10 lessons in entrepreneurship from author, consultant and businessman Jeff Gothelf

If you have a business idea and are stalling, thinking you need something more to get started–like more technical knowhow, more funding or more experience. Don’t wait any longer.

Jeff Gothelf, author, entrepreneur and consultant, tweeted: “There’s no good time to become an entrepreneur. You’ll never know enough, do enough or save enough for it to feel like the right time. If it feels too safe, you’re not taking enough risk.”

This is one of ten lessons he shares from his journey, to mark the tenth year of quitting his last full-time job. He has since built three businesses: one sold, one closed and one that he continues to run. These experiences have taught him to build the right teams.

He talked about the importance of the people in your life, whether at home or at work.

Team above everything else: He tweeted, “You could have the best idea or infinite resources. But if you don’t have the right people around you it’s all for nothing. The people you choose to build with will determine your success. If you choose wisely, they’ll build with you again.”

A life partner’s support is “foundational”. They have to be on board with your entrepreneurial journey. “Your partners in life need to be onboard with your decision to build. They don’t have to like it but without their understanding and support your focus will wander.”

Community will keep you sane: Entrepreneurship isn’t a lonely road, as is often said. Gothelf says there are plenty of communities to help you “share, learn, vent, laugh and grow together”. There isn’t one you like? Then build one, he said.

Lifestyle businesses make sense: Amidst the craze for galloping unicorns, Gothelf pulls back and said, “There is nothing wrong with building a ‘lifestyle business”.

“If we can build revenue engines that support a comfortable and balanced lifestyle, we’ve succeeded at the entrepreneurial game,” he said.

Practice makes it easier: Humans learn, so the first time you write a book (or do anything new) you may take one misstep after another. The second time, it becomes easier, and by the third time you may not need anything to see you through.

Be excited about your ideas: Gothelf still struggles with letting go of his ideas though. But that is his way of conveying the importance of enthusiasm, to stay on the entrepreneurial path. 

“Man, I love my own ideas. Despite decades of experience, working in, teaching and writing about testing hypotheses, I still love my ideas and find it incredibly hard to let them go,” he wrote. 

Everybody has been an entrepreneur once: Entrepreneurship may seem daunting and alien but he reminds his readers that everyone has taken this road once in their life. Whether they were selling cookies as a girl scout or they were selling ideas when trying to start a sports club. He asked the readers to “lean into those experiences”. 

Work from abundance and not scarcity. Believe that your next customer will come and do not give in to panic and anxiety. “Working from abundance relieves you of this anxiety allowing you to focus that energy on nurturing and building your business,” he wrote.  

Complacence is dangerous: Then, at last, when you find success, beware of apathy. “The world and the market move fast. So do your customers. Let your enthusiastic skepticism shine through.”

Those are his ten lessons and then he added one as a bonus.

Enjoy the sun: “You don’t always have to make hay while the sun is shining. You can just go outside and enjoy the sun for a bit. You’ll be happy that you did," he tweeted.