Comments on: Advice to a Young Entrepreneur – Beware Bright Shiny Things!

By: The Fearless Factor | Overcome Fear Now

The Fearless Factor | Overcome Fear Now — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:12:40 +0000

[...] Procrastination doesn’t have to be a problem. Get out of your own way by refusing to chase bright shiny objects. Set priorities for what must be done, and remove all the distractions. Figure out what is [...]

By: Startup Nation Is All About the Money!

Startup Nation Is All About the Money! — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:04:07 +0000

[...] wrote a blog post the other day called Advice to Young Entrepreneurs and wanted to follow it up with this great post I found on Small Biz Trends [...]

By: Jacqueline

Jacqueline — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:25:52 +0000

Hi Tim,

Loved your comments. I’m all for the gold! The hardest part of running your own business is how do you separate the wheat from the chafe? The answer is ‘you can’t’. Figuring out what they need is the greatest challenge of them all when they subscribe to your list and leave no trail. In this case, who doesn’t have fear…..but how many are willing to deal with it? I’ve learned that you put it out there and see what comes back. Come back and see us again!

By: Jacqueline

Jacqueline — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:55:21 +0000

Many thanks for the comments Mark. Trial and error gets you a long way, but why waste the time and the money!

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:48:22 +0000

This is a very good article, thank you. One of the most important points you make is number 3: “Don’t believe everything that’s shiny. Just because they are the expert in their field doesn’t mean it’s right for you.”

I am inundated every day with e-mails from experts about SEO, advertising, how to get number 1 ranking in Google, etc. I have learned that most of the claims are false, and my own common sense and intuition is a far better guide than the great secrets these folks are offering.

One exmple is the myth that you must have thousands of visitors to your web site no matter how you get them. This is a chronic half-truth. YES, you need thousands of visitors, but HOW you get them is MORE important. 1,000 window shoppers are useless, 1,000 people looking for a freebie are useless. 1,000 paying serious customers are golden.

So you have to know who your customer is and what your customer wants and address that.

The “newest and greatest” thing usually doesn’t focus on that at all.

Thanks for your article!

By: Mark Allen Roberts

Mark Allen Roberts — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:33:00 +0000

Having served entrepreneurs for 25 years, the first key step is a realistic expectation of what it’s like to start and run your own business.

I wrote an eBook you can download for free at http://www.nosmokeandmirrors.com that helps establish a real expectation.

Mark Allen Roberts
http://www.outbsolutions.com