These are very common false assumptions in entrepreneurship. “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” — Mark Twain I answered a Quora question about this. Here’s my list of seven: That being profitable means having cash in the bank. Seems obvious, … Continue reading 7 Very Common False Assumptions in Entrepreneurship
I recommend you read Nat Eliason‘s piece No More Struggle Porn. He’s attacking one of the more pervasive startup myths around, the idea that the struggle itself, the overwhelming and overpowering struggle that pushes everything else out of your life, is a good thing. He defines struggle porn as: I call this “struggle porn”: a … Continue reading You Have to Know When to Quit
We talk about work-life balance, in general terms, but here’s one simple thought that should always be there in the background: Your business exists to make your life better. Not vice-versa. Don’t sacrifice your life to make your business better. I got a lot of play on Twitter recently with this simple idea. And this post … Continue reading Business for Life not Life for Business
Thanks for Why should you build your business around happiness? over at typeform.com for the fascinating image featured here, about the intersection of entrepreneurship and meaning. It comes from an interview with Laurence McCahill of The Happy Startup School. Normal people care about meaning This matches my belief that making meaning or changing the world or having a … Continue reading The Natural Intersection of Entrepreneurship and Meaning
Does this seem familiar to you: I had sensed a personal crash coming. For a decade and a half, I’d been a web obsessive, publishing blog posts multiple times a day, seven days a week, and ultimately corralling a team that curated the web every 20 minutes during peak hours. Andrew Sullivan That’s from Andrew Sullivan: … Continue reading Do You Suffer from Distraction Sickness
I’ve always said that what business is right for you depends not on the market, or what’s hot, but on who you are. So look in the mirror. I get a steady flow of questions about what business to start, and I see them almost every day on Quora.com, my favorite question-answer platform. With this … Continue reading What Business to Start? Look in the Mirror. Depends on You.
In this TED talk, comedian James Veitch answers emails offering wealth in gold. It’s pretty funny, a nice 10-minute break for a Friday. I’m not happy with the ways this embeds on this blog, so if this doesn’t give you a good screen display in the resolution you want, then you might want to try … Continue reading What If You Answered Those Spam Emails?
My Friday video for this week is on entrepreneurship and leadership from the Stanford Ecorner. If you haven’t been there for a while, check it out. There is a new interface, and it’s a great collection of speakers on entrepreneurship, startups, business, and investment. Here’s the intro from the site: Silicon Valley veteran Mike Maples … Continue reading Entrepreneurship and Leadership with Mark Maples
This should be so horribly obvious: Your business exists to make your life better. Not vice-versa. Don’t live to make your business better. Obvious? Sure. But people forget. Do you use what you “have to do” for your business as the constant recurring excuse for missing things that matter to people you love – soccer games, … Continue reading Startups and Business Owners: The ‘Have to Do’ Factor is Infinite
I received an email today, Valentine’s Day, with this juicy data from a Manta survey on marriage and business: … a new study … shows small business owners are mixing business with pleasure. The survey of more than 1,100 small business owners shows one in four work with their significant other and nearly 60 percent … Continue reading Love, Sex, and Small Business. Wait … What?
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