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17 things I wish I’d known when starting my first businessBY NEIL PATEL (HTTP://WWW.GEEKWIRE.COM/AUTHOR/NEIL-PATEL/) on October 19, 2011 at 11:30 am

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(Flickr photo via JMRosenfeld)

Growing up I was surrounded by entrepreneurs. All of my uncles on my mom’s side of the family ran successfulbusinesses, and I learned that working for yourself was a great way to improve your lifestyle.

No surprise then that I now own a few businesses of my own. But I made lots of mistakes getting started, mistakes Icould’ve avoided if I’d known a few things.

Here are seventeen mistakes that you should avoid:

Sell Something Legal

Selling something legal may sound obvious to anyone in business, but trust me, when it comes to wanting to makemoney you will likely consider a lot of ideas… some legal, some illegal and some in between.

While still in high school I sold CDs and black boxes. I was only making a few dollars off of each CD, so I turned to theblack boxes, which made me a little more money. Unfortunately at that time I wasn’t clear on exactly what was legal ornot so I decided to get out of it.

You don’t want to make a lot of money and then lose it all because you are on the wrong side of the law.

Sell Something People Can Afford

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Neil Patel

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I once took a job selling high-end vacuums. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to convince people that they needed thevacuums, and it helped that I would shampoo and clean their carpets during my sales presentation for free.

But these were $1,600 vacuums and most people couldn’t afford them. I did happen to sell one to an Indian couple,who are known to be frugal, but they returned it a week later!

Find out what people can pay for a product before you design it, and while you won’t get rich quick this way you’lldefinitely find it easier to sell your product.

You Must Market Your Product to Succeed

I enjoyed working and finding new jobs because each time I was making a little bit more money. I liked making moremoney because I wanted to change my lifestyle and eventually help other people do the same.

But I realized it was going to take me forever unless I figured out how to create a $100 million dollar company.

Monster.com’s business model and the amount of money they made fascinated me, so I decided to build a competingmodel. I called it Advice Monkey.

I spent five grand building the product and watched Advice Monkey go nowhere. I needed to market it or it was goingto sink.

I ended up hiring a total of three companies to help me market this business, but all three wasted my money withoutany kind of return! That’s why I decided to learn Internet marketing.

In time I grew the site to be pretty popular and even created some buzz in the media, but I ended up having anotherproblem: it couldn’t do credit card transactions.

If people don’t know about your great product, then they can’t buy your great product. It’s that simple.

Make Payments Easy

The lesson I learned from Advice Monkey was that if you wanted to make money you needed to make it simple forpeople to pay you.

Of course you have to provide a valuable product, something people want or need, but if you don’t make it easy forthem to pay you, you’re business will suffer and eventually fail.

I’ve learned that whether you are providing a service like consulting or a product like software, you should provide thesimplest, most common and fastest way for people to pay.

If you make it hard then you are simply giving people an excuse to delay paying you or even giving them an excuse togo to your competitor who does make it easy. Don’t do that because it could be a million dollar mistake.

Solve Problems Customers Are Facing

My really first successful company was Crazy Egg. It was successful because my business partner and I realized that thebest way to build a business was to find some problem people or companies have and try to solve that problem.

Besides, it makes it really easy to close sales when you can show a potential client what their problem is and how yourproduct solves that problem. The best businesses are the ones that solve problems.

Do It in a Simple Way

Have you ever noticed how simple the best products are? You don’t need a degree in rocket science to understandhow to use a bicycle, drill or personal computer, nor do you need one to understand how they can help you.

I’ve seen lots of products and ideas fail because they were too hard to understand. They might’ve solved your problembut it cost too much to do it or they took too many steps to do it.

Remember that people want their problems solved in the easiest way possible, so keep it simple.

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Be Patient

My business partner and I thought we had struck it rich when we started Crazy Egg. Here was a product that wassimple and solved people’s problem. The money should roll in, right?

Not exactly.

We watched the popularity and interest in the company grow, and knew it was just a matter of time before somebodyoffered us $10 million dollars for it.

It never happened and we eventually had to bootstrap it to keep it going. We didn’t understand why this washappening, but we loved Crazy Egg and so kept with it.

I’m glad we did because about three years after we started Crazy Egg it became profitable. The lesson I learned is youmust be patient when it comes to software companies because it takes a few years for them to take off.

Charge More

I think the tendency when it comes to running a business is to keep your fees low so you attract a wider audience. Theonly problem with that is you will also attract more people who will complain.

