Starting your own business an opportunity to do things your way.  You are the leader.  You make the calls.  You make the culture.  You are also responsible when things aren't going well, which will happen.  I feel like media portrays the sexiness of entrepreneurship when the experience feels like being an infantry man in an ceaseless war.  

I never wanted Sloane to feel like a weight dragging me and my life under water.  I wanted it to be a life experience that shows me what entrepreneurship is REALLY like.  I wanted to live it versus just listening to podcasts or reading about the people who did it. 

My attitude was to have this be a learning experience for me.  That's probably why I haven't gone all in, taken investment from anyone and kept it as a side hustle.  I did not want to make Sloane my EVERYTHING, which would have upped the tension big time. 

By keeping it on the side I have been able to have fun with it.  Seeing it grow has been incredible.  The small wins like having a successful Kickstarter campaign made me super proud.  I have also been able to take the losses in stride since they did not ruin me.  Taking a loss on a year because of a dumb marketing move or having a supplier totally screw me over was very stressful, but it didn't ruin me. 

I took the L's as learning.  I made sure to never do those things again and they also gave me a unique perspective on things for my full time job.  We will see what happens with Sloane in the long run, but starting it on the side has allowed me to enjoy the ups and downs.  When I look back after 10 years I can honestly say it's been a really fun experience. 

If you are interested in starting a business consider doing it on the side to start.  You can really gauge if the business has a shot and your true passion for it.  Do you actually enjoy the grind?  If so, then maybe it's something you consider doing full time?  If not, it's a cool story and something you can be proud of no matter what happens.  You will have your full time job there waiting for you.  

The excitement of having an idea is awesome.  You get those thoughts of what it COULD be.  How much in sales can it get?  How quickly can we do this?  How cool would it be to run a successful business that YOU started?  

Looking back I am shocked that an educated person in his late 20's could just so easily think past all the pain, hard work, setbacks, money issues, production issues, shipping issues, etc, etc.  Those are the daily aspects of being an entrepreneur.  There is just no way around that.  None.

When we had the idea the next question was where do we get the money to even start this?  We all had debt from business school and I had no real savings due to a personal trauma that I'll address later in this blog.  So do we ask parents?  Ask rich friends?  See if we can find an angel investor online?  That seemed like the best (and easiest) route. 

We decided to suck it up and all put in $10K to get things going.  That was $10K that I really only had from student loans.  Many people will think, "wow, that is incredibly stupid"??  Why don't you ask for the money or just wait until you have it saved up?? 

I have seen that this fork in the road is what separates the herd.  The wannabes take the road of least resistance.  I'll just wait till later.  I'll just wait and save.  Once I get the money we'll just jump right back into it.  The punchline is that time often never arises again.  Enter:  Regret.  When will you have that team setup again?  When will you have the energy for the idea?  

This is a very subjective choice and is dependent on everyone's unique situation.  There are times when you should walk away from bad ideas.  There are other times you should jump in on a good idea even though not everything is lining up perfectly.  Only you can assess that. 

For me, the idea was solid.  I was single.  I didn't have a mortgage.  I was pretty much broke, but not having any major obligations was actually freedom.  Go time.  The only major hurdle was coming up with the cash.  In my mind I was young and if the business completely implodes I could recover.  

If you wait for the PERFECT time, then that will never happen.  I hear the excuse all the time that it just doesn't feel like the right time.  Sadly, it's never the right time.    

There are a lot of ideas out there.  People like commenting on ideas.  Everyone does it.  If I see a good idea I'll recognize it and talk about it.  If I see a bad one I'll do the same.  It's human nature.  

When this gets hard is when people are talking bad about YOUR idea.  It doesn't feel like a natural thing anymore.  It feels like criticism, hate and jabber from "idiots".  You get defensive.  You get embarrassed.  You question. 

Looking back I can totally understand that male friends of mