Learning curve is quick slide when starting up a business

How fast can you learn? The answer to that question will make the difference in how well you succeed in running a business. When you launch an enterprise, you start a race between your dwindling startup funds and your ability to learn enough to produce sales and deliver products or services. If your funds run out before you’ve learned enough, you sink.

The only exception is when you buy a franchise. Running a franchise is a matter of learning how to follow directions. The successful franchisee is a different animal from the successful entrepreneur. When you do your pre-launch research, you’ll quickly find out which of the two animals groups appeals to you. The answer will be obvious.

Some entrepreneurs insist that your learning doesn’t even start until you’ve run out of money. Then the scrambling you do to find more money – while desperately trying to drive sales – is the true learning. That was certainly the case for me, but I don’t know that it’s a universal experience.

By Robert Spiegel
Tribune Columnist

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