Business Is Like War; Easy To Begin But Hard To Stop
Nov 2 2008
The title of this post was inspired by a fortune cookie fortune. For those of you who are new readers, I did some posts a while back using fortunes from fortune cookies as blog titles. I thought this one was particularly appropriate given how challenging entrepreneurship can be and given the state of our economy. But here’s the interesting part, the fortune cookie actually read: “Love is like war; easy to begin but hard to stop.”
I felt myself nodding knowingly inside when I read it. How true it is in relation to both Love and Business. How relatively easy it can be to start a business or fall in love. We tell ourselves, it’s just an idea/romantic feeling…let’s see where it goes. One thing after another happens and if you don’t chicken out (or the playing field of potential significant others or stable jobs doesn’t pull you away), you find yourself:
| Business | Love |
| Exploring ideas | Dating |
| Incorporating your business | Being in a committed relationship |
| Raising funds | Getting engaged |
| Hiring people | Getting married |
| Raising more funds | Buying a house |
| Releasing new products | Having kids |
| Hiring more people | Hiring domestic help or losing your mind |
| Taking longer to break even | Taking longer to adjust to life with kids |
| Laying off people | Hiring a marriage counselor |
| Feeling an air of desperation | Experiencing a mid-life crisis |
| Closing up shop or going bankrupt | Getting a divorce |
| Becoming profitable and self sustaining | Living happily ever after! |
No one goes into business or marriage believing that one day it might ‘stop’ or end. Yet, 80 to 90% of the time businesses (e.g., technology start-ups, restaurants, retail shops, side businesses) fail or barely break even, and last I heard 50 to 60% of marriages end in divorce and that rate has been increasing over the years. So much so that venture capitalists are actually funding sites like Divorce360.com and Agreed Divorces.com. They should also fund a site called ShutDownYourBusiness.com!
Stopping a business or a marriage is not easy. You get up every day and say to yourself: “Something will happen to make the business work. I’ll get funding. I’ll get that next customer. I can’t stop now!” You coast in your marriage thinking “I’ll keep myself busy and things will get better or make more sense. We’ll make it work for the sake of the kids.” Many times it does get better (after the sleep deprivation wears off) but sometimes you end up like Archie Bunker and Edith Bunker or other such couples who can’t stand each other but stay together because they don’t know what else to do. Or you end up a bitter, washed up individual who finds yourself going through the motions because you have defined yourself as an entrepreneur yet you could never build a sustaining business. You then end up feeling that life is unfair and you never got your well deserved lucky break.
I know this post might sound depressing, but these are the odds you are playing with when you start a business or marriage. Many entrepreneurs will fold up (and have already started to) their businesses due to tough economic times (no funding, no customers, etc.). They will use the bad economy as a welcome excuse for not making it. It is, after all, a justifiable/less ego-destroying way to explain to people why your business didn’t make it.
And by all means, take the opportunity to wrap things up if you can (for your and your family’s sanity) because it is going to be tougher than normal for a while. However, at the same time, the opportunities (volunteer help, cheaper resources, less competition) for being creative will be abundant.
The next few years are going to be interesting. Companies/marriages may fall apart because the changing economy ends up being the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Or they might outlast the downturn and be stronger on the other side. Many successful entrepreneurs have emerged from down economies and their success is surely a prerequisite for the economy turning around and thriving!
I, for one, am glad to be living in this day and age. In no other time in history (or probably not in any other country) could I have done what I’ve done, tried what I’ve tried, say what I say, write what I write, do what I do, or dream what I dream without being squashed.
What do you think? Is Business and Love like (the US war in Iraq)? Easy to begin but hard to stop?
Author: Aruni | Filed under: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, fundraising | Tags: archie bunker, divorce, down economy, economic downturn, edith bunker, entrepreneurship, fortune cookie, venture capitalist | 8 Comments »
Aruni-
Great post. Business is hard work. So many people jump in and have no idea what they are doing….. but it is full of pain. But like love, when you get through the rough place, the good parts are pretty nice!!!! 🙂
Wow.
This is *really* well said.
Bookmarking it for future reference. Some people have a hard time saying “let’s just be friends” when it comes to walking away from a business, don’t they?
Major kudos Aruni. Well done.
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@Thom – Yep, making it through the rough parts make for good story telling to your friends and kids. 🙂
@Lucretia – thanks! Glad you liked it. It is hard to walk away from a business…you have so much invested in it.
Great analogy! I think the great part is, even if you fail, in love, war or business, at least you can learn from the experience and “marry” better the next time…hopefully. 😉
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@Nicole – so true. It’s all about learning! 🙂
Aruni, I loved your article .. thought provoking.
My reaction?
It’s really all about choice isn’t it. Go through the motions … or take charge of your day (and thereby your life). I have been in a marriage “going through the motions” and I spent 10 years training for war. In both situations, I can promise you, complacency kills people, marriages, and careers.
Today I say, wake up in the morning and be grateful to be alive and on this beautiful planet .. and expect the best of your day. Be intentional and present in all that you do.
I once read or heard “There is no standing still. We are all either growing or dying. And we usually get to decide.”
I have found this to be true and I try my best to apply this every day.
@Scott – thanks for sharing *your* experiences. That’s a great quote about us growing or dying. It is our choice and it’s hard to make those choices when you are approaching hitting the stop button in your business or your marriage.
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