Among the five signs your startup may be a hobby: you are not making real offers that include a price, delivery date, and a promised result.
Five Signs Your Startup May Be a Hobby
One mistake entrepreneurs make is treating the business like a hobby.
They embrace entrepreneurship as an identity before they understand the realities. The fantasy is appealing: freedom, creativity, control, and the possibility of a big win. But too often the startup becomes the equivalent of building a boat in the basement with no practical plan for getting it to the lake.
Here are five signs your startup may still be a hobby:
- You are not making real offers that include a price, delivery date, and a promised result.
- You rely on a spouse, significant other, inheritance, savings, or a tolerable day job for support, but you have not shared a credible plan for reaching break-even and then profitability.
- You have not defined working hours, milestones, and what you expect to accomplish in a specific timeframe.
- You are only getting feedback from people you already know.
- You have not set up a separate bank account, business structure, and expense log.
A hobby can be satisfying, but a business has to make and keep promises to customers. It has to create value, collect money, manage expenses, and survive long enough to improve.
The cure is not to abandon the dream. It is to put it on a clock, attach it to customer conversations, make offers, track the money, and explain the plan to the people who are helping carry the risk.
Related Blog Posts
- Ten Mistakes Early Stage Bootstrappers Often Make
- Learn From Other Entrepreneurs’ Mistakes
- Rob Fitzpatrick: Five Mistakes Bootstrappers Should Avoid
- Five Serious Financial Mistakes Bootstrappers Can Avoid
This post was re-published on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/five-signs-your-startup-may-hobby-sean-murphy-mbjwc/