What does it take to start a business successfully? Understanding the Rules of Three
Tags: Success, Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneur, Business, Rule Of Three

Have you ever wanted to buy a product that is good and aesthetically pleasing but find it expensive? Or you find a good and cheap product but it looks awful? And then, plenty of times, there are products which are cheap and pretty cute but doesn’t work at all. It is so hard to find a product that is good, inexpensive and looks like a work of art.

How about getting a partner? Girls want boyfriends who are smart, rich and handsome (that includes being tall). Boys want girlfriends who are pretty (and that includes having an hourglass figure), understanding and smart. How easy is it to get someone with that all important three aspects?

What about finding that dream job that earns you lots of money, is not stressful and still gives you time to enjoy a rich social life? Well, it is most likely that the available options will always only fulfil two out of the three criteria.

This is the Rule of Three.

In my last three decades of learning, working and reflecting, the Rule of Three applies in almost every area, segment and aspect of life - career, love, family & friends… … Well, you get the drift.

So, what does it take to create a successful business? And what does it have to do with understanding this rule?

In this article, let’s first examine the three most important assets required.

Time, effort and money — these are the capital needed to start a business. For most people, however, they usually do not have all three assets on hand. If you are working in a corporate job and earning a decent pay, you are likely putting in long hours at work. To start a business, you may be prepared to put in lots of hard work and your hard-earned money. However, time is not a commodity you have on hand. If you quit the job to become an entrepreneur, you may run out of money before the business becomes successful. For some who are lucky to be born with a golden spoon, they have the time and money to kickstart a new business anytime. But the amount of effort put into the business is too fleetingly short and little.

Hence, one of the most crucial questions, that all entrepreneurs need to answer in every stage of the business is, “How do you acquire all three important assets and ensure there is a steady flow of these investments into your company?”

TIME

Time is a capital that almost everyone have (except for those who are dying — I know I’m being morbid here but I want to be factual in writing this article). We often trade time for money by working. So if time is a rare commodity for you, there are easy workarounds. You can focus your limited time on doing only high value work and buy other people’s time by outsourcing manual and repetitive work on Fiverr or Upwork cheaply. If there are specialised skills that you need and you do not have the relevant skill sets, purchase the man hours from those who have and treat it as an investment. You can also invest in software and applications (basically technology) that can save you more time. For example, there are Saas applications that can help you automate your business or provide you with analytics and competitors’ analysis that you need in order to target the right market and audience.

MONEY

Money is often thought to be the most challenging problem to solve. Well, you can always save money by doing everything on your own. If you do not have the skills needed, learn it. Spend time to research on your own to gain business insights and use free softwares to save the cash. If you need more money, look for government grants, startup grants, venture capitalists or collaborate with partners who have the moolah to invest into your business in exchange for a stake in the company (find a partner or partners that can contribute at least two or more aspects of either their time, money, efforts or expertise in areas of need).

At worst, do some side hustles or freelance (like writing for Medium) to earn some income or startup funds. Learn how to create a website on Wordpress and monetise the skills as a freelancer. Build a dropshipping store on Shopify for arbitrage. Make logos and marketing collaterals on Canva and sell your creativity. Make videos on YouTube or write blog to earn ads revenue. Become an expert in affiliate marketing to help you earn some seeding funds. And the list goes on.

Spend wisely by doing up a budget for your business. Review the budget and optimise costs with vendors (always get at least 3 quotes and negotiate for better terms) or tweak your approach. Use the limited funds you have on things that you really need, like a laptop if you are starting a business online. If you don’t have the money to spend on a laptop but you do have a smart phone, think of side hustles that can be done via mobile. For example, you can earn through arbitrage on Ebay or make handicrafts that you can sell on Etsy. Be a baby-sitter or a pet-sitter in your neighbourhood. You can also go door-to-door to sell cheap but practical items that people may need as a start.

With some time and efforts, you can build a small seed fund slowly and with sheer determination.

EFFORT

Effort is a little tougher problem to solve unless you have lots of money to invest in the right staff or the right partners. Effort is hard work. And you need lots of it. Efforts need passion, drive and motivation to keep you going. You need to instil discipline in yourself to not procrastinate, shy away from problems and to not give up. You need to believe in yourself and yet be willing to change and evolve your idea or your business strategy. Sometimes, having family and friends to be your cheerleaders will help. At times, you need some adversaries to push you harder (you will want to prove them wrong so badly that it becomes your motivation). Most of the times, efforts come from within; they are generated by that inner desire to succeed at all costs, period.

If you have issues summoning any energy, you may need to sort out internally on what you really want out of life so that you can steel that resolve. Check out useful articles from Eric Barker to help you ponder upon life and what success means to you. Lazing on that couch watching too much Netflix? Enhance your productivity with hacks from Lifehack. I personally find the 20-second rule (the idea is to stage things such that you save 20 seconds to get ready before embarking on tasks that you procrastinate on) very effective.

What if I have none of these three at all?

Then, don’t start a business. Don’t try. You will unlikely have a chance at succeeding. Unless, by the act of God, you somehow have the sort of luck that can win you a lottery that is a one in a zillion chance.

But if you are willing to put in a tremendous amount of effort or you have at least any two of the three assets in the above mentioned, you can use them as a foundation to create and build up the 3 assets. Once you have all three types of capital streams, you will be at a much higher vantage starting point than 80% (Pareto principle will always kick in, right?) of all entrepreneurs who are just starting out.

“Why?”, you asked?

Because by the Rule of Three, most of the entrepreneurs would not have all 3 assets. Without the constant flow of these three capitals, they would not be able to last in the market longer than you do (this is after all, a competitive market). Additionally, you would have gained new ideas, new allies, new experiences, new skills, new insights and renewed confidence during the process of acquiring these assets. All of these are extremely valuable resources that would definitely come in handy when you are starting a business.

That is the critical point of understanding the Rule of Three.