Ever wondered what celebrity entrepreneurs went through in their Entrepreneur Experience?

Mary Kay retired in 1963,
Risk: she took her life savings, $5,000, and opened her own business.
Pay off = Mary Kay Cosmetics is now a billion-dollar company.

Risk: Hugh Hefner financed Playboy with $8,000 in loans from 45 family members, friends, and other investors.
Payoff: he’s a mega-millionaire.

Entrepreneurs like Mary Kay and Mr. Playboy who risked all their money (and sometimes their family’s money) to pursue dreams that others considered foolish get lots of recognition. They inspire with their story, but most of the time it doesn’t work that way.

You can succeed by taking a far more conservative approach.

Two Stanford grad students had a side project called Google. Apple’s first computers were hand-built in a garage.

Most people think Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard which isn’t exactly right. He took a leave of absence and his parents gave him financial support – while he developed his programming skills and made the contacts that led to Microsoft. The backup plan in case it didn’t work was to go back to school.

Dell Computer was started in a University of Texas dorm room for just $1,000.

If you have been dying to start your first Entrepreneur Experience, most of us can start small and take calculated risks. You do not have to be reckless to be brave, as some may encourage you to do.

Bottom line is you shouldn’t have to risk everything to claim your slice of the “American Dream.”

An entrepreneur is also someone who keeps his job while he works on his new business at night and on weekends. Mostly, you will invest time and energy at first.

However most of us don’t know anything about marketing, sales, management or even sometimes the business side of the industry we are starting in. But if you’re willing to learn and work on the new business, put in 10-hour days and never give up instead adjust, then it’s worth it.

You start small and build (and invest) gradually. This limits your risk since so many new business ideas and plans fail the first time.

Give yourself the best chance to avoid losing money and time by following the right guidelines. There are 7 total guidelines in a business plan that needs to evolve with all the rapid changes in technology affecting business in today’s age.

The first guideline is having your “why” very clear….both internally (pricing, creating a budget, units needed to be sold per day, etc..) and externally (purpose, noble cause, and your story).

Check out our video series to further explore this and all 7 guidelines to a complete Entrepreneur Experience.

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