Stop Whining and Start Hustling

Everybody knows at least one person who is often complaining about their problems. It seems like the world is completely against this person, and despite their best efforts, the world will continue to hold them back.

There’s a good chance that your friend is just complaining to cover up for their own problems. They’re probably afraid of failure and want to push the blame onto something or someone else, or perhaps they just don’t want to put in the hard work it takes to get to where they want to be.

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When it comes to building a business, there’s no room for complaining. Making a business succeed is hard work, and it’s never going to be fair. But this shouldn’t stop you from trying.

The fear of failure.

You probably know at least one person that’s been sitting on their million-dollar idea for a number of years. They may have some plan, product or idea that they’re certain is going to change the market and make them more money than they’ve ever had before. Maybe they’ve even shared some of the idea with you, and you agree that this idea has what it takes to succeed.

Then why haven’t they taken his idea to the market?

There are thousands of excellent ideas and innovations that are sitting in people’s minds, just waiting to be tapped. Some of these ideas could truly be revolutionary and could transform the way we interact with other people and with the world. However, an immeasurable number of excellent ideas are never taken to the market. This is because it’s much easier to avoid the risk of failure.

Hindsight can be an entrepreneur’s worst trait. When we look back on everything we’ve done, we will always point back to one moment where we should have done something differently. This type of regret can be stressful and deconstructive to the point that we start to completely give up on ourselves and our ideas.

With this in mind, there’s one common piece of advice from almost every entrepreneur — it’s better to take risks and avoid regret.

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While the sting of failure can be painful, there’s nothing worse than the perpetual pain of regret. Windows in the entrepreneurial world open and close quickly. Acting during this moment could be the difference between a life-changing business or a lifetime of regret. Without acting, you won’t give others the chance to shoot down your dream or idea.

However, without acting on your dreams and goals, you’ll never achieve your full potential. When looked at in this way, there’s no excuse not to take risks, and open yourself up to the potential of failure.

Make your idea ready for the world.

There is usually a window where your business can thrive — if you take it to the market. However, you can’t sit around waiting for a window to open.

Catherine Cook is the co-founder of MyYearbook, a company which was acquired by Quepasa five years back for $100 million. Clearly an entrepreneurial success, Cook shared a piece of advice with any current or prospective entrepreneur. “If you want to do it, do it now. If you don’t you’re going to regret it.”

This statement should ring true with most entrepreneurs who would consider themselves successful. At the end of the day, you’re responsible for bringing your ideas to the world. The world may not be ready to accept what you’re doing, and perhaps it never will be. But this shouldn’t stop you. Make your idea ready for the world, and put it out there. It could fail, but at least you’ll know for sure if this is something that would work or not.

The chance of failure for most ideas can be large, but even a slim chance of success should be encouraging enough for someone to commit to their goals. As an entrepreneur that’s started multiple businesses, I can’t express how satisfying it is to see your goals met and watch your business thrive. I’ve had my fair share of failures as well, but my failures don’t define me; my successes do.

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Nothing trumps hard work.

Gary Vaynerchuk, one of the most quotable entrepreneurs in recent history, once said, “stop whining, start hustling.” The whining part is too common. People will complain that they aren’t ready to take their idea to the market or perhaps it isn’t a good time in their life. There’s always an excuse for why their imminent success needs to be postponed another week, month or year.

The truth is that there’s never going to be a good time. Life isn’t just going to be about your business goals or ideas. You have friends, family, personal interests and more that will always take up some of your time. How can you be expected to start a business when there’s always something going on?

Entrepreneurs are just like everyone else. We all have obligations beyond our businesses that take up our time. But the greatest entrepreneurs already understand that creating a successful business is never going to be easy.

It may sound cliche, but hard work is truly its own reward. This is because through hard work, your business is going to get life and purpose. The more you put into your business, the more you’ll understand what you need to do to make it work. The harder you work, the easier the work will start to become.

Anyone who has a million-dollar idea needs to stop waiting to take his idea to the market. There will never be a good time, and there’s always a risk of failure. But nothing is better than meaningful success, and nothing is worse than regret.