Charging premium prices, especially when you are consulting, does a few things for you:

• You appear as someone who knows what he is talking about.

• You will hear fewer complaints. People and companies who have the money to afford you won’t usually make snarkycomments about how much they are charging you.

• You can work harder for one person rather than work mediocre for a lot more people.

• Your reputation will grow as your provide excellent customer service.

Know what your competitors are charging so you can price yourself right. You may be surprised at what people arewilling to pay.

Go After the Big Guys

One thing I like to tell people is to offer to do the work for a small paying client for free if they can make anintroduction for you to a large paying company.

Does doing work for free scare you? Think about it this way, if that small company is paying you $5,000 a month, butthat large company can pay you $100,000, you will make $95,000 more.

That’s a huge increase in income, so think big and go after the big guys!

Conserve Cash

I understand I am young, but I have experienced a lot of bad times in the business world, and the number one thingthat I learned is cash is king.

If you don’t have cash coming in, you will not survive. And if cash is coming in, especially a lot of it, you need to learnhow to save, both for the business and for yourself.

Because the economy is like a rollercoaster you could enjoy a few years of making a lot of money. But trust me when Isay there will come a time when you will not make very much money.

Resist the urge to pay yourself handsomely and buy expensive office furniture. Your business will weather anyfinancial storm and your employees will thank you!

Never Stop Closing

One of the most important things to remember when you are building a business is that you must always be lookingfor clients and ways to get them to work with you.

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Never get comfortable because you have a handful of clients locked down or you have momentum with your softwareproduct.

It’s so important to constantly network, look for business and sell people on working with you. And if you get in asituation where you can’t handle the extra workload, hire temporary help to handle it until you can justify bringing inmore people.

Focus

Boy, was I all over the place during the time I was learning all of these lessons about business. And I think that hurt mebecause I was spreading myself too thin.

One of the reasons Steve Jobs and Apple were so successful was they focused. They didn’t have a bunch of products,even though you might think they did. They had only a handful.

That allowed them to do several things very well:

• They could listen closely to what their customers were saying.

• They could create the products to meet the needs and desires of those customers.

• They could make those products the best in their category.

If you are not focused you will not be able to do a good job on your business. Find the things in your business thatmake you the most money and focus on them. Eliminate everything else!

Always Find Your Passion

When I was doing Internet marketing for companies I was making a lot of money. I was very grateful for that and I wasvery grateful to the people who helped me build that company.

But it wasn’t very much fun. It felt like a job, and I knew that if I was going to be successful long-term I needed to findwhat I really enjoyed doing.

Why is this important?

I work 70 hours a week on my businesses, and I’m sure most entrepreneurs work that hard. Some may put in morehours, some may put in a few less.

But I don’t really think of it as work because I enjoy what I do. I really have a passion for it. If you’re not passionateabout what you do, stop right now and think about what you really want to do.

Learn, Learn and Learn Some More

Even when I was in high school and working on my own business, I was taking classes at the community college. Myuncles had taught me that entrepreneurs never stopped learning.

I loved learning so I kept doing it.

Learning is hard work and I can’t say that I’ve always enjoyed working so hard to learn. And sometimes I even felt like Iknew everything about a certain business or topic, so didn’t need to learn anything.

How wrong I was!

I encourage you to keep the mindset that you can learn from anybody no matter who they are, and that in the end youdon’t know everything. If you do this I’m certain you will grow wise in the ways of business.

Good Help Costs Money

When I was starting out I didn’t pay much attention to who I hired. Sometimes I’d hire people I knew or I’d hiresomeone based upon a recommendation from a friend.

I learned that was not the right approach to hiring people. Some times people are just looking for a job and need a

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paycheck, and soon they take you for granted they don’t work as hard as when they first joined.

Spend time finding good help and don’t be afraid to pay them good money. Think of it as an investment, where youneed to figure out your ROI on that person. And then measure their success.

Do this and I’m pretty sure they’ll turn out to be a great benefit to you.

Emotions Rule

It would’ve been really great to know that people buy things based upon emotion when starting out. What I mean bythat is the purpose most people buy a product is because of a feeling they have, like fear or pride.

For example, people buy car insurance because they are afraid of losing all their money if they get in a wreck. Parentssend their children to Ivy League schools because they want to brag to their friends.

What you have to do is figure out what emotions will resonate with your customers when it comes to your product.

And don’t let people who say they don’t make emotional decisions about money fool you. Even the most analyticalaccountants or engineers make decisions with emotions.

