5 Excuses Entrepreneurs Use That Derail Their Businesses


MYTH #4: I need a business plan. A business plan is simply your concept fleshed out in further detail. Of course, having one can be helpful, but it is certainly not compulsory. The fastest way to get going is to get started. My business plans generally start with a large ream of butcher paper. I learned this trick during law school. Purchase butcher paper and tape a large sheet in an area that you frequent every day. For me, it’s my makeup vanity. After researching the background of companies similar to the one I had an idea or concept for, I would issue-spot to see if I could fix their challenges. I would then write out concepts, ideas, potential challenges and potential successes on the butcher paper and continue to extrapolate themes further until I boiled them down to basic concepts and calls to action. Turn the idea of building a business plan into a modified  ‘do’ and ‘do-not-do’ list.

MYTH #5: I would have to quit my current job to start my own company. Sutton is living proof that it is entirely possible to pursue multiple ventures all at the same time. When she started my first company, she was still working full-time at a law firm. “I continued this lifestyle for an additional 1.5 years until circumstances allowed me to leverage my first company into starting the second. Of course, there were long days and longer nights, but my co-founder and I thrived in it. That journey helped me learn immensely about myself, my limitations and my capabilities, allowing me to see and plan a few steps ahead,” she says.

Sutton is a better business person for the experience. She still works seven days a week, but now all of it is for herself.

A version of this story originally appeared on the BusinessCollective, a virtual mentorship program designed to help millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses, which was launched by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC).


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