Start. I think people really struggle to get started. I will say that action is the most important thing. If you are thinking about an idea and you can't quite decide, you just gotta go. And you have to go fast. You are going to bump into walls and say, oh, ok, we are going this direction now and, that's all normal. Startups are not normal. I think that's something a lot of people struggle to understand. It's like these are these really weird experiments and, you just have to test and see what works and keep that feedback loop tight and just keep going.

Talk to maybe another business owner. Just because you talk to someone does not mean you have to hire them. If someone wanted to contact me and has questions, that would be fine. I would not mind talking to them. Just ask, ask around, ask people you know. Or, if you have emails for a virtual assistant, shoot them an email and ask them questions. If they are good enough and, classy enough they will answer any questions that person has, without expecting them to automatically become a client.

Try to surround yourself with people who believe in you. So in that same example that I mentioned, that was my biggest mistake and biggest learning. My wife was absolutely amazing. She was a rock and, she was picking me up off the ground when I was in the corner crying and rocking back and forth when the project was going south. She was like, no, you've got to keep going this is just a part of the journey. We are going to get through it, and it will be fine. So she really picked me up. You have to surround yourself with people that are going to tell you that because there are going to be days where it just sucks, and it's not a good day. There are going to be days where this is the greatest job in the world, and you love it. Some days it's just nothing is going my way. You've got to be able to get through those. I think a huge reason why I was able to get through those days was my wife and the encouragement people were surrounding me with.

Always make sure that you are establishing your relationships. Always say to people what can I do for you? And Never burn a bridge even if people are wrong. Wrong things have happened to me, and it does not matter.

Get a coach and or mentor. You probably think it is self-serving saying getting a coach. It may be a little self-serving, but it's also speaking from experience because I have benefited tremendously through the years from having tremendous coaches but, also have had some mentors. If you not in a place where you can hire a coach look up people in your industry, look up people who are doing what you are doing, look at people who are successful at what you are trying to do, and just contact them.

I would say be fearless it really does take that. I have talked to so many people. I was coaching football for my son, just the little league football. One of my assistant coaches, a great guy still good friends to this day, came up to me and says I have an idea that I know will make me a millionaire. I was like, well, awesome, what is it? And he said I am not going to tell you you will go do it. And I said well, one I won't but two fine don't tell me I don't care what it is. Why don't you go do it? He literally said because I am afraid I will fail. I think that has stopped more people from ever becoming successful than any other thing.

First, I would try and make sure they are ready to do it in the first place. I don't necessarily take my own council right here but, particularly for a younger entrepreneur, you got to put in your time. I mentioned earlier that I considered my 10-year at Deloitte an apprenticeship. That's really what it was. I didn't roll out of bed at 25 and start Kalypso. I put in a decade learning the industry, developing my skills, developing a management model, and leadership philosophy. That was the foundation of that firm.

In my experience, this is why the bottleneck of so many businesses is the CEO. It's because they are not making decisions, opportunities are being lost, and everything else is falling behind. They within themselves are not showing up as the CEO in their business. And that is why I am such a firm believer that your business growth can't outgrow your inner growth. If you really want to not just perform at that level but breakthrough to the next you really have to evolve within yourself. You need that level of thinking and the ability to control the stress and pressure and all of the mindset shifts in order to actually sustain your success.

Surround yourself with really good advisers. I know that's said really well but let's talk more about how to pick advisers. I would say that as a founder to find your philosophy for how you are going to grow your company. How you are going to treat the people you are going to support. Find the advisers who are experienced in the area where you have a gap. Go to accelerated programs. Go to your local co-working space. Go Google spaces if you don't have any in your community and search out people that have had success in the areas that you would like to have success in that you are not very good at. Then offer to compensate them well for being in the company. In that relationship over a couple of conversations, you will figure out if they are just trying to get equity or get compensation. Or if they are really in it for a mutually invested interest and the vision you are trying to drive.

Just do the research. You know so many people who have an idea get excited, and they automatically turn to marketing. They start spending money on marketing. I would strongly suggest you do the research. Identify if your product or service has competition or is it innovative? Look and see what other people are doing. What niche do you fit into? Where do your customers hang out at? Those are just some small things to really start thinking of before you just automatically start jumping into trying to make money.