Cortez On Business

After months of programming and testing, we are finally ready to launch. There is lots of excitement and stress at the office as we already are signing up users and taking on integration projects, so we are definitely rolling.

I've really learned some valuable lessons through this development process. Primarily I've learned how important persistence is in any business. I can think of a dozen times that I've thought that the project was just too hard or had to many obstacles. I fear that is why so many businesses fail, starting a business is just plain hard work.

So I've been asked, "How do you persist?", "How do you keep going?". Here is my answer almost every time. "You've got to burn your ships." After an often awkward silence, I tell the story of the conquistadors that came from Europe to conquer and claim the early Americas. After Cortez landed in the Americas one of the first things he did was ordered his men to unload and burn the ships. Apparently he did this to communicate a "do or die" mentality in his men.

So when I tell people to burn their ships, what I'm saying is take the necessary steps to commit yourself to your business. I've rarely seen a new business really thrive if there are not members of the business that are truly vested. So whether you are financially investing, investing your time, quiting your full time job or whatever else, make sure that you are committing yourself and give yourself as few "outs" as possible. In my opinion, the easier it is to exit your business plan, the more likely it is to fail...and the reverse is true as well.