Starting up your business

Startup. What is a startup.

Well, startup is generally a new venture or enterprise, initiated to undertake business actions with the hope that it will generate value. Please note here that I use the word 'value' instead of profit/money or such reference. This is because for social entrepreneur, profit is not the main game, change and impact are.

Anyway, I have been doing a lot of research on business start-up and what I found out was startling!

1. Almost 90% of start-up failed in the sense that they did not measure up to the business plan built for it. (My experience: True)
2. In almost all start-up you have to make changes to your original plan (My experience: True again)
3. Because of fear of failure many people fail to start their businesses, and that is a shame because many of the fears are based on assumptions and unfounded.
4. People make start-up more difficult that it actually is: No capital, No idea, No office, No staff bla, bla bla.
5. People give embarrassment to much credit, way too much.
6. People tend to discuss start-up with co-workers, who is equally blind with the start-up business. The case of the blind leading the blind.
7. A lot of start-up are blind-startup (without going through a professional coach or sometimes even basic research). They ended up making basic mistakes
8. Successful start up must be lean, agile and resilient. The brightest and smartest do not necessarily survive drastic environmental changes, those who adapt would.
9. Thick business plans may get you an MBA, but in the the real world, if you cannot put your business plan and model on one sheet of paper you are in trouble.
10. Existing education system fails to prepare a lot of entrepreneurs for the real world.
11. Muslim, please bear in mind that the wealth is not from your start-up busines, it is from Allah the Almighty. The start-up business is an effort; therefore view start-up as efforts and assigned the resources, time and creativity to make the effort long lasting, beneficial and rewarding in itself. InsyaAllah, the if you do that, you will love your effort and Allah may bestow his bounty on you. The others called it passion and they said that with passion, the money will follow.

Work smart today, people.