Listen to Your Friends and Family

Starting a business can suck up all of your time and energy. It becomes your life and that will not end well if you don’tlisten to advice.

I have the best family and friends not because they are fun to be around, but because they also care about me andwant to help me when I’m making a mistake.

Unfortunately because I was so busy I would ignore them, only to have my problems come back around and bite me. IfI would’ve listened to them in the first place I would’ve never had that problem to begin with!

If you don’t like what they have to say, that’s fine. But at least give them the benefit of the doubt and hear them out.

Conclusion

I hope that by sharing these experiences with you that you’ll be able to avoid some of the mistakes that I made. I can’tpromise you that you won’t make some of your own mistakes, but if you do, I encourage you to learn from them.

What lessons do you wish you would’ve learned before you started your first company?

Neil Patel (http://www.quicksprout.com/) is the co-founder of KISSmetrics (http://www.kissmetrics.com/), an analytics providerthat helps companies make better business decisions.

More from Neil Patel on GeekWire: Seven signs that you might just be an entrepreneur(http://www.geekwire.com/2011/signs-entrepreneur)… Eleven things every entrepreneur should know about innovation(http://www.geekwire.com/2011/11-entrepreneur-innovation)

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• Reply •

LikeBright  •  4 years ago

Fantastic advice from someone who has built successful companies. And honored he is a mentor for LikeBright △ ▽  

• Reply •

Rachel Blaufeld  •  4 years ago

Thanks ­ these are awesome tips! I especially like the one about solving a problem! So many time, I see others desperatelytrying to convince me that what they are having really solves a problem...either it does or does not! Rachel 

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• Reply •

Mo  •  4 years ago

Thanks Neil.  Great advice.  TwoChop.com is my first startup.  It is kinda amazing that I literally made 3 of the same mistakesthat you listed out in my first 2 months.  Part of me thinks that you could be told not to make those mistakes, but entrepreneurswill continue to make them and must learn them by themselves.  

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• Reply •

Charles Ivy  •  4 years ago

Good read, thank you for sharing Neil! You make some really good points that I never thought of. Hopefully I'll be successfulone day and I can share my advice with others also.

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• Reply •

Shelterdoggies  •  4 years ago

Nice piece. I enjoyed the part about 'make it easy'. That is ever so important. I learned that one the hard way!My new start­up is trying to conserve cash and make it easy! (http://www.shelterdoggies.com)Not always easy to do in the same breath.

Doug △ ▽  

• Reply •

Teddy  •  4 years ago

This is such a good read for anyone in business.  Sort of like a starting your own business 101 class.  These are the things youmust do to succeed.  If you do not do the following you probably will not succeed over time.  Thanks for this return to basicsarticle

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• Reply •

Aleksandra  •  4 years ago

Great  article.

I agree, some mistakes sound too obvious to be even mentioned. And I guess that's why many people make them. Becausewhen it's something too obvious we kind of start ignoring it and at one point it gets out of your focus and then you wished youwere not so ignorant towards what it used to look "too obvious". 

But there is another thing: You as well as other entrepreneurs are putting a lot of efforts to help other entrepreneurs to avoidsome of the most common mistakes startups  make and again many fresh entrepreneurs are making the same...And very oftenthe world will hear about those same entrepreneurs who somehow found their way to make it big. So I am just wondering: Is itthat sometimes you need to do it wrong in order to learn out of it and get to the top or is it that most of us are really ignoranttowards "obvious" mistakes? 

In any case thanks for posting this great piece. I found it very useful and practical. In fact I am a big fan of your articles and asalways you make a great point delivering a straightforward message

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• Reply •

Micki Sievwright  •  4 years ago

Thank you, I took notes! I'm growing my PR/writing/editing/social media consulting business and finding myself make thesemistakes! I appreciate the easy statement as well and hope to quit "reinventing the wheel" over and over again, and streamlinemy processes. I also would add to the networking bit that finding a mentor, and in turn being a mentor, will pay dividends! Evenwhen it's sharing your learned advice like Neil here!

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• Reply •

Micheal G Kennedy  •  4 years ago

Wow, awesome advice. Thanks! △ ▽  

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• Reply • △ ▽  

• Reply •

Wellness Guiden  •  4 years ago

Amazing advice △ ▽  

• Reply •

Online Media Direct  •  4 years ago

great article I especially like the section going after the big boys. It isnt something I have ever considered and I will probablygive it a go :­)

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• Reply •

LateVilla  •  4 years ago

Really liked this article as it gives you all the things you kinda already know you should be doing but illustrates each one with apersonal explanation. 

