Secrets of Entrepreneurship: A personal story of overcoming self-doubt

By Jerry Bellune

If you’ve ever started a business, you’ll relate to this.
In starting our publishing company, we were careful.
We did our research. We visited other publishers.
We came back with detailed notes and strategies.
We wrote an air-tight business and marketing plan.
We hired a pro to help us crunch the numbers.
We were prepared to ask others for financial support.
In fact, one friend offered to find investors for us.

Our advisor gave us a valuable planning strategy.
We challenged our cost and revenue projections.
Then we took 10% off the revenue side.
That would protect us if we missed revenue goals.
Then we added 10% to the cost side.
That was to allow for unanticipated liabilities.
That was a 20% swing on the bottom line.
Could we still do it? Yes and without a loan.
We needed no investors. Just our own life savings.
What if we lost it all? Well, we were young enough.
If we had to, we could start all over again.
My wife (and partner) had great faith in our plan.

We projected to break even in the 10th month.
The 10th month came and went.
We weren’t profitable — at least not yet.
I began to worry. What had we planned wrong.
Were our revenue projections unrealistic?
Were our costs more than we had anticipated?

Early one morning I awoke from a nightmare.
In the dream, we had run out of money.
I lay in the dark listening to my wife’s breathing.
She was sleeping so peacefully.
Why wasn’t she as worried? Were we to lose it all?
Then like a flash of insight, I got it.
She believed in us. Why didn’t I share her faith?
In the 11th month we broke even. My worry was over.
It’s been mostly clear sailing since then.
Even in the recession, we’ve kept going.

Have you had your own moments of self-doubt?
Email me for details about our STAR funshop.
My address: [email protected]
You’ll discover what we’ve done to succeed.
You’ll also discover what others have done.
This will give you a blueprint for greater success.

Next: Find a need and fill it.
Want to share this with a friend? Be my guest.
We only ask that you tell them where it came from.
Invite them to send me their email address.
They can reach me at [email protected]
I’ll email this strategy letter to them each week.
©2016 The Bellune Company, Inc.
Neither MidlandsBiz.com nor The Bellune Company, Inc. makes any warranty as to the results that may be achieved from using this information. ©2015 The Bellune Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Requests for permission to reprint or circulate may be obtained by emailing [email protected]

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