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GraphicDesignBlender.com presents
Break Through: 5 Common Excuses to Starting a Business and How to Crush Them
Without Breaking a Sweat
By Preston D Lee

Publication date March 2014

Published by: Graphic Design Blender
www.graphicdesignblender.com
Version 1.0 © Copyright 2014
All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by

any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, without prior written consent from the
publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. You may store the pdf on
your computer and backups. You may print one copy of this book for your own personal
use.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this book is based on the author’s experience,
knowledge and opinions. The author and publisher will not be held liable for the use or
misuse of the information in this book. Legal information found in this work should not be
taken as professional legal advice and the publisher, author, and all associated parties will
not be held liable should the advice in this work cause legal confrontation or concern.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 04

CHAPTER 1: Why you don’t actually need money to start a business���������� 06

CHAPTER 2: How to build your dream business even when you’re

short on time��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 11

CHAPTER 3: How business plans actually hold back many

entrepreneurs������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 16

CHAPTER 4: How to start a successful business when you’re not an

expert at anything���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 20

CHAPTER 5: Why you don’t need a revolutionary idea to

start a business���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 24

CONCLUSION������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 28
INTRODUCTION
The art of becoming an entrepreneur seems to be the latest craze. Everyone’s talking
about it, there are a million books written on the subject. Even one of America’s top
television networks airs a popular program during Primetime all about entrepreneurship.

But taking in all the books, television shows, blogs, podcasts and more out there for
budding entrepreneurs can be overwhelming. I know it has been for me as I’ve been
building my independent business.

Depending on what you read or who you listen to, you might have some pretty big ideas
set up in your brain about what it takes to get started as an entrepreneur.

It might seem daunting. It might even seem impossible. But you’re not alone in how you
feel.

As I’ve taken my entrepreneurial journey, I’ve realized there are at least five major road
blocks that keep people from actually starting a business.

These five barriers keep you in the “wantrepreneur” category. They hold you back. They
keep you from your dreams.

And in this book, I plan to crush them completely. Five big excuses that hold back
entrepreneurs are:

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 1. I don’t have enough money to start a business.

2. I don’t have enough time to grow a business

3. I don’t know how to build the “perfect” business plan

4. I’m not an expert at anything, so I can’t start a business, and

5. I don’t have a world-changing idea, so I’ll never build a big business

Each one of these excuses are lies. 100% made-up in your mind, in our society, and in our
culture as aspiring entrepreneurs.

This book is meant to be a starting point, an inspiration for you to take the next step as an
entrepreneur. Overcome the fear that holds you back. Take a risk. Reach for something
bigger.

I hope that as you read, you’ll realize the biggest barrier to success as an entrepreneur
is your own self. You don’t need loads of money, expertise, or revolutionary ideas to be
successful in business. And this book is about to show you why.

As a reminder, this book is based on a series of posts originally published at

GraphicDesignBlender.com. I’d love to hear what you think about this book. You can email
me at preston@graphicdesignblender.com.

Thanks for reading!

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WHY YOU DON’T
ACTUALLY NEED
MONEY TO START
A BUSINESS
I work with a lot of budding entrepreneurs. I coach some, I interact with thousands at
GraphicDesignBlender.com and our new freelancer community Stoked.

And I hear lots of reasons why you have decided now is not the right time to start a
business.

Perhaps the most common reason for not starting a business is that you don’t have any
money.

Call it capital, call it funding, call it a safety net, but at the end of the day, it’s all the same
excuse: you don’t have any money.

Here’s the deal: starting a business isn’t at all what it used to be.

I’ve spoken with friends and family older than me who I know are entrepreneurs deep
down inside themselves but have chosen to follow a corporate path. (Remember, don’t
hate freelancers with full-time jobs.)

When I asked them why they never started their business, do you know what they said?

Most of them said something like, “I was never able to figure out how to get funding.”

And maybe thirty years ago that’s how business worked. You came up with an idea, you
pitched it to a venture capitalist, you got rejected, and then you pitch it to fifty more
people before someone (a bank, a VC, your grandma) would loan you the money to make
your dream come true.

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But that’s not how it works today.

You can start a business today for less than $100. Don’t believe me? Just open up one of
my favorite books on the subject, The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau.

In his book, Chris shares real-life stories from real-life entrepreneurs who began with
very little startup capital and have turned their business into high-five-and-six figure
businesses.

These people are real.

And you’re just as real and as smart as they are.

You, too, can start a business without any huge funding.

The real reason you’re not starting a

business isn’t about money
See, if you start a business with less than $100 as The $100 Startup suggests you can, with
a little ingenuity, innovation, and whole lot of butt-kicking hard work, you can eventually
fund yourself.

