Successful Startup 101 Magazine - Issue 10 Read online

  December is full of exciting experiences. The holidays are rounding the corner and many business owners are looking forward to taking a few days off for their holiday vacation.

  What better way to spend your free time than watching a relaxing yet hilarious movie? Not only does this film provide entertainment, but it can bring you a little inspiration through your laughter and allow you to feel like you are learning something even while you’re not actually working.

  The Plot

  Chris Farley plays Tommy Callahan Jr., who is your typical poster child for a spoiled, unintelligent rich boy.

  As seen in the movie, it takes Tommy nearly seven years to graduate from college - a task he just barely accomplishes - and his goals are practically obsolete. His father, Big Tom Callahan, is the owner of an auto parts factory located in Ohio.

  Fortunately for Tommy, there is a special position available for him in his father’s factory. While his father shows him what is to be of his future, he also introduces him to his new stepmother Beverly, played by Bo Derek. Beverly even brings Tommy a gift he has been dreaming of; a new brother.

  After the marriage is official and the Callahan’s are welcoming their new family into their lives, Big Tom encounters a fatal heart attack, leaving the company to Tommy to rescue. Sadly for Tommy, he has to sell enough brake pads for the company’s new brake pad division. If he fails to sell the quota necessary, the company will close down and be sold to a new owner.

  Accompanied by the infamous David Spade, who plays Big Tom’s right hand man, Richard, the two go out on a trip to do what they can to salvage enough sales in order to save the company.

  The trip is filled with obvious mishaps and disappointing situations and Tommy realizes he is in over his head. He doesn’t think he will ever have enough motivation, strength and willpower to do the job that his father did for so many years.

  Once Tommy has regained his self esteem after making his first sale, he begins to succeed. He finds what his ‘spark’ is and uses it to his advantage. Although the movie oddly ends with Beverly actually being married to her son and the company being saved, Tommy succeeds in what he needs to do to save the company and overcomes all of the obstacles that he encounters.

  He decides that he would like to work in the factory after all - and he gets the girl.

  Why You Should See It

  While the shoes of Chris Farley have yet to be filled since his passing, his acting will remind you why laughter is the best medicine and persistence is key.

  In the film, Tommy knows that he is following in the shadow of his father, who was not only his mentor but his friend and a well-loved member of the community. For many entrepreneurs, this is what you are striving to do. You want to be as successful as your role models but as kind, passionate and hardworking as your mentors.

  It can be difficult to overcome some of the obstacles you encounter on your journey to success. In the movie, Tommy is told no over and over again. Though he does have a moment where failure overtakes his mindset, he finds what it is that motivates and fuels him and carries on.

  As a startup founder, you will often be told no. You will often encounter failures and times where you feel like nothing you do is right, but if you continue to move forward and search for whatever it is that fuels you to be successful, nothing can stop.

  Tommy Boy will not only keep you laughing and smiling, but it will remind you this:

  Persistence is the key to success

  Whoever your role model is, remember that they will be proud of you as long as you continue to work hard and strive to be the best, no matter how many times you fail

  You may hear 50 no’s, but it only takes one yes to keep your hopes high

  10 Ways Entrepreneurs Fail Their Way To The Top

  By Martin Zwilling

  Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs seem to prefer to fail their way to the top, rather than do some research and learn from the successes and mistakes of others. It seems to be part of the “fail fast, fail often” mantra often heard in Silicon Valley. As an advisor to many startups, I’m convinced it’s an expensive and painful approach, but I do see it used all too often.

  In general I try to focus on the positives and tell entrepreneurs what works, but sometimes it’s important to reiterate the common things that simply don’t work. I just finished a new book by MJ Gottlieb, “How To Ruin A Business,” that highlights this approach. He humbly outlines fifty-five of his own less-than-stellar business anecdotes over a career in business for all to see and avoid.

  Here is my selection of the top ten things to avoid from his list that I have seen lead to failure most often. I’m sure each of you could add one or two more from your own experience, and I’m desperately hoping that together we can convince a few aspiring entrepreneurs to avoid some practices that lead to losses and suffering:

  Never spend money you don’t yet have in the bank. In the rush of a startup, it’s tempting to start spending the money you expect any day from a rich uncle or a major new customer. But things do go wrong, and you will be left holding the bag. It’s not only embarrassing, but one of the quickest ways to end your entrepreneurial career.

  Never open your mouth while in a negative emotional state. Many entrepreneurs have destroyed a strategic alliance, an investor relationship, or lost a key customer by jumping in with harsh words after a bad day at home or at the office. If you don’t have anything nice to say, keep quiet and wait for another day. You may be dead wrong.

  Never over-promise and under-deliver. Always manage expectations, and always under-promise and over-deliver. As a bleeding-edge startup, you can be assured of product quality problems, missing business processes, and customer support issues. Use the rule of “plan early, quote late, and ship early,” to be a hero rather than a zero.

  Never create a market you can’t supply and support. If your product is really new and disruptive, make sure you have supply to meet the demand at rollout, and a patent to prevent others from jumping in quickly. Too many entrepreneurs have had their new positions in the marketplace taken away by competitors and others with deep pockets.

  Never count on anyone who offers to work for free. As a rule of thumb, expect to get exactly what you paid for. People who work for free will expect to get paid soon in some way, or they may take it out in trade, to the detriment of your business. Student interns are an exception, since their primary objective should be learning rather than money.

  Never underestimate the importance of due diligence. No matter how good a supplier or investor story sounds, it is not smart to skip the reference and credit checks. Visits in person are always recommended to check remote office and production facilities before any money is paid up front on a contract.

  Never grow too quickly for your finances and staffing. Growing quickly, without a plan on how to implement that growth can be a disaster. Learn how to reject a big order if you are not prepared to handle it. It takes a huge investment to build large orders, and large customers are the slowest to pay. In the trade, this is called “death by success.”

  Never be confused between working hard and working smart. In business (as in life), you should never reward yourself or your team on the quantity of time spent, rather than results achieved. Quality works at a thousand times the pace of quantity. Prioritize your tasks, take advantage of technology, and constantly optimize your processes.

  Never be afraid to ask for help, advice, or even money. Entrepreneurs often let pride and ego stand in the way of leveling with trusted friends and advisors. The advice you don’t get can’t save your company. I always recommend that a startup create an advisory board of two or three outside experts, who have connections to even more resources.

  Never rely on a verbal agreement in business. Get every agreement on paper early and always, put a copy in a safe place, and have the agreements updated when people and environments change. People come and go in every role, and there is no such thing as institutional memory. People only
remember the agreements which benefit them.

  If all these failures seem intuitively obvious to you, why do I see them repeated over and over again by new entrepreneurs? Perhaps it is because entrepreneurs tend to let their egos cloud their judgment, they don’t like to be told what to do, or because there is no single blueprint for business success.

  The good news is that, according to the “DNA of an Entrepreneur” study a while back, almost nine in ten entrepreneurs (87%) found more satisfaction from running a small company than working in a large one, even with the pitfalls outlined here. I suspect that most of these have failed their way to this top satisfaction.

  About the Author

  Martin Zwilling is the Founder and CEO of Startup Professionals, a company that provides products and services to startup founders and small business owners. He writes a daily blog for entrepreneurs, and is also a regular contributor to Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, and other business information sites. He recently released his first book titled “Do You Have What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur?” He can be contacted directly at [email protected]

  * This article originally appeared on Entrepreneur.

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