In this week’s episode of the "I Hate Numbers" podcast, we tackle common business myths. These beliefs often mislead and hinder progress. We explore which beliefs to discard and why.

What is a Belief?

Firstly, let's clarify what a belief is. According to Wikipedia, a belief is a subjective attitude that a proposition is true. Basically, this means beliefs can be either true or false. However, in business, myths masquerading as beliefs can be especially dangerous.

Myths in Business

Myth 1: Waiting for the Right Time

Many think they should wait for the right time to start a business or launch a product. Nevertheless, there is no perfect time. Instead, planning and adapting quickly is essential. Moreover, starting sooner allows us to gather real feedback and refine our approach, e.g., Microsoft's iterative method demonstrates this well.

Myth 2: Passion Alone is Enough

Certainly, passion is crucial. Nonetheless, relying solely on passion can cloud judgment. Passion should be balanced with strategic planning and market awareness. Otherwise, poor decisions and misallocated resources can result. Additionally, successful businesses combine passion with facts and data.

Myth 3: Complete Knowledge is Necessary

There's a common myth that complete knowledge is needed before starting. However, this isn’t practical. Correspondingly, learning as we go is vital. Moreover, accessing a support network and seeking advice can greatly aid our journey.

Myth 4: Doing Everything Yourself

Lastly, some believe they must do everything themselves to save money. Conversely, this can be inefficient. Outsourcing and delegating tasks to experts can often yield better results. Furthermore, it’s a wise use of time and resources to focus on our strengths.

Conclusion

In summary, challenging these myths can significantly enhance business success. Thus, we encourage you to reflect on these points. Are there any other myths you’ve encountered? Feel free to share them with us! Finally, don’t miss our next episode and remember to listen to the "I Hate Numbers" podcast. Check the Numbers Know How community for more insights and resources.

In business, there are many beliefs. Some of these beliefs are true and have substance, and some of these beliefs are dangerous and can hinder and hamper your business. In this week's podcast, I'm going to be looking at certain beliefs that you should be kicking into touch, not paying too much attention to, and the reasons why.

Let's crack on with the podcast.

Firstly, let's agree on what a belief is. A belief, according to Wikipedia, is a subjective attitude that a proposition is true or a state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some stance, take, or opinion about something. From a philosophical point of view, It's about our attitudes to the world, which can either be true or false.

Sounds very grandiose. Well, how does this apply to the world of business? Well, in over 30 years of looking after thousands of business owners, I've come across these beliefs, I've actually tapped into some of them myself, and taken them at face value and it's been to my judgment. So let's explore belief

number one. Belief, number one or myth if you prefer, is that you should wait for the right time. You should wait for the right time before you start a business. You should wait for the right time before you launch a new product or service. You should wait for the right time before you try something different.

Well, unfortunately, there is no such thing as the right time to start a business. There's no such thing as the right time to do a new product, new service. There are better times, certainly, but there's never going to be a right or perfect time. The sooner you hold your nose, dive in, the sooner you'll actually get a real feedback about what's going on.

You'll make mistakes, which is inevitable. You'll learn from them, apply from them, and move on. Now, folks, I'm not suggesting a reckless dive-in, there lies in madness. Have a plan, have some idea what that future might look like, have certainly as a bare minimum, a cash flow that looks into the next 12 months based on the resources that you need, but perfection will not come.

If you've got an idea for a business, you've fleshed it out, you've considered the risks, you've got a minimum viable proposition, you've got some idea what the finances are going to be required, so it doesn't catch you unawares, then off you go. You can always fine-tune your plans as you progress. In the world of software, by the way, if we take Microsoft as a perfect example, their idea, which has worked very successfully for them, even though it can be frustrating to use their products, is like having a one-engine plane. Get it out there with a minimum viable proposition, fix as you go along, fine, refine, get feedback, modify, move on. So, if you're holding back because you're looking for that perfect opportunity, that perfect time, then you could be waiting a long time and losing out on opportunities.

Number two, and this is one, personally speaking, that I find is overused. The idea, the belief, that passion is enough to get you through. Now, passion in business is an important ingredient certainly, you've got to have some liking for what you're doing. If not, it's going to be quite a drudge, but it's actually a misleading and a dangerous philosophy itself.

Passion in itself is very dangerous to your well-being as well as to your business as well. Those business people, those entrepreneurs, those organisations that put passion above everything else will be impervious and blind to what's actually going on in the marketplace. How their customers are responding, how their customers are liking their products or not.

