The Timing Is Never Right

Is there really a perfect time for one to start a business? I ask myself that question a lot and always seemed to come up with the same answer. I have never had to explain my reasoning until yesterday when this one guy asked me if it was a good time to start a T-shirt business. I have always looked at timing as a relative concept right from Physics 121 in college, and it’s no different these days. I believe the ideal time to do anything depends on where the individual is at that point in his life and career. I believe it takes you to know whether you are ready and able to do something or not. I am not of the school of thought that the economy largely dictates whether a start-up will survive or not.

I am currently reading a book called ‘The 4-hour workweek’ by Tim Ferriss and I came across a paragraph where he addressed this issue of timing. In his opinion, the timing is never right, infact it always sucks. He explained that the condition is never favorable to do anything and the world wouldn’t go out of its way to make your life any easier so you can launch your business. I do agree with him for the most part. I think it’s a much smarter decision to start and fix your errors along the course than wait until things are perfect because they will never be. Nothing is perfect and no time is right. There might be a period when things are a bit easier and you have a bit more money to spare to aid the start-up, but it doesn’t make it the perfect time.

Failure and mistakes are part of life in general and start-ups are no different. I am not sure one can avoid hardtimes because they “successfully picked the right time to start their business”. Personally, I tend to leap when I find myself satisfying these 3 conditions:

• Am I ready to pay the price? In life generally, there are always requirements for any action and there are consequences. So if I think I have what it takes and I am ready to deal with the repercussions, then why not. For example, If I am looking to start an online store where I sell sports memorabilia, I know that I will have to dedicate lots of hours to searching the web for these things, I know I will have to deal with slow sales at the beginning and so forth. If I list all these conditions and requirements and I know I can handle them, then I go for it.

• Can I realistically come up with the product? A lot of people come up with great ideas but in reality, anyone can conceive a great idea! What sets you apart is bringing the idea to life. Ofcourse I would like soccer shoes that somehow analyzes the position of the goal relative the the ball such that regardless of how I hit the ball it ends up in the back of the net. But can this be done? Probably not easily or accurately even if it could.

• Is there a market for it? If I do my market analysis and decide that there are indeed people who will use the product and that the business will be profitable, then I am on my way. This might be the most important condition in my opinion.

As long as I feel I can meet these conditions, I will go into work mode! But that’s just me. Is the timing ever right to start a business/build your start-up?

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Tagged as: start-up, Tim Ferriss, timing