Many people have had entrepreneurial ambitions, and I tried it a few years ago. My mentor said back then, "Entrepreneurship demands your complete commitment," but naive as I was, I thought I could do it while working another job!
I pursued it with pure passion, but it genuinely failed for many reasons. Time was one of them—I'd just started a full-time job, so I had to invest energy learning company operations. After work, I'd squeeze in time to worry about the business, and inevitably these concerns mixed together. The unhappiness from work bled into my dreams, making me susceptible to negative thoughts like "you can't do it" and "you won't do it well."
But the biggest issue came after reflection: I realized I'd started this "entrepreneurship" thing without truly understanding it. A few friends followed me into "online reselling," and they all said they'd help without payment. But because of this personal connection, I didn't feel comfortable making demands, and I even tried to accommodate their preferences. Even then, I knew my mindset as an entrepreneur was wrong, but lacking confidence, though I had ideas, I couldn't execute them freely—I was tying my own hands.
How could I think about long-term growth when I couldn't even manage internally?
Another harsh reality was that from the start, I wanted to "build a brand." I envisioned my own website, social media pages, apps, products, logos. I threw money at it, getting everything "perfect," thinking that would make us launch "perfectly." But our sales volume was nowhere near enough. The website was basically useless. We started from our friend circle anyway, so nobody used the official site—they just messaged privately. A mentor actually suggested that if we were selling, we should start with major platforms like Yahoo and Rakuten.
But stubbornly, I thought their interfaces were ugly, the image limits were low, and the formats were all uniform. I ignored the fact that these platforms' reputation far exceeded what I could imagine. We should have prioritized sales first, then expanded. We should have economized from the beginning. These articles about "entrepreneurial failure" that follow are incredibly well-written and practical. I'm sharing them because entrepreneurship really demands focus—you only learn how to adjust after you've failed.
"The ideal is to become the missing puzzle piece in the market, making your product or service an indispensable link in the entire value chain, creating a complete business ecosystem. That's what makes a successful product."
Article Recommendations
Entrepreneurial Failure Formula: #1. Wanting to Hire Staff
Entrepreneurial Failure Formula: #2. Wanting to Build Your Own Product
Entrepreneurial Failure Formula: #3. Wanting to Partner with Big Companies
Entrepreneurial Failure Formula: #4. Wanting to Plan Everything Perfectly
