"If you think starting a business is just a matter of choosing the right idea, making the right connections, or building something that no one has ever seen before, you're not entirely wrong. But you are missing the biggest reason most people don't succeed."

Everyone would love to have a business, but most people never have that chance. And it's not because they're lazy or had bad ideas. It's because there was something - something invisible - that just took them off course and stopped them from making progress.

Art's personal example: "I once spent nine and a half months working on an app that I thought was going to be brilliant. I had the prototype, the logo, the website. But while I was always working on 'that one more thing I needed,' someone else came along and launched with a really simple version - and they succeeded. I ended up just closing my laptop, forgetting about it, and moving on."

The core insight: Success isn't just about what you build. It's about how you manage your time and how you manage the inevitable phases you will go through if you try to start a business.

The 4 Critical Stages Where Most Entrepreneurs Fail:

Stage 1: The Comfort Trap "You're doing something real. You have an idea. You're building a prototype or a website, spending a little bit too long on that logo. While all of it feels like progress, it's not - because if nobody is seeing what you're building, then you're really just hiding."

You're doing a lot of work, but you're not taking any risks yet. You're not putting yourself in a position where people can judge you or criticize you. The longer you stay comfortable, the less likely you'll ever come out of it.

The escape: Take a step that creates friction. Reach out to people and tell them what you're working on. You need that friction to get feedback, criticism, and momentum.

Stage 2: The Deafening Silence

But silence isn't feedback - it's just silence. People are busy, distracted, or unsure how to respond. Your job isn't to get immediate validation; it's to persist through the silence and keep reaching out.

Stage 3: The Validation Mirage You start getting positive feedback! People say "Yeah, I would use that" or "That's a great idea." But then when you ask them to actually pay or commit, suddenly they're not available.

The lesson: There's a massive difference between someone saying they like your idea and someone actually using it. The goal isn't to get fifty people to say yes - you just need one clear signal that what you're doing has real value.

Stage 4: The Escape Hatch This one shows up quietly but can destroy everything you've been working toward. If things don't go exactly as you dreamed, you start letting thoughts creep in: "Maybe my idea isn't that good. Maybe I need to pivot. Maybe I should try something else."

What's really happening: You're mistaking your discomfort for misalignment of your idea. Most of the time, it's just fear creeping in. This phase gives you an out where you feel like you're doing something smart, but you're really resetting all the momentum you've been building.

The truth about entrepreneurship: "Starting a business and succeeding isn't magic. It really is an endurance game. These phases are inevitable. You will go through them. But if you can navigate each phase - if you can move from comfort to action, persist through silence, demand real validation, and resist the escape hatch - then eventually you can stick with it long enough to close the loop. And that's where things get exciting."

Original YouTube video: https://youtu.be/8w-urIlP1iE

If you're stuck in any of these phases:

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This podcast is the audio version of the First Step Entrepreneur YouTube channel.