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• Reply •

Sameh  •  4 years ago

I really enjoyed your post on SEOmoz last week and now they sent me back to this fascinating post.  1△ ▽  

• Reply •

derrybirkett  •  4 years ago

Nice list Neil, Thanks for Sharing.  My favourite is Focus ­ and by extension ­ Focus on what you love.  Forget the money, thatwill come by itself.  Just find out what you love to do, and act on it. (Finding out is the hard part)

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• Reply •

TaylorMiles  •  4 years ago

Good advice for a guy who has done it.    △ ▽  

• Reply •

Mikey  •  4 years ago

Hmm. I'm on the 3rd read through of this and am now taking notes! Great stuff. Thank you. △ ▽  

• Reply •

SLAP digital  •  4 years ago

Really insightful. Have duly noted a few I should follow more... Thanks △ ▽  

• Reply •

Dave  •  4 years ago

The "Sell Something People Can Afford" blurb hit me funny, because I once read an amazing online discussion with someonewho was very successful at selling high­end vacuums door­to­door. Hearing how he honestly and skillfully sold vacuums topeople middle and lower income households (that would definitely have been grouped by most people in the "can't afford this"category) was very enlightening.

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• Reply •

Vince Lin  •  4 years ago

nice list △ ▽  

• Reply •

Chris Li  •  4 years ago

Great article!  I totally understand when you mention about focus and good help.  I'm one of thosedeveloper/designer/marketer/etc type which tend to spread my skills too thin.  When I started my own web developmentcompany, I had the do everything mindset and didn't want to hire other's as that would cut into my profits.  Long story short,growing the business was extremely difficult, and I learned a hard lesson.  My financial accounts were totally out of whack and Ieventually had to find an accountant to get things sorted, which costed me a lot.  

Throughout the time with running the company, there was one point where I partnered with somebody that had complementaryskills as me.  She was a designer and I focused on development.  During that time, I did my best work, and was happiest in myaccomplishments.  

Reflecting back, finding good help and staying focused helped me mentally and helped me stay positive, allowed me to focus onthe things I liked to do, and gave me room to expand my skills.  When your enjoying what you do, and your given room to showyour passion, employees, partners and clients see it.

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• Reply •

Dino Gomez  •  4 years ago

 Awesome advice. "Emotions Rule" and are certainly crucial for selling. This is something we we will be working to convey onour website, http://www.dinomiteseo.com/ (The emotion that our service will bring to our clients. Currently we don't do the bestjob of this.)

"Going after the big guys" and remembering to always learn from anybody and everybody are two tips I am taking home withme.

Exceptional blog post and thank you very much for sharing! △ ▽  

• Reply •

Partha Bhattacharya  •  4 years ago

Neil, very good advice, thanks! There is always so much to learn which I believe is the gist of this article.. △ ▽  

• Reply •

Mundoweekend  •  4 years ago

Good article, thank you! △ ▽  

• Reply •

Dimi Bankenvergleich  •  4 years ago

Thanks for sharing! I am starting with www.banken­auskunft.de this month into new cycle of my life. Its very exciting, but it feelssoooo right!!! 

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• Reply •

Tatva88  •  4 years ago

Thanks for posting such nice article. It will help anyone who wish to start his own business.  △ ▽  

• Reply •

John  •  4 years ago

The biggest thing I learned in all my years doing start ups is watch your money. It's ok to spend a little bit to try something out,but if there was no ROI then you should either understand why there wasn't before making the same decision or don't make thesame mistake twice.

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• Reply •

NeckTyze  •  4 years ago

Very thought provoking.  Thanks △ ▽  

• Reply •

Dan Tucker  •  4 years ago

What a great article bringing great clarity and motivation. Thank you! △ ▽  

• Reply •

Drupal Web development  •  4 years ago

Awesome advice. "Emotions Rule" and are certainly crucial for selling. This is something we we will be working to convey onour website.

