I was reminded of the Billy Crystal movie City Slickers when I saw the following, which would be funny if these people weren’t damaging our planet:
- A Seattle Times article on how the Cascade wilderness areas are being trashed (organic and inorganic waste) by city people deciding to get outdoors during the pandemic but not knowing how to act (as in, carry out their waste).
- A neighbor who loves the isolated outdoors said a deep-woods campground that usually has half of their 30 campsites available was filled with large RVs the last time he went there.
- A recent Wall Street Journal human interest article about city dwellers experiences in the outdoors. The two best stories are about the young lady who didn’t bring a sleeping bag because it was hot out, camped in a valley, and said she had never been so cold in her life and another lady who was appalled by campsite restrooms (an outhouse I’m assuming) and drove over a mile to a gas station to relieve herself.
So what does this have to do with business? The analogy is there are a lot of people who get into business with the same amount of preparation as the city slickers described above. I get calls regularly from people wanting to get into business (often starting one) and it’s usually to create a job using their skills versus growing a business (I refer these people to the local SBA/SCORE office so they can get a mentor and counseling).
Advice:
- Know why you want to do what you’re going to do.
- Get the right help to succeed.
- Realize getting into business (or exiting) isn’t easy.
- Plan.
- Make a decision; analysis paralysis doesn’t help anybody.
Things always look better and easier from the outside. Just like, “the grass is always greener on the other side.” It’s only looks easy, better, or greener when you don’t do the things you’re supposed to do and do them correctly. Doing it the right way takes more time and effort, and it’s worth it.
“If You Don’t Have Time to Do It Right, When Will You Have Time to Do It Over” John Wooden
