Chances are, if you’re like any of the other millions of young, creative people on this planet, you have a couple of app or business ideas floating around. You also probably have a pile of excuses regarding why you think you can’t build your idea.
Most of my advice is pretty consistent from person to person. However, there are some major misconceptions most kids just don’t get. Today, I’m going to tell you what they are:
1. Your idea is worth nothing.
The amount of times I hear people saying, “I have this great app idea, but I don’t know how to get it made” is really frustrating. What is even more annoying is the fact that they want my advice, but don’t want to come out and just tell me their idea.
Let’s get something straight: Anyone who has the capability to actually steal your idea and execute it better than you can is way too busy to even take on another project. I don’t have time to steal your ideas because I have dozens of my own that I’m trying to build.
Nothing irritates an investor more than when you want him or her to sign an NDA first. Until you execute your idea to the end, it’s worth nothing.
2. Formal education is not a requirement.
So many people still think formal education is a must when it comes to going into business. While many billionaires dropped out of exceptional schools to pursue their dreams, that’s not a reason to not go to school.
Additionally, you don’t need to wait until you’re done with your education to start building your dreams. Start today, and stop looking for excuses to push it off.
Yourgreatest assets are going to be your hard work and dedication. Can you see yourself continuing with this venture two years from now?
3. If you don’t have the motivation to create more time to work on your venture, you never will.
People love to say they don’t have time to pursue their dreams. If you’re not passionate enough to rearrange your schedule in order to pick up the odd 15 or 30-minute sessions to work on building your dreams, I’m sorry to say you just don’t have the drive or passion to create anything great.
4. If you don’t have enough money to execute your plan, you can probably get it.
If your idea is good and you can pitch it to other people and make them think it’s good too, you could probably get small amounts of money from them.
Now, things vary when it comes to the amount of money you’re asking for.If it’s anything less than $10k, you should look to family and friends. If it’s more than $10k, you need to pitch to angel investors who invest in startups as full-time jobs.
5. Some industries are just too difficult to make them worth your time.
For example, I had friends who wanted to create a clothing line. I told them from the start that the idea wouldn’t work.
They really didn’t have any distinct mission. They just wanted to create cool clothing for people to wear. There was no competitive advantage.
You’re not a celebrity with 5 million Instagram followers. So, you can’t just start a clothing line and expect people to think it’s cool.
6. It will take you longer than you think.
Kids tend to think they will be able to get everything done quickly. They don’t understand the natural, slow pace of the corporate business world.
If you expect to have your product sold in a Future Shop or if you expect Apple to add your app to the app store you need to understand that these processes take weeks. Usually, they’ll take months.
This is not taking into account the number of obstacles you’ll face on your journey toward developing your business.
7. Your naivety is actually an asset.
During an interview, the founders of Paypal said that if they knew what they were getting into, they wouldn’t go through the process again, even though they made a ton of money.
When kids go into an industry, they don’t know the implications. They just do it.
These kids are so blind to the obstacles they’ll face that it can actually be an asset.They constantly think their tasks will require less work than they actually do.
8. You don’t need to be a programmer to build an app.
Chances are, your school has a computer science department. Here, you can find intelligent kids who may not have the same creative juice you do. But chances are, they’ll want cash in hand for developing your apps.
You’ll probably have to pay them $500 or $1,000 to get your app made. If you don’t want to do that, you can also find someone who builds apps for a living. You pay him or her an hourly rate to build your idea.
You can use websites like Upwork to find developers. They’ll be able to build you high-end apps for the right price. But either way, you’re going to have to come up with some cash and be ready to work hard.
