I stumbled upon a Reddit thread that asked successful business owners and entrepreneurs to share their advice to a young, aspiring entrepreneur, and here’s some of the best:
You need to go through a lot of hardship to get where you want, but each hardship you overcome builds up your strength and the mentality, “Whatever comes, I’ve got this.” Just remember during the bad times that the strongest steel is forged in the hottest fires. – Cute_Bunny_Berkska
Get paid to learn. If you can find a job – even at minimum wage – that will teach you some of the skills you need in your future business, then get that job. Offer to work for free and they will take notice of you above other candidates and will still almost always pay you from Day 1. – Glum_Neighborhood358
It’s never too late. My sister found her success in her 50’s. – Professional_Try5497
Successful businesses are rarely unique. Most of them simply make tiny changes from existing, successful businesses. Find someone who has started the business you want and then follow in their footsteps. Use successful people as a model. – Glum_Neighborhood358
We overestimate what we can do today and underestimate what we can do over a long period of time. Keep the pressure off of yourself to get it all done today, focus on persistence and consistency, and realize that success takes time. – Glum_Neighborhood358
My first two businesses failed but my third scaled quickly to over 20K a month. It’s about continuous learning, grit and humility to ask questions. – DrFromThe6
That’s where discipline and purpose come in, if becoming an entrepreneur is truly your purpose then you will do what you have to in order to keep going. – FitSpare7710
The most valuable lesson is: Find what you love doing, whatever it is and look for creative ways to earn money doing it. I didn’t write a book to make money, I wrote it to become more known (publishers put your face on tv, radio and social media) and as a marketing tool for my other businesses. – lexarusb
Read the book, “The Obstacle is the Way.” It’ll give you an incredible perspective on pushing through the bad stuff. The worst that can happen is you lose everything, but then you can always start again because when you lose it all, you have nothing left to lose. – Rjfurious0212 and Cute_Bunny_Berkska
Making money isn’t hard. Making money in a way that fits your perceived optimal lifestyle is. Best advice I ever got (entrepreneurial and otherwise) was to think about what your ideal lifestyle looks like 15-20 years out, and start to reverse engineer it from there. The opportunities that you identify may not seem easy/ a good fit at first. If it’s due to a skill gap then that can be acquired. Focus on that first if no other options are at play or the opportunity seems like it could have outsized returns. Drive value and focus on generating demand first. – Less-Paper2986
Paper and pen, write down everything you’ve ever been sincerely and really good at and enjoy. Then start googling about those things and see if you can find and or use it to make and sell something. Example: You were the best lemonade salesman at college games. Google that and find an angle. – BlueFuzzyBunny
I was able to leave a 9-5 job 2 years ago while having all my bills paid by a simple “passive biz”, BUT I’m still looking to build a big business before I’m 30 yrs old. Lesson 1: Find a 1-2 high quality sources of education for entrepreneurship basics. Author MJ Demarco has helped me grasp entrepreneurship basics. Lesson 2: Shortcut your success by finding a friend or mentor who has done akin to what you want to build. I was able to build a boring local business in 7 months that pays me $5k profit/month & frees up my time to focus on a biz I actually care about) – Living-Mycologist-75
My mindset is that the worst that can happen is that I die. For everything else, no matter what it is: I’ve got this. I’ve been through down events and periods, but aside from dying, all is fixable. – Cute_Bunny_Berkska
Have a productive mindset, keep learning and remember, it’s always about the customer. Also, build relationships with others within your industry. I have a network of others who have been 25-35+ years deep in the industry. It helps shave down years of lessons (mistakes) while giving you tips on what they do and the systems they have in place. You’d be surprised how many are willing to help. Plus, they help with your confidence, too, believe it or not. – wiseminds_luis