Garage Entrepreneurs

by Eric Tags: core business, Entrepreneur

Sep. 10^th 2009

In an early-stage, cash-strapped startup, entrepreneurs are constantly looking for opportunities to keep their business afloat. Maybe your core business isn’t generating revenue right now, and you need to do other things to offset your short-term losses. In a previous post on scope creep we mentioned not differing from your core business too much, but it is sometimes inevitable. Perhaps there is a family friend who needs some consulting work done, or a friend offering you a cut of every deal you bring across her desk; no matter what the circumstance entrepreneurs are prone to tempt.

When you’re tempted by opportunities that are outside of your core business (in our experience) you’re prone to fall. This is not to say that you should not turn down good opportunities (after all how will you ever discover new oceans if you never lose sight of the shore), however with multiple opportunities, some will fail.

The good news: entrepreneurs can recover. Success never comes right away. In my first student-advertising business I struggled to bring in my first clients, and I was tempted to make changes before I really knew what I was into. I fell after spreading myself too thin, and I began to waiver from what my original goals for the company were. But I recovered after I re-focused and devoted my daily efforts towards those activities that would move my business forward.

For those of you who are new at the entrepreneurial lifestyle I’d be surprised if you don’t soon (or haven’t already) discovered the: tempt, fall, recover routine.