The real reason you haven’t started yet is maybe that you’re starting too big. You’ve set
your sites on a fully staffed, top-of-the-line technology-stuffed, penthouse-style web
design agency that only works on projects for fortune 500 companies.

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Lofty.

I’m not saying you won’t make it there one day, but take a step back and figure out what
the rungs are on your ladder to success.

What’s the smallest, easiest rung you can step on to move you toward your dream, but
that isn’t made impossible by startup costs?

Take that step now.

Chances are, it costs less than $100. At most, it’s $1,000.

That’s all the startup funding you need.

And you can do that today.

Becoming your own VC

Once you’ve turned your $100 into $1,000 and your $1,000 into $10,000 and your $10,000
into $100,000 (I’m still working on that last one myself), you can ultimately fund any dream
you want.

Start that top-of-the-line agency.

Live on the beach.

Do all the other cliché business-owner things you read about on “unrealistic” blogs and
hear about on television shows.

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But stop waiting around for someone to hand you $100,000 to start your dream. Work for
it, plan for it, and make it happen.

I know you can do it.

You don’t actually need a ton of money to start a business. What other resource have you
been fooled into thinking you need tons of?

How about time?

The next chapter explains why you don’t need tons of extra time in order to be successful
in the business world.

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HOW TO BUILD
YOUR DREAM
BUSINESS EVEN
WHEN YOU’RE
SHORT ON TIME
I don’t know about you, but I was born with an entrepreneurial spirit.

I can’t shake it.

I think I got it from my dad. He’s always talking about his next big idea and how it’s going
to change the world. And I find myself doing the exact same thing: turning every stubbed
toe or broken stick into a problem that needs to be solved by a company I could start.

And even though I have another full-time job currently, I still run my blogging, design, and
consulting business on the side.

I can’t not work on my own business.

And there are millions of people like me. You might be one of them. You might be
addicted to entrepreneurship. (It’s ok. You’re in good company.)

I’m lucky because I was able to start a successful business on the side. But many
entrepreneurs trapped in the bodies of corporate cubicle-dwellers never make it.

So what keeps many of these “corporate entrepreneurs” from actually starting a business?

For many of them, it’s that “there’s not enough time.” Or so they say.

You’ve heard it. Maybe you’ve thought it.

“There’s not enough time in the day to work a full-time job, have a family, and start a
successful company.”

“There’s not enough time to build a business to the point that it could support you 100% in
the event of layoffs or other unexpected emergencies.”

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It’s time to bust that excuse.

Why you don’t need tons of free time to

start a business
Here’s why starting a business may not be as time-consuming as you think it is (and
definitely isn’t as time-consuming as it used to be).

1. The internet makes starting a business so much faster and easier.

It used to be that if you wanted to start a business, you had to quit your job, find someone
to loan you a big chunk of money (see chapter 1), and dedicate 40 hours a week plus
nights, weekends, and holidays to making your dream come true.

While starting (and running) a business is no walk in the park, it’s definitely much easier
than it used to be: primarily thanks to the Internet.

In minutes, you can have a web site set up, put a PayPal button on the page and start
selling something.

Let me be clear, building a website doesn’t mean you’re building a business. But it’s
definitely a great way to start if you’re really serious about it.

Does it take time? Sure.

But it’s faster than finding an investor, building a store, stocking it with inventory, and
finding customers.

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Use the web to your advantage and you’ll find you can get more done in less time.

2. Low startup costs mean you can make a profit faster

A lot of people sit on brilliant business ideas while they work a dead-end job hoping to
build up the capital they need to start living how they want to.

The truth is, you don’t need near as much money as you used to in order to get started
building a business (again, see chapter 1).

That means, instead of saving for a decade before you can build the business you’ve been
stewing over, you can whittle that time to less-than one year.

Less startup costs means less time before you can start the business you’ve been
dreaming about.

3. There’s always more time in the day

Most importantly, always remember that there’s more time in your day than you’re giving
yourself.

Try taking Jon Acuff’s advice from his book START and “be selfish at 5am.” Wake up 2
hours earlier than your family to work on your dream business. You’ll find there’s very little
resistance from spouses, kids, friends, etc. at 5am.

Think you don’t have time to pursue a business? Set your alarm for 5am and you’ll be
amazed at how much extra time.

If you can’t quite bring yourself to follow the 5am rule, at least do what Gary Vaynerchuk
says and “Stop watching LOST!”

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Start cutting out the things in life that don’t really matter (watching LOST, scrolling
Facebook feeds or whatever your current media addiction is) and adding the things you’re
most passionate about.

But even if you realize that you don’t need heaps of money or time in order to start a
business, there are still other barriers, right?

