Cold Hard Truth: Learning From Dragons Den’s Kevin O’Leary On Business, Money And Life Part 3

September 16, 2011

However, I agree with O’Leary in maintaining that every entrepreneur (especially new ones) needs a mentor and a coach who has walked the walk of entrepreneurial success.  New entrepreneurs need coaches for instilling in them the basic requirements all business owners must have to succeed in business in the long run.  Established entrepreneurs, especially sole proprietors, also need business coaches for a second opinion on virtually everything to do with their business.

Most business owners are too close to their business to see the forest for the trees.  They get too caught up in their own methods and routines and lack perspective on what’s working and what isn’t in various areas and how they could improve.  I have coached many a real estate professional (both new and veteran) to great success because I have a very deep understanding of how to use the internet and technology in general to help make their business a roaring success.

So often young people get educated about business by academics who can most definitely talk the talk and do so very eloquently, but have never walked the walk for a single day in their life in the real world of business.  Millions of people still seek out MBAs from ridiculously expensive universities, yet the failure rate for new businesses is still at around 80%. As someone once said, “the map is not the territory”.  You really can’t learn many things except through experience, or through the experience of someone who’s succeeded in business on their own.  Beware of any authority figures without much direct experience who claim otherwise.

Venture capital, despite its high perceived cost to startups, can be a fast track to great wealth.  With a promising idea such as this restaurant employment website plus having a veteran restaurant owner such as Jim Treliving investing in this business these young entrepreneurs would likely have great success very quickly. Being the co-founder of Boston Pizza, Treliving would have a deep understanding of the needs of restaurants and hiring managers.  Known for being a very hands-on business man, Treliving surely has learned much wisdom about how to hire the right people to have such a successful franchise as Boston Pizza.

Filed under: Inspiration

Tags: angel, capital, den, Dragon, investor, shark, startup, tank, venture