 △ ▽  

• Reply •

Ksaffexpert  •  4 years ago

Good points! Thanks △ ▽  

• Reply •

Seo Cádiz  •  4 years ago

All your advices are really great. I learned a lot with the emotions rules. Its like i wake up for that.. △ ▽  

• Reply •

Paul Ricketts  •  4 years ago

i really liked these tips, and they are built on experience, great job △ ▽  

Beauty_Eye_5433  •  4 years ago

@LaVita....This is crаzу...Sistеr's girlfriеnd mаkеs 73 hourly on thе PC. Shе hаs beеn firеd from wоrk for 10 mоnths but lаstmonth hеr pауchеck wаs 7756 USD јust working on the PC fоr а fеw hоurs. Rеаd аbоut it on this wеbsitе......http://alturl.com/4h6s2

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11/24/2015 17 things I wish I'd known when starting my first business ­ GeekWire

http://www.geekwire.com/2011/17­starting­business/ 10/17

• Reply •

sitе......http://alturl.com/4h6s2 △ ▽  

• Reply •

Paul_Owen  •  4 years ago

Read Michael Gerber's "The E Myth" about entrepreneurship. It's the bible for startups. http://www.amazon.com/Myth­Rev... △ ▽  

• Reply •

Detkhobut  •  4 years ago

A long time ago I was a vaccum cleaner salesman.I like what you said about the price.Good tips. △ ▽  

• Reply •

Sarah @mycolleges  •  4 years ago

This is top notch advice! I'm on my third business now, one that really resonates with my values and passions and it has madea huge difference to my profitability and success. ­Sarah

 △ ▽  

• Reply •

Chris Bellacose  •  4 years ago

Passion is paramount.  You need to enjoy what you do. △ ▽  

• Reply •

vaporizer reviews  •  4 years ago

not a bad guide.  Great to print out and read when things get tough. △ ▽  

• Reply •

wispr vaporizer  •  4 years ago

listening to friends and family are so critical.  dont ever forget that  △ ▽  

• Reply •

Duane Christensen  •  4 years ago

Thanks for the tips, Neil. Haven't started my company yet. Still just thinking about it. I've been told by people that think I'mtalented...to just do it. That's tough. I'm making good money in Sales right now. It's hard to think about "jumping" when I've got afamily and a mortgage. Ya know? Anyway, your tips are great. Thank you!

 △ ▽  

• Reply •

Paul Uhlir  •  4 years ago

Basic stuff but 100% right on. Great post. △ ▽  

• Reply •

Shann Vander Leek  •  4 years ago

Thank you Neil. It's never too soon, nor too late to follow you passion! Great support for budding entrepreneurs. Cheers! Shann △ ▽  

• Reply •

Sameer  •  4 years ago

 Niel that was really awesome, perhaps it  was more like a self introspection for me entire summary of what i have learned inpast 01 Year of My Start Up... Thank you so much

 △ ▽  

• Reply •

Chad Tabary  •  4 years ago

Bookmarked to come back later.  Good stuff! △ ▽  

• Reply •

Dan  •  4 years ago

Thanks, Neil, this is excellent business advice. I would add that you should find your first customer as soon as possible. Don'twait for your product to be finished or your service to be ready. Get out there and talk to prospective customers. Learn what theworld looks like from their perspective and how you can help them the best. A common mistake, especially in web tech, is forpeople to wait until development is done before telling anyone about it. This "stealth" phase will make you lose the opportunity totest your assumptions with real customers and find out if you have the product­market fit that you need to succeed beforesinking all your time & money into building your product.

 △ ▽  

Rickdiculous  •  4 years ago

Neil, these are the exact 17 things I wish I knew when launching my apartments search business two years ago. Traffic andgeneral online presence/buzz has sky­rocketed in the last year, but were not seeing what we should be seeing in terms of the

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11/24/2015 17 things I wish I'd known when starting my first business ­ GeekWire

http://www.geekwire.com/2011/17­starting­business/ 11/17

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• Reply •

general online presence/buzz has sky­rocketed in the last year, but were not seeing what we should be seeing in terms of thebottom line. My competitors (until they read this comment) think I'm making a ton of money and coming up way too fast...little dothey know I can barely pay myself sometimes.

  1△ ▽  

• Reply •

Vic @ Business Tips Blog  •  4 years ago

Great tips and advice from a successful entrepreneur who really have gotten from trials to success. I read your blog and nowI'm glad to read another great article from you here.

 △ ▽  

• Reply •

Pep Cearnal    •  4 years ago> Vic @ Business Tips Blog

Agreed. Low prices attract people who do not understand or appreciate quality.  △ ▽  

• Reply •

John Lynch  •  4 years ago

very worthwhile article. △ ▽  

• Reply •

Medical Coding Training  •  4 years ago

Really great post for new business starters. This can really change our thinking.  △ ▽  

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11/24/2015 17 things I wish I'd known when starting my first business ­ GeekWire

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