Take, for example, how difficult it can be to write a 50-page business plan worthy to be
called “your future.”

Well, I’ve got news for you, you don’t need a huge business plan. The next chapter will
explain why.

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HOW BUSINESS
PLANS ACTUALLY
HOLD BACK MANY
ENTREPRENEURS
I’ve experienced it a few times myself and seen it happen to others a few hundred times:

You’ve got a great business idea. Your gut tells you it’s going to be successful. And you’re
totally amped up about it.

But you don’t have a lengthy business plan.

And how can you possibly quit your day job on a gut feeling? Shouldn’t you have an in-
depth plan that covers all the possible ways you might screw up as an entrepreneur? A
plan that talks about growth strategies, acquisition costs, and an exit strategy?

Blah. No.

Believe it or not, this mentality is common among budding entrepreneurs.

They think the best place to start is by drafting a huge business plan with graphs, outlines,
and an “executive summary.”

So they work for years on building a business plan…instead of building a business.

They fret over every little problem that could come along. They change their business
structure ten times. They worry about getting the phrasing right and the wording perfect.

And if you are planning to pitch your company to a huge group of Venture
Capitalists Shark Tank style, then maybe that’s a good route.

But if you’re trying to build a self-sustaining small business that allows you to live the life
you want to live doing work you love to do, you need to stop stressing about a lengthy
business plan and just knock it out in one day.

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So business plans aren’t important?
I’m not saying that I think business plans are unimportant.

Business plans, when done right, are a great launchpad for entrepreneurs. They help us
think through possible loopholes in our business and can help us reach success more
quickly.

If we do them correctly.

So I’m not saying business plan are evil.

What I am saying is that, if writing your business plan is keeping you from actually building
a business, then it’s time to finally jump that hurdle.

Do it this week. It shouldn’t take you more than an afternoon.

Follow Chris Guillebeau’s advice from The $100 Startup and identify (1) something your
passionate about and (2) something people are willing to pay for. In the convergence of
those two things, you have a business you can be excited about.

Once you know what you’re going to offer to the world, write a one-page business plan.
You can add to it later.

Include what services or products you will offer the world, how much they will cost, what
your profit looks like, a few ways you plan to get the word out, and a series of milestones
that are easy to take over the next 6 months.

Piece of cake.

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Stop using your (incomplete) business
plan as an excuse
If you’ve been putting of actually starting your business because you can’t seem to build
the perfect business plan, stop.

Just stop.

Stop making excuses.

You can write up a one-page business plan this afternoon and start your business
tomorrow morning.

Because starting a business isn’t about lengthy reports, having a huge investment from a
Shark or having all the free time in the world. And just about anyone can start a business if
they really want to. Even if you’re not an expert at anything (or at least you don’t think you
are). Read on to see what I mean.

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HOW TO START A
BUSINESS WHEN
YOU’RE NOT
AN EXPERT AT
ANYTHING
It’s a common voice all entrepreneurs hear inside their heads:

“Will anyone actually pay me real money for this?”

“Why would anyone pay me when there are so many other experts out there?”

“Who am I to build a business around what I love to do?”

If you’ve ever given in to these kinds of thoughts, you’re fooling yourself. You’re tricking
yourself into believing you can’t do it. You’re lying to yourself when you say you aren’t
enough of an expert to build a successful business around something your passionate
about.

In this chapter, I want to open your eyes to a new way at looking at “expertise.”

The key to building a successful business around something you love even when you’re
not the biggest expert or authority on the topic is to be “expert enough.”

And, since I’m practicing what I’m preaching, I’ll even confess that this concept is not my
own.

The idea of being “expert enough” comes from Corbett Barr (cofounder of Fizzle and
founder of The Sparkline [formerly Think Traffic]) who I’ve been learning heaps from lately.

The concept becomes extremely clear when you start to think of expertise as a spectrum
instead of a destination.

Let’s assume, for a moment, that you’re ready to start a web design business but you’re
worried you won’t be able to find clients that will pay for your services. You’re fairly new to

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HTML5, just wrapping your brain around responsive design, and if you get heaped in too
much PHP, your brain explodes.

So who in the world would pay to work with you?

Clients who get pale at the thought of even typing in a URL into a browser window.

Are Fortune 500 companies who need tons of custom code and functionality going to
be beating down your door? Not at first, no. Because they’re at a different point in the
spectrum than you are.

Thinking of expertise differently

Let’s imagine for a moment that you’re even at the low end of your chosen field of
expertise.

Maybe you’re a “2.”

But think of how many people are a “1” on the same spectrum. Or even a “zero.” Or haven’t
even thought about being on the spectrum yet.

To them, you’re an expert.

