The article "Starting the Business - Losing $12,000 (ouch)" talks about entrepreneurialism, it was released by David Askaripour.
I remember it like it was yesterday... selling my black 1997 (tricked out) Honda Civic, borrowing $7,500 from my parents, and basically selling everything I could get my hands on. It was the hot Summer of 2004 and my first business was in development.I was like a little baby with candy, so blissful!
I had around $12,000 to spend, money that I was fortunate enough to acquire from good ol' mom and pops and my one and only vehicle I sold for $5,000 (damn, that vehicle was hard to give up).I was passionate.... I was hungry.... I was determined... and I was STUPID! You see, at the time I didn't really know much about getting a website giong in terms of developement, marketing, etc... I was just a kid with an idea and $12,000 in my Commerce Banking account.
So what did I do, I basically went with any old development team from India and got ripped off monumental time. Looking back, I was overcharged, lied to about who was working on the site, and I kept being asked to pay extra money every month for jobs that were mysteriously "extended." The end result: I ended up paying these guys in India around $6,000 for an uncomplete-buggy-too-many-features Internet site that did about 1,000 things but never worked properly.So what did I do... I being my determiend self, I unloaded a second $6,000 to a second off-shore development firm to fix the Internet site and get it up and running(never go offshore! ). Now, these guys were a bit better (they nveer really lied to me). They actually convinced me to drop around 90% of my features and focus on one main feature of the Internet site (which never made sense to me utnil years later). Finally, the Internet site luanched in Feb.
2005 and lasted 'til that summer 2005.Net Result: -$12,000 down the drain.Wow, it's crazy even thinking about it again, but it really made me become a smarter person from losnig all of that cash. Looking back, most of it was my falut.
I was a over-zealous 20 year-old who wanted a Internet site built with 0 experience on how sites were built, 0 experience on the exact niche I was going to attack, and 0 expeirence on how to really get a website off it's feet. All I had, at the end of the day, was my idea(which isn't enough).Now, my idea was strong, no doubt, but the problem was that it was a great Internet site but with 0 following and no focus... and just when it started to get following, I took it down to build something better that actually never got off the ground (that's a whole differnet story).The moral of the story: Know your business inside and out before you try build it, especially if you're going to invest your own cash into it. Start small...
you don't have to create a srevice with 1000 features... offering a small service on the itnernet to a small group of persons can really amount to millions of persons. Remember "small" on the internet can mean "many people" (this is a huge place). If you're going to hire programmers and designers, at least know the basics of the technology so that you can speak their language (otherwise, they may take advantage of you).
Heck, you should learn the technology yourself even if you don't plan on building the sites yourself. Make sure you STUDY..STUDY...STUDY...Never stop learning: read books on what you're doing, talk to persons who have made it, ask questions..
listen to podcasts...Brainstorm everyday. And finally, NEVER...NEVER...NEVER... give up...
NO MATTER WHAT!
That's the real key to success.
Yes, I lost cash, but gained priceless experience while doing so.I'm still standing, baby! David Askaripour
Read all of my business articles at:
http://www.Cashcampus.Com/ftt
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David Askaripour,now 22 years-old, started Cashcampus in New York, 2004.
Cashcampus was created to help students share information, educate students on various topics, and to provide students with content just for them.
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