I have all these business ideas and yet I am stuck with these questions every single day:

[derf]

I (34M) have all these business ideas I keep dreaming about going into business with, and then I go about doing nothing.

The progress has been zero on my ventures cuz :
1. Am I smart enough to run a business?
2. Will the idea be worth anything or will I just waste another few years of my life.. 34 is a decent number already.
3. Will I able to devote the efforts it needs to run ?
4. Will I be willing to sacrifice my sleep and health to make it a success? (No health issues but enjoy a healthy lifestyle and poor sleep causes tonnes of issues w/ me)
5. Will I ever be able to hire top talent considering I never went to a great college? And later manage/ motivate them.
6. What if I lose interest in the idea once I get to some point?

Wizards of reddit, I need help with the inertia! Please help.

Note: I have a basic business plan. But it’s the inertia I battle w/ most since I’ve had my share of failures from being fired twice, to taking too big risks and losing it all. I have a family of 2. Trying to start all over again. Regarding the idea : I’ve done tonnes of research and worked 10 years in the industry.

Edit 1:
Little background: Other than the worries above, the worst case scenario is divorce for me. I have a loving wife who has been sticking it out for the last 8 years. An incredible human being and has done everything for my success. Yet the last 2 failures have had a crippling effect on our lives. Wont go into details tl;dr had a great business in health and wellness— my family business I took to the US, had an incredible product market fit, solid conversions, crazy contacts and clients (think hollywood + beiber kanye level), then compliance got me and forced me to close the business. The patients/ clients I worked w/ still reach out to me since the product was revolutionary. Lost my visa and w/ a lot a shit lot of financial losses accumulated. I returned in debt and my wife paid for everything w/ her job.
The darkest 3 years of my life. Still coming to terms w/ it and patching up the relationship. I have a 6 yr old daughter and shes witnessed our arguments and everything.
My wife wholeheartedly believes in my vision basically stood by me through worst but this time around I find it so hard going all in, from 25-33 following my gut and going against my family and evrryone has been the norm for me. I feel ive toned it down and miss it too, hence the post.

Finally— back in my mid twenties, took all the risks.. classic reckless YOLO stuff, made money so no one cared, finally came to crash n burn. Trying to gather strength all over again.

Incase anyone is further interested feel free to PM me, we can find a way to work this.

thank you !

Edit: No shit, you guys have been mad helpful.

 

[raghavendrbr]

@derf Forget it, you are not the guy who bites into steel when the problems coming up. I am speaking about an 120 Hour Week and THEN the problems occur. I know that i am talking about. No startup starts up. It starts, then there is this black hole, the sleepless nights, the surprising way out ( in my case) or the bankruptcy ( in many other cases). Your questions doesn't make sense in a rough Environment.

If you wholeheartedly disagree, well, great then go your way, dort trust any reddit user anyway, ask your friend, not the internet

regards

fred

 

[bigpgone]

@raghavendrbr I wouldn't trust the necromancer

 

[derf]

@bigpgone

 

[derf]

@raghavendrbr I’ve had 2 failures doing just that. Ive had the black hole, the bankruptcy, the sleepless nights, the suprising way out, it went to the extreme of facing legal issues (I still believe I wasn’t wrong there and was doing revolutionary work with patients more on it another time), so I don’t disagree with you. I know and willingly accept this. I feel I may be getting frugal with my time and that is constricting the shit out of me.

Regarding friends.. its been a lonely journey man. Just got my wife and brother.

 

[shadiamon]

@derf Up back

 

[derf]

@shadiamon Back up

 

[biblequestions]

@derf Bruh, write a business plan.

 

[derf]

@biblequestions Did. I mentioned that. On paper it makes sense. But logic isn’t why businesseses are started. It can all make sense and yet an instinct is missing. The break down of the instinct were the 6 questions I put up there.

 

[danbear2023]

@derf You can think and plan, but at the end of the day you just do it. You can't worry about problems because the ones that come up won't be the ones you thought of and when they do come up you must persevere no matter what. Maniacal perseverance in the face of absurd adversity. It will all work out or it won't, but you must always believe you can work your way through it in order to succeed. You'll be doing horrible, then great, then take huge steps back again. Over and over again. You will get screwed by other people and be tempted to screw others. People will constantly ask you if its greatworking for yourself, and you won't be sure how to respond because the first few years is hell. If you can't deal with that, don't even start. If you can't put those questions behind you and just go, you're not the right type of person to start a business.

The rewards, if you succeed though, are amazing. Although people who haven't done it don't understand how hard it was, how many sleepless nights there were, and how many times you were just dollars or days from it all going to 0.

 

[derf]

@danbear2023 Man the “tempting to screw others”, damn, very true

So its not that I cant deal with the aspects, its always the fear of whether the idea is worth it at all. Somewhere I feel I’m becoming frugal with my time and that compounds the fear. I don’t know why but I’m lacking the experimental mentality. Like just needing a blueprint for a venture without going through the testing. Ofcourse thats the shittiest way to go about ventures. There never can be one. Its an experiment that turns out positive or negative. Could it be I’m lacking the gut to take a failure this time. Am i setting up for it already?

 

[andy12385]

@derf If it must succeed, you will make it work. If you wait until conditions are ideal, you will always wait. If you want to be sure it works, quit your job. Stop fidgeting and do it. Or get back in line.

 

[derf]

@andy12385 Infact its one of the things I did. I quit my job and moved to a different country to start it all again. Only this time I’m older, have bigger responsibilities so just more at stake. With that the heightened inertia. On the lopside its really all I got so I’m going to just need to power through it.
The collective intelligence here though, all of you rooting for my success even amidst the criticism is just overwhelming. So a big thank you there.

 

[shawnmcg]

@derf Get a job and pay attention to what is asked of you.

 

[derf]

@shawnmcg Thanks, building the resume now bruh

 

[shawnmcg]

@derf Keep at it. Things will get better for you.

 

[enoch27]

@derf Business is a machine.

It has a set of interlocking building blocks that makes and delivers value to a target audience (the people that need it and have decided that it is a good value).

Think lemonade stand.

So what part of the machine is triggering your procrastination?

Procrastination is an emotion to puts a halt to waiting resources on a lost cause.

Neuroscience 101.

All your questions are about standard business challenges.

Do you feel that you could open up and run a lemonade stand?

 

[derf]

@enoch27 Infact this is of the comments that made me imagine at a simple level what could the business be if it was a lemonade stand. How simple could the offering be I could just set if up and it would just start selling.
The simplicity of it is there, yet I feel the grander vision is what dilutes it the most. I had a redditor tell me I may be getting confused and increase interia simply cuz the vision and product is too big in my mind.

 

[enoch27]

@derf Maybe, if you take the time and trouble to translate your Vision into a business model, then your mind will quickly decide whether this is a realistic idea or way beyond what I can achieve right now.

You should be able to make that decision in an hour or two.

Google "Business Canvas Model." And you'll discover the "Strategizer" series of visual tools for turning ideas into viable business models that you can then turn into a project with tasks, resources, and timeline.

You'll quickly get a sense of whether I can build this lemonade stand or maybe I should look for something else.

 

[mari17]

@derf About Management. This is hardly a problem. The prerequisite is that you have a good vision.

And really, education will only become less and less valuable as you get older