You know way more than they do and, chances are, they’ll be willing to pay you do handle
everything they don’t even remotely understand on the topic.

The real secret to making this spectrum model work is to continually keep moving up the
spectrum.

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You can’t settle for being a “2” for the rest of your career or you’ll always be stuck doing
Level 1 work. As a rule of thumb, the lower on the spectrum, the less you can charge and
harder it is to find quality clients.

So climb the scale.

Get better.

As you become a “5,” do work for level 3 and 4 clients.

If you’re a “9,” upgrade clients to level 6, 7, or 8.

See how that works?

But don’t sit around and try to become a “9″ immediately. Not only will you burnout on
learning instead of doing, end up in the poorhouse, and be dissatisfied with your life and
career, but you’ll miss out on the quickest way to climb the scale: real work.

It’s in the doing of the work that we improve the quickest.

Education and theory are all fine and dandy… for “ones” and “twos.”

But if you’re ready to really climb–to really build the business you dream of–start as soon
as you can and then work your way up.

You don’t have to be an expert to build something amazing. And you also don’t need
a world-changing idea to get started on your business. The next chapter will help you
understand why you’re setting yourself up for failure if you think you need to come up with
the next iPhone in order to be successful.

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WHY YOU
DON’T NEED A
REVOLUTIONARY
IDEA TO START A
BUSINESS
Are you sitting around waiting for the next big idea to pop in your head before you start
your business?

Maybe you sit on the couch on Friday Nights watching Shark Tank on television and
thinking to yourself: “Gee, if I only had an idea that was as amazing as that one…then I
could start the business of my dreams.”

The truth of the matter is, you don’t need a completely revolutionary idea in order to start
a business.

If you’re waiting around to invent the next iPhone, you might find yourself waiting a long
time.

I’m not saying you can’t or won’t come up with revolutionary ideas that will change and
entire industry or even the entire world, but if you’re waiting for that idea to come to you
before you start the business of your dreams, you may find yourself waiting for a long time.

It’s quite unlikely, in fact, that your first entrepreneurial adventure will be the one that
changes the world.

If you’ve never run a business before, there’s so much to learn.

There’s so much to do.

And somewhere along the way, you’ll probably discover your true calling, the world-
changing, life-changing product or service that you’ve been waiting your whole life to
“discover.”

But there’s a lot to do leading up to your revolutionary idea.

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Start today; change the world tomorrow
There’s no better day than today to start working on your dream business.

No, don’t wait until the new year.

Don’t wait until 3 years from now when you have “more money, more time, a better
business plan or more expertise.”

Start today. Do the best you can. You’ll be thankful when what you started today becomes
revolutionary in a handful of months or years.

Jon Acuff, author of Start, says it this way:

“Nonety percent perfect and shared with the world always changes more lives than 100
percent perfect and stuck in your head.”

Interpretation? Stop waiting for perfection.

Start today and change the world tomorrow.

If you don’t start today, the tomorrow of your dreams will likely never come.

A few ways to start today without a revolu-

tionary idea
Still waiting for the proverbial apple to fall out of the tree and hit you on the head with a

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great idea?

Here are a few things you can do in the mean time:

1. Revolutionize one tiny aspect of your business or industry.

If you work as a web designer, be different than the competition. If you find your
competitors aren’t being responsive to their clients, make an effort to get on the phone,
respond to emails at lightning speed, and treat every client like your #1 customer.

2. Set your business up for revolution.

Anyone who has ever reached their dreams, changed the world, or achieved something
phenomenal didn’t just wake up one morning with an itch to do something phenomenal
and found themselves at the top of the world by morning.

They had to work at it.

Start today on building something that will eventually propel you toward your dreams.

3. Remember, it’s never too late

To steal from Start by Jon Acuff once more,

You don’t need to go back in time to be awesome; you just have to start right now.
Regretting that you didn’t start earlier is a great distraction from moving on your dream
today, and the reality is that today is earlier than tomorrow.

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CONCLUSION
There you have it. Five incredibly common excuses for never starting the business of your
dreams.

So what’s the point of crushing each of these common excuses? There are two primary
reasons:

1. Now you can’t use any of these excuses yourself.

2. Now you know that any and all excuses can be overcome.

You’re going to come across and be tempted by thousands of other excuses as you build
your business. Treat each of them as we’ve discussed them in this book. Think through the
excuse logically and you’ll realize there’s no reason you can’t overcome any hurdle you
encounter.

Building a business should be fun and exciting. Forget the excuses and move forward. It’s
an amazing journey to be on.

As always, please let me know what you thought of this content by emailing me at
preston@graphicdesignblender.com or reaching out on twitter at @prestondlee.

Thanks for reading and happy business-building!

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