less than a month after these major changes, our business was profitable. This was still in the middle of winter! By the time spring rolled around, we were growing quickly. Within 2 years, we had quadrupled revenues and profits.
The changes we implemented in our most difficult period allowed us to grow faster and operate more efficiently than we would have otherwise.
These same lessons apply to every startup and every business that struggles through a down economy. Remember, pain is good. Tighten your belt. Find new sources of revenue. Come up with new ideas to make your business thrive.
Categories: Columns, Self Improvement, Small Business & Entrepreneurship
Comments [7]
04/04/2010 11:26 AM
The British group called Chumbawamba did a song that goes
"I get knocked down, but I get up again,
You're never gonna keep me down"
This needs to be the anthem of the entrepreneur.
For those who aren’t well connected who have a brilliant idea, concept or
product, the controlling status quo will do everything in their collective
power to keep you from succeeding and possibly taking away even just a
"I get knocked down, but I get up again,
You're never gonna keep me down"
This needs to be the anthem of the entrepreneur.
For those who aren’t well connected who have a brilliant idea, concept or
product, the controlling status quo will do everything in their collective
power to keep you from succeeding and possibly taking away even just a
fraction of their market share.
They are VERY good at this. They aren't a very sharing group and even
though they talk about "trickle down", I call it something quite different.
They are VERY good at this. They aren't a very sharing group and even
though they talk about "trickle down", I call it something quite different.
They are the ones who talk about free trade as they have the resources
to buy their way in and restrain all others who can’t.
As the CEO of a high tech start-up with a state-of-the-art concept that will
As the CEO of a high tech start-up with a state-of-the-art concept that will
challenge Logitech, Microsoft, Nintendo & Sony (all of whom know about
our product) I speak from experience. When they spend 5 billion a year
on research, they don't want some upstart to outdo them. It’s called “Not
in House” or NIH”.
We had no intentions of going up against the big guys. We simply wanted
We had no intentions of going up against the big guys. We simply wanted
to identified a problem (Carpal Tunnel) and create an easy way for people
to interface with their computers without causing severely painful ailments.
We didn't know that our watch like device that used light to scan hand and
We didn't know that our watch like device that used light to scan hand and
finger gestures would end up being a disruptive core technology that was
really a virtual reality glove without a glove that could be used for gaming,
smart home control and as a basic remote. We had no frickin idea !
We’ve wanted to work with the companies mentioned but despite various
We’ve wanted to work with the companies mentioned but despite various
discussions at various levels, they unfortunately have not wanted to work
with us thus far. All we know is we’ve planted a lot of seeds.
Others who have wanted to work with us tried to parlay their confidence into
extricating our hard earned work into their easy earned bank accounts but
we didn't allow that to happen on a handful of occasions. We hope to inform
people about the trials and tribulations we’ve been through to help them to
navigate the mine field to actually get to the place of safety & reward.
The future looks bright for our product we call LtWv and if we keep getting
The future looks bright for our product we call LtWv and if we keep getting
back up, eventually there will be no one left to knock us down ; )
Hang in there,
MG Howard
Lightglove, CEO
www.lightglove.com
Hang in there,
MG Howard
Lightglove, CEO
www.lightglove.com
11/18/2009 06:07 PM
Dan:
Great that you would share this with others as many times I see entrepreneurs be "stopped in their tracks" by either defeat or the hard times and in reality that is when everything that is good comes out and new ideas, practical applications and solutions.
People have super ideas and sometimes they are guilty of not taking their own advice or acting upon what they have as internal solutions. Partners and genuine "at risk" friends are the best for feedback and encouragement.
Thanks
Greig Aitken
11/11/2009 05:28 PM
I agree and I found this article to be just the boost I needed going into the next phase of my business. I just started my profile today as well. So I'm encouraged that signing up was a good thing.
Keep up the good writing.
Marc
www.moonlabmusic.com
11/11/2009 04:24 PM
nice article : ) inspiring and informative
11/11/2009 01:58 PM
It is so easy to get discouraged when things start to go wrong with a start up. This article is a great motivator for business owners. We all have to go through some sort of pain to reach a certain level of success.