WAKE UP!

My grandfather was a no-nonsense kind of guy. He didn’t say much, but when he did, you had better listen because it was always a lesson. When he was around stubborn, hard-headed, ego-centric blowhards, he would say, “The only way to get the attention of those guys is to hit them right between the eyes with a two-by-four.”

And you know what, he was right, especially when describing people who want to call themselves entrepreneurs.

It drives me absolutely bonkers, and it happens so often it’s almost absurd. It’s when I hear someone who brags about being an entrepreneur but is going broke. They are struggling because they went into business without knowing anything about it. In 2025, 5.5 million small business applications were filed, setting a record. Startups also set a shutdown record. Estimates suggest as many as 92% will not survive three years.

Crazy? Look it up.

It’s time to wake up, smack yourself in the head, and realize what is happening before you invest/spend/waste your life savings on a startup. Do you know enough about business, or will you end up spending and wasting money that friends and family loaned you? Your time, money, and effort could go down the drain because you ignored the lessons from those who went before you.

People like this usually learn nothing from those who have failed or flourished. They sometimes are so ego-maniacal that they truly believe that even though countless people have done something and failed, they can do it better. They never take the time to understand what doesn’t work or avoid repeating failure, and in turn they have no idea what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Again, the statistics on business failure are staggering. 92%, some say more, of all businesses started this year will be broke in three years or less. This failure rate breaks down into two primary reasons. Well, one primary reason, really: the founders weren’t prepared!

1. A founder can be a great technician (they knew how to do the work required of the business they were starting) but was a lousy Businessperson (knew nothing about accounting, managing numbers and expenses), and, even worse, what it meant to be an entrepreneur (had no idea how to generate and build sales).
2. They had never, ever been a true entrepreneur before. They didn’t even look up the required basics to understand what the term entailed.

Translated: Start-ups fail because the founder has a great idea they believe will make them rich, has no idea how to do it, and still does it anyway. Here are a few steps to consider. There are many more, but let’s cover the basics.

First things first, if you think the world owes you something, get over it. No one owes you anything. If you keep thinking that way, you’ll end up in the unemployment line.

STEP ONE: The best, most practical starting point is to cool your jets, slow down, and take time to write a good business plan. Don’t let AI write it; you need to. You need to do the research. Ask questions and challenge your ideas. Then, once you have a draft, have the cajónes, drop your ego fears, and have someone experienced in entrepreneurship look at your plan. And then welcome their challenges, questions, and ideas.

STEP TWO: Get off of your butt and go to work. Start small and put your business plan into action. Test your idea, make adjustments, and adapt. Most importantly, start generating revenue.

STEP THREE: Protect your money. Work hard, fail fast, and learn something from every failure. Grow, adapt, and change.

STEP FOUR: Learn the skills you need to keep growing and how to lead. And if you learn nothing else, learn how to sell. Like it or not, an entrepreneur is a salesperson. Oh, I can hear some of you rolling your eyes and muttering, “I will never lower myself and become a salesperson; I have a degree!” blah, blah, blah.

Selling is a skill. Everyone can learn a skill unless you’re so pigheaded that you think you already know everything. Everyone can learn to sell, and it is the key ingredient to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

I am passionate about helping entrepreneurs with a vision achieve that vision. An entrepreneur with a passionate vision can change the world. However, it sickens me to see so many fail because they won’t listen, do their research, and constantly learn. It's needless anxiety and pain that can be easily overcome. And can you imagine the pain, embarrassment, shame, and cost of shutting down a business?

The bottom line is that the key to being a successful entrepreneur is mastering the art of failing, learning why it happened, and doing it again. And again. And again. Learning from every failure until you get it right. But if you continue down the path of the “uneducated entrepreneur,” I have a solution. Instead of wasting your money, which you will if you continue, send me all of it, and I’ll burn it for you.

Are you committed to your massive vision? Are you passionate about it? Are you ready to walk through fire and do whatever it takes to make it real?

Good. Let’s get to work.