
Driving, and the art of running a business - joshuacc
http://swombat.com/2011/10/31/art-of-running-a-business
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gregw100
This is a good analogy. I think it would do many newcomers to the business
world a lot of good to first get a mentor as suggested or (if possible) run a
simulated business before attempting to dive into their own business blindly.
Very few businesses succeed if the founders have no idea how to run a
business. Facebook is an obvious exception.

Young people tend to see business today with more of a recreational view than
a career choice. With that approach, the likelihood of making more mistakes in
managing the business is higher.

To add one more analogy, running a business is like playing a sport. You
should practice as much as possible and learn the rules extensively before
going out on the field, otherwise you'll lose the game.

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bodegajed
I beg to disagree, I think it's a really bad analogy. First, businesses are
unique in many areas. Opening a restaurant is different than opening a book
store. Second, in business, there are people involved. In sales, in
production, in customer support and people are unique. While in driving, every
car in the world feels and looks the same.

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swombat
But opening a restaurant is similar to opening a restaurant. Given that there
are many people who have opened restaurants before, it is obviously reasonable
to get some advice from them before opening your first restaurant (though I'm
sure many restaurant owners fail to do that).

Startups are no doubt more varied and unpredictable, but there are still a lot
of commonalities. Unlike driving, a startup mentor won't sit in the driving
seat and do it for you, but their advice can prove invaluable, because once
you're experienced enough, many aspects of business do look the same across
all or most businesses.

