XN1454
This terms and conditions sheet provides an unfiltered look into the reality of embarking on a business journey. It aims to cut through the glamour and hype, emphasizing that success is uncertain and hard work is essential. Whether you’re starting or already on your way, this offers a dose of reality.
If you’re willing to persist and adapt, you might find the journey quite rewarding despite its challenges.
Teams
- Business: Whatever way you personally define it.
- Success: Is the attainment of desired or predetermined goals or outcomes, where the realization of these goals can be measured and evaluated against specific criteria. In the context of this terms and conditions sheet, we will use the term ‘success’ for two purposes: building something objectively valuable or making a subjectively high amount of money. Some see success as a journey, and some see it as a destination.
Conditions
- Survival matters more than brilliance — you have to be around long enough for luck to find you.
- Many who succeed were simply luckier, not smarter or harder-working; you can do everything ‘right’ and still fail.
- Luck is an essential element in every success story — beyond your control, but never beyond your capacity to improve the odds.
- You acknowledge that you are not special/an exception.
- A business plan does not guarantee success.
- The world owes you nothing.
- The bigger the goal, the less likely you can pull it off alone.
- It’s not about the idea — it’s about execution. Passion won’t sustain a business. Flawed execution will kill even the most heartfelt vision.
- Your life and work may become indistinguishable for years.
- No matter how much you make, there’s always a chance you’ll end up back at zero.
- Nothing can be said to be certain, except death and competition.
- Your fiercest competitor may not exist yet. Markets shift overnight, without warning.
- Hard work doesn’t guarantee success; sometimes you can work yourself to death and get nothing in return, However, statistically, the more risk you take, the higher your chances of success.
- Quick failure is the norm; quick success is rare.
- What works for others may not work for you.
- Your skills, tools, and strategies will become outdated. Adaptation is mandatory, not optional.
- A high-quality product will not sell itself.
- You’ll have to learn, often at your own expense, how to distinguish between truth and fiction. For example, when you hear someone saying that “high risk equals high return,” it’s important to recognize the difference between a legitimate high-risk business venture that could lead to substantial rewards and a scammer who promises empty high returns.
- Allies today may become enemies tomorrow. Document everything — sentiment doesn’t pay.
- There may be no graceful exit. Many businesses die slowly, not with a pivot or acquisition, but with irrelevance.
- As time passes, you may lose valuable things such as time, health, and family. At some point, you might regret embarking on the entrepreneurial journey. Yet you could just as bitterly regret never taking it.
- [ ] You will likely be defeated after the first strike.
- [ ] Success may come after a few trials — but never count on it.
- [ ] More often, you will fail many times and learn much; yet learning does not guarantee success.
- [ ] Only through relentless persistence do you earn a chance to succeed.