Many people start a business because they want to make money.
They often put in all their time, effort and almost everything to make the business work.
In the end, they may have accumulated money, but they have also accumulated liabilities, responsibilities and commitment.
Because of that, they can’t stop the business.
Neither do they have the time and mood to enjoy the money they have made.
Take my old business partner as an example.
He is rich. But he hardly go on a vacation.
He has been talking about closing the business and retiring, but he is not doing it.
It’s easy to say “close the business”, but what about the inventories and the staff who has fought with you for years?
I’m not trying to dissuade you from doing business.
I just want you to do what Stephen Covey, the author of the popular book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, says,
“Begin with the end in mind.”
I have tried both retail and wholesale business in the brick and mortar world.
In the end, it was online business that I succeeded in because it was a business that was congruent with the ‘End’ I had in mind.
The ‘End’ I had in mind was time and financial freedom.
I saw myself working anywhere I like, and being able to make money with minimal overhead, virtual assistants and no inventory.
You may say, “It’s easier said than done!”
It is!
I don’t deny that.
Back in 2003 when I had failed my first business and was in debt, my top priority had been to make ends meet.
That was why I went into a ‘safer’ business in wholesale, selling a boring product called house phone, just to pay bills.
While toiling at that business, I had my ‘End’ in mind.
It was until 2005 when I had an idea to start my first online business and that changed everything.
Had I not have the ‘End’ in mind, I might be stuck in the wholesale business till now, dealing with cut-throat offers, bad debts, inventories, with no time nor mood for vacation, gym and my family.
