Starting a Business - PAIN IS GOOD!

In the early stages of startup, many businesses succeed, and many businesses fail. What separates the successful businesses from the failures? Frequently, it’s the ability of the founder to adapt and figure out the best method for generating profits.


In many instances, businesses fail because they haven’t perfected their business models, or because they can’t raise enough cash to continue with operations. These are frustrating times. Entrepreneurs become worried, stressed and uncertain about solutions.

This is called “pain.”

Don’t run from it, and certainly don’t give up. Quitting is what many people do. However, it’s within your control to take a different mental approach. This is when greatness is born. As much as you might dread this moment, embrace it. Absorb it. Cherish it. Learn from it.

The pain you feel will create a sense of urgency and clarity. It’s kind of like shopping for a gift. When you have all the time in the world, you’ll have trouble making up your mind between gifts, stores, prices and colors. Suddenly, when you are late for the party, you will take decisive action.

When you are under the gun, it is the best time to brainstorm. Your ideas will stretch further, and you will give careful consideration to even the craziest ideas. Whether trying to figure out new business methods or find new business partners to approach, use this opportunity to get your creative juices flowing.

I’ll give you a personal example. A business partner and I bought a famous concert club. We were young, and we bit off more than we could chew. We had raised enough money to buy the building and the business, plus some cash for operations. We thought we were buying a healthy, profitable business. Just three months after buying the business, we were broke.

By then, we had extinguished all of our friends, family and credit, just to buy the business. We couldn’t afford our payroll and utilities. We were moving into the dead of winter, and we were going to have the power shut off and miss payroll. Everything was at risk, especially our reputations.Under all of this pressure, we sat down and brainstormed for hours.

We needed to move decisively to save our business. The ideas we came up with were groundbreaking.

We figured out a few ways to alleviate our immediate cash needs, then we turned the business on its ear! We began doing weekend matinee concerts for high school bands and double-shows on Friday and Saturday nights. This allowed us to book over 40 concerts a month, instead of 30. We also changed our booking, marketing, ticketing and staffing procedures to operate more efficiently.

Within less than a month after these major changes, our business was profitable. This was still in the middle of winter! By the time spring rolled around, we were growing quickly. Within 2 years, we had quadrupled revenues and profits.

The changes we implemented in our most difficult period allowed us to grow faster and operate more efficiently than we would have otherwise.

These same lessons apply to every startup and every business that struggles through a down economy. Remember, pain is good. Tighten your belt. Find new sources of revenue. Come up with new ideas to make your business thrive.