Be warned: This road’s not for the faint-hearted. It requires courage, discipline, Teflon skin, strategic vision, a talented supporting cast, and maybe luck. Those lacking entrepreneurial spirit needn’t apply – nor folks who are fear-driven.
No mistake, it’s tough. Few new businesses survive more than four years. But starting a business is the American Dream. Succeeding is the realm of supermen and superwomen. The key to success is a novel twist making what you do different – the difference that works.
Are you a person who can’t be stopped? Can you, as Phil Knight would say, "Just do it"? You must be great at your core business and the business of business. Vision alone won’t do! You need acumen, charisma, tactical thinking, and leadership skills. I’ve never met a successful founder folks didn’t want to follow. They’re just super. They know their product cold. They’re skilled at sales and marketing. They become great delegators. They also build a common culture into repeated waves of new employees so their firm takes on a life of its own beyond the CEO. This is a tall order.