When Henry Ford decided to build a horseless carriage, do you think he called someone he did not know and asked them how much money he was going to make?
When Melvin E. Hershey decided to market chocolate to the world, do you think he called someone in another state and asked them how long it would take him to start his business?
When Dave Thomas decided to start Wendy’s Restaurants, do you think he called another business owner and asked them if his idea was lucrative and if he would be successful?
The answer to all three of these questions is: NO. However, people call our office every day and ask us these three questions:
1. How much money can I make?
2. How long will it take to start this business?
3. Is this business lucrative and will I be successful?
If I were a scam artist with only one idea in mind: to steal people’s money, I would probably tell these callers that they can make money immediately, that anyone can do this business and everyone can be successful without any effort. But I would be lying.
The truth of the matter is that I can never tell a person if they will become successful and how much money they will make. No one can answer these questions. The only truthful answer you can get to these questions can only be provided by ONE person. That person is YOU.
We had a law clerk call the office a couple of weeks ago. He asked us how long it would take him to read the book: “How to Start a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant Service“. At first, we were a little shocked, but we told him we did not know how fast he could read; therefore, we could not provide him with a realistic time period it would take him to read a book.
But the law student became angry and wanted us to also tell him how long it would take to comprehend the information because he had an exam coming up. Even if I worked beside this guy in the same office for several months, I still could not answer his question. But this person expected us to give him an answer based on the knowledge that we had never met him in our life.
People, you have got to wake up. Take charge of your destiny. Stop depending on people to answer questions that only you can answer. Before anyone can properly help you or give you advice, you must take an initiative to find the answers on your own.
When Henry Ford, Melvin Hershey and Dave Thomas decided to start their empires, they initially began as a home based business. They focused their efforts into developing a product that was different from anything available on the market at the time. Money was not their primary focus and it should not be yours either.
If you are serious about developing a long-term career you cannot possibly expect to become rich overnight. You cannot expect to have everything right NOW. Instead, you should concentrate your efforts into developing the BEST product or service you can possibly develop. Once you achieve that goal, you will find the money will come easily. But if you take the hard road of believing that money is quick and easy to make, any money you do happen to make will quickly be gone and you will have to start all over again.
However, if you need money now, sign up to work as a temporary in the field you are pursuing so you will not be tied down to a permanent job. For example, if your business provides legal services, work temporary assignments for law firms. You need to have some form of money coming in to pay the rent and other bills until your business is earning enough to support itself, plus pay you a salary. Starting a business today and expecting it to provide you with a substantial income in 24 hours is nothing more than a head trip to “Fantasy Land.”
Over the course of my 20-year career as an entrepreneur, I have watched many people jump from one business failure to another business failure. It is my sincerest hope that you do not become one of these people. Although I would love to know that everyone reading these words builds a financially strong and long term business they are proud to pass down to their children, I also know this is not realistic. Hopefully this article will help to inspire some of you to take a more positive attitude toward building your business.
AUTHOR BIO:
Victoria Ring is a Certified Paralegal and Bankruptcy Specialist and was the first paralegal to develop the Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant field in 1999. She has also developed an entire line of training products and holds several seminars per year in drafting bankruptcy petitions. Her training materials have been approved by NALS, NFPA and the Supreme Court of Ohio for CLE credits. Additionally, Victoria Ring provides speaking and in-house training services for bankruptcy law firms. Visit her website at http://www.713training.com
