The road to success is always under construction

How many dreams have you let slip through your fingers because you were waiting for the perfect moment? Or are still waiting to be ‘ready’ to start something you want? In my home I have many sketchpads full of ideas, brands, business ideas and things I wanted to do all sketched out. Once in particular I remember once having an entire corporation drawn out from top to bottom with about seven or eight different product lines and revenue streams. All I needed to do was start with one of them in some shape or form. But I didn’t.

There isn’t a single month that goes by where at least one idea doesn’t come to my mind, most are just none starters but occasionally one shines amongst the rest and things just flow from that idea about how, why, where and which audience the idea would appeal to. But every time days stretch into weeks and months stretch into months before the idea is destined to sit on the book shelve forever. I would over think my ideas so much that I would either convince myself that it was never going to work or that I wasn’t ready or that I just couldn’t afford to do this at that moment.

Don’t get me wrong I have tried my own businesses before, more than once, and failed. The second time cost me practically everything I had ever worked for. It happened when the financial crash happened around the world. Yes it was probably one of the hardest things I ever went through. But I don’t believe in giving up. When I look back now at all of the things that didn’t work there are certain things each one helped in teaching me about myself as well as how not to make a business. I know now where my shortcomings are and I also know where my strengths are.

I have since started another business and I am looking at doing other things because if I have learned anything from my experiences there is no perfect time to start, there is no perfect way to begin a company. I started a social media community for collectors last year called Squirrol.com (after the most natural collector) I knew when I launched that it wasn’t perfect and things were not working the way I wanted but the best thing to do is to start. You don’t have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great.

I have seen in the six months a community form and begin to grow. I have already had investors offering to partner with Squirrol which is amazing. The funny thing is when I look at the website all I see are the things I want to change or improve and realize if I had followed that train of thought I would still be working on the initial design. Whether Squirrol becomes a success or not is no longer important for me as I have learned so much in the process of starting this that it has been invaluable. Don’t get me wrong though I will do everything I can to make it work as I am very passionate about this community and giving collectors a place to meet, share, blog, and more things over the coming year.

So please don’t wait for the chance to start something, Take a chance on starting something whilst making changes on the journey ahead. Remember, the road to success is always under construction.