It's worth making the investment in people that are really good at their job. You focus on what you are really good at and your expertise. Hire those attorneys, HR professionals, the marketers, whatever holes that you have. Make the investment on the front end because it's going to actually save you time and money down the road vs. you trying to figure it out on your own.

Refine the product. Always work on refining the product, making the product or service the best version of its self. Ultimately that is what's going to bring people through the door and get people interested. Have people wanting to invest or having people buy out your company.

Make sure you love it even when you hate it. I think the thing I often say about starting a company is it's pretty much the hardest thing a person can do. You don't even know if one in a million people has an easy time of it. I think you are completely right. Every single division is so difficult. I think the people I see that aren't successful are people that just think that it is going to be an easy pass to be a millionaire. It is not that. There are much easier paths to be a millionaire if you have some patience. If you want something that is going to let you make a mark on the world. And something that is going to respond and give you back what you put into it. That's what a start-up is. It is brutal. Make no mistake; however hard you think it is, it's going to be harder.

Three things you need essentially. You can get along with one of them barely. If you have two things, it's good. If you have all three, that is great. One thing is you can be an expert. If you are an expert in the field, that's already a great start. You could have the money. If you have a bunch of money, that's already a great start as well. You can buy the expertise. Or you can have the right connections. What is another hugely important piece.

Clearly having a business plan. And it does not have to be twenty-seven pages long but knowing where you are going to start and some goals or metrics you are going to hit. Even things like what you are going to pay yourself. Try to predict the next twelve months and check some of those things off as you go. If you miss step three or you are missing a third goal, make sure that it is not part of that critical foundation that will actually prevent you or set you up for failure in the near future. So really lay out your plan. I will ask people all the time do they have a business plan? They will say no, it's too cumbersome. I will say no, tell me where you are starting. what are you paying yourself? What is success for you? Is it revenue? Is it profit? What's that number? And How are you getting there? What are the goals you're going to hit? So keeping it simple and then trying to stay focused and hit on that track so you don't get super distracted and head in the wrong direction.

What I mean by getting educated is, know who you can rely on to help you with jump-start the business. But also get better educated around the premise of your idea.

Do your homework. Do your home and be realistic. It's not for everybody. Do your homework. Contact these places and talk to people and make sure you understand what's going on. Make sure you understand everything that's out there because there is a lot going on. You can not go into it blindly. You have to do your due diligence.

I guess it depends on what type of small business or start-up they want to start. If they are not sure what they want to do, I personally recommend starting an online business. It is so much cheaper than a brick-and-mortar or retail type of store. Even if they are selling products where they think they might need a store, I still recommend starting online. The overhead is hardly anything. I run all my businesses for under a hundred. I think it is actually sixty a month now.

You have to be confident enough to not be the smartest person in the room. I think there's this societal pressure to be the smartest person in the room. Some of that imposter syndrome like hey, if I've got a lot of smart people around me, I am not going to be able to lead them. Or it will get out that I am not actually as qualified as I think I am. At the end of the day, I really don't think I am the smartest person in the room most of the time. Definitely not the most qualified. But I am able to get in there and build relationships and especially learn from the expertise around me.

Definitely document. Whether it's keeping a schedule for your project and documenting the tasks that you are completing. Or keeping a tracker of the life cycle of your contracts. Whatever it is, spend that little bit of extra time to document the work you are doing. The completion of these tasks. Because in the end, that is going to save you so much effort, time, and money. It's all going to be huge savings and saving the frustration I would say.