They're ignoring that feedback, they're ignoring what their numbers are saying, they're continuing with those strategies, which is not making any traction. Excessive passion will cloud your judgement, cash will be consumed at an alarming rate, there will be poor decision-making because you've got a strong belief in what you're doing, you’re not understanding why you're going to misallocate resources.

It's not always saying that you need a complete, balanced, and objective approach and analysis here, but emotion-led decisions, even though they have their place, can also be very detrimental. Look at the facts, look at the data, take a view, take a judgment. Sometimes you can steam on ahead. But just be aware of what's going on.

Most successful businesses will thrive through strategic planning and thinking, having a road map in front of them that's adaptable, knowing their clients, knowing their customers, being adaptable, than just relying on pure, sheer passion. Possibly the world's richest man now, Jeff Bezos from Amazon. When he started, his idea was to capitalise on e-commerce potential, not because he had a passion for books.

What's belief number three? That you need to have all the knowledge, you need to know everything before you begin. So before you start your business, before you start your pivot, your new product, your new service, there's an idea that you've got to be expert in everything. Now most of us will think that we're good, expert, competent at something, and that's what our business will be based on.

But that doesn't mean we need to know everything about the sector, the industry, the customer base, before we begin. Obviously, having some knowledge, working within your sphere of competence and ability is going to minimise risk. But it is possible to acquire knowledge to learn as you go along. Everybody has to start from somewhere once upon a time.

If you've got access to a good group, a good support, side comment here, folks, check out the show notes for the Numbers Knowhow business community, but if you have got access to a support group advisors who would help you guide your way, then that's going to be a good thing to have in your armory. There will be many aspects of running a business that you're not completely familiar with.

And there's no shame in admitting that and seeking help and advice. Risk-taking, learning as you go along, is part and parcel of any business. You will make mistakes. If you don't make mistakes, then I suggest that you're not being truthful to yourself. Mistakes are an inevitable part of business life.

I've made mistakes when I started my businesses 30 years ago, and I still make those occasional mistakes even now. But as long as one learns from them, applies them, and moves forward, that's a positive. You need certainly, by the way, don't be complacent and think you know everything about your own sex or an industry.

Continual learning is an important investment to make. Belief number four, and it's an understandable one, where certain businesses, at the start of their cycle, maybe midway, they want to conserve the money in their bank account, conserve their resources. They think they have to do everything themselves. Now, independence is important, but there's going to be things that you cannot do on your own and do it on your own competently efficiently, and effectively. Sometimes it's not a good use of your time to be doing certain things in your business.

If you need a task done, if it's an IT, a finance, HR, a communications and marketing element, if you don't have that skill set, if you don't know what to do, well, think about the time you'll invest in learning, understanding when, actually, it may be a better use of your time and a better return of your time to actually invest in recruiting and hiring an employee, outsourcing the work as required.

In my own businesses, I've got a combination in my team of freelancers and paid staff. There are areas that I'm good understanding of, but there are areas that effectively, I just don't have the time, or the interest, or the inclination to learn and to develop a new discipline or new technique. My marketing, for example, I'm involved in that, but a lot of it will be outsourced for those people who have more experience and more knowledge.

In the world of numbers, certainly, that's my expertise, but other things like IT, in terms of communication, yes I will be involved, I need to be aware of what's going on, but I'm not actually going to be doing everything. And again, it's not a good use of my spare time or capacity to spend time investing on areas of that nature.

It's okay to ask for help, it's actually a sign of strength. When you can delegate tasks, have an investment mindset as opposed to a cost-control mindset, then it will pay off for you. Now, all these beliefs, folks, as a final wrap-up thought, are common ones that many of us will believe in at some point. Try and challenge those misconceptions and you'll find the likelihood of success is going to increase accordingly. Folks,

I'd like to know what you think. Do you have any beliefs that you've come across, that you found subsequently you shouldn't really believe in too much? There's bound to be more. I look forward to hearing that, and check out the show notes, as I've said, for the link to the Numbers Knowhow Community and all that we have to offer until next week, folks,

have a good one. We hope you enjoyed this episode and appreciate you taking the time to listen to the show. We hope you got some value. If you did, then we'd love it if you shared the episode. We look forward to you joining us next week for another I Hate Numbers episode.