20 Things I Wish I’d Known About Business And Life When I was 20
January 28, 2008
Nobody knows everything. And life is about learning. But, with so many young people starting out in business now, here are 20 things I wish I’d known about business when I was 20:
1. It Isn’t A Race: You need patience; anything worthwhile takes time.
2. Don’t Let Others Do Your Thinking For You: Don’t allow the media to influence your beliefs. Do your own research and make up your own mind on important issues.
3. You’re Never Too Young: Ignore people who say you’re too young to achieve a particular goal. Those same people will tell you you’re too old tomorrow.
4. You Need Many Mentors: One person can’t teach you everything. Seek out several experts on different aspects of business.
5. Choose Suitable Role Models: Before you choose a role model, ask yourself if you would be happy living the way they do.
6. Keep a Disaster Journal: Keep a journal of business worries that keep you awake at night. Most things that seemed important will be forgotten in a few months time.
7. Don’t Seek Revenge: Don’t bear grudges and don’t eat yourself up with thoughts of revenge; it will only make you feel worse.
8. Enjoy The Journey: You may have huge goals but the journey towards them is the important part. As soon as you realise this, you’ll enjoy your work far more.
9. Create Something Worthwhile: If your goal is something great, make sure it’s something you’ll be proud of. Yes, some things sell faster than others. But do you really want to be remembered for building the world’s busiest porn site; or a diet fad that made millions of people ill?
10. Don’t Assume Others Had It Easy: Sometimes, others who are already where you want to be make it look easy. But they most likely struggled, just the same as you.
11. Don’t Be Afraid To Cut Your Losses: You can’t expect to achieve success in everything you attempt. If something just isn’t working out, don’t be afraid to cut your losses and move onto something else.
12. Ask For Help When You Need It: It’s ok to ask for help and advice when you need it. Anyone worth asking won’t expect you to know it all.
13. Maintain Control: Avoid situations where others have too much control over you, or your business.
14. Bad Relationships Can Hold You Back: If you’re in a bad marriage, get out of it now. Time will make it worse, not better and your business will suffer if you leave it too long.
15: Welcome Changes: When a huge disaster happens don’t feel like it’s the end of the world. You could find yourself on a new and better path.
16: Mistakes Benefit You: You can benefit from everything you experience; no matter how bad things seem at the time.
17: Don’t Be One Of The Crowd: Just because everyone else seems to be saying that X is a good thing to do; doesn’t mean they’re right. Have courage in your own convictions and don’t follow the masses for the sake of it.
18. It’s Ok To Change Your Mind: Don’t feel bad about changing your mind, or doing a complete u-turn on some issues. It means you’re learning.
19. Don’t Do Anything Unethical: Never do anything in business, or life which has the potential to harm or exploit others.
20. It’s Not All About You: Remember that building a business isn’t just about creating a better world for yourself. You should also aim to improve the world for others.
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22 Responses to “20 Things I Wish I’d Known About Business And Life When I was 20”
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Hi Catherine,
I’m trying to think back that far, and I do know that at 20, having a business was not even an idea I was contemplating. My thoughts at that point in time, were to succeed as an employee, and work my way up the corporate ladder (Though I had tried college, it wouldn’t be until years late,r that I would go back to further my education)
Your list gives great tips to those, not only to business owners or wannabes, but is fantastic advice for anyone to practice in their daily life.
And, to add to #3 “You are never too young”, often, you’re never too old to follow a dream, either.
Barbara’s last blog post..Does Your Blog Resemble A Soap Opera
This is going to sound like a set-up, but when I was 21 and trying my first business venture, the 21st thing I could have done with knowing, and since then too, was all about cash.
Those are 20 really important things to note.
Number 10 strikes a chord. Many people, not just the famour serial entrepreneurs make it look easy. It isn’t.
Even with a ton of cash behind you, it’s so easy to lose the lot without some discipline with cash.
I think any business should be built around the time-frame it will take to robustly beat break-even. It could take months or years.
The quicker you learn to postpone the BMW the better.
Ian Denny’s last blog post..Cashflow Nightmares Solved On Back Of An Envelope
Thank you Barbara. That is so true – look at the KFC guy – he was no spring chicken. And there was also a Japanese guy who went bankrupt then made it all back in his eighties. V inspiring stuff.
Ian – understanding cash is important and should definitely be on the list of things to learn. And it always takes longer to break even than you expect it’s going to doesn’t it?
Catherine Lawson’s last blog post..20 Things I Wish I’d Known About Business And Life When I was 20
Great post and as usual, great points!
Hi Nicole – Thank you.
I remeber as a kid my grandpa used to say ” You can’t put and old head on young shoulders” and smile at me. It’s taken me about 40 years or so to understand what he meant!
This is a great list Catherine, I love number 16, Mistakes are only really mistakes if we don’t learn from them .
louise’s last blog post..Want to see where I live?
Hi Louise – that saying is so true isn’t it? And when we’re younger, we tend to ignore a lot of advice from “old” people because we think we’re too young for it to be relevant to us.
Catherine,
This is a brilliant list, I wish someone had given me this when I was 20.
There are so many I can relate to, no 1 for example ‘It Isn’t A Race: You need patience; anything worthwhile takes time’, this is so true as I am the most impatient person on the planet, success very rarely comes overnight.
Catherine, I thank you for finding my blog, as it led me to yours.
Regards.
jsanderz’s last blog post..How to Change The Windows XP Welcome Screen in 5 Minutes
[...] matter how you look at it, life isn’t a race. But we want it to be. Tags: Business, [...]
Mine would be – The more you know, the more you know you don’t know…
I was a complete genius at 20
Smart at 30
Dufus coming to 40
RacerX’s last blog post..I am Late Blogging about Procrastination
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Excellent advice as usual and I agree these are great points for everyone many of the points you’ve given can be applied in daily life. I use a lot of them. Enjoying the journey is one of my favorites.
Hi Opal – thank you. That is one of my favourites too. But, I didn’t learn it until the last couple of years.
I think that rule number one hit home with me the absolute most. I remember starting my first business when I was 17 and it was promoting parties. I spent tons of hard earned money on hot cards, renting out a venue, and hiring a Dj that I totally forgot the most important thing of all……the competition. I was delusional by the end of my grand opening and grand closing in the same night! I totally skipped over the competition investigation to know who was going to be doing something the same night I was! I was in a race! But I learned!
Dwayne Lattimore
Hi Dwayne – I think we’ve all done something like that. When you’re young, you expect everything to happen yesterday don’t you. At least you tried at 17 – that’s impressive in itself.
Very encouraging, Catherine! I’ve actually been getting involved with two small entrepreneurial ideas. I’m really excited about them even though I know it’ll be work with likely little profit at first. If nothing else, I’ll learn from the experience and develop some good skills…maybe some confidence, networking, that kind of thing. And if I’m lucky, they’ll supplement my other jobs and Micah’s income to help keep us going.
Good for you Mrs M. You’re really smart – so I know you can do this. You just need more confidence and you’ll get there. And every small step you take will increase your confidence more.
I was really ill at one time and I had the confidence of a gnat. You honestly wouldn’t believe how bad I was. So, if I can improve on it anyone can.
Hi Catherine,
First of all, thank you so much for coming to visit my blog and leaving thoughtful comments — I’d like to return the favor!
I’m glad you picked what you did for #1 — for me, “anything worthwhile takes time” is something I feel really strongly about. In fact, I would add qualify the part about time. The time that is needed for anything worthwhile needs to be spent working hard — anything worthwhile really requires hard work and a lot of effort.
When I was 20, I wish someone told me to save money right away, and explained the “miracle” of compound interest!
Thanks for posting!
Nez’s last blog post..Why I Switched to a Mac: A Critical Analysis
Hi Nez – Thank you. Compounding fascinates me. A dollar a day can mount up to a whole heap so quickly. When I first got a computer I messed about with those Microsoft Money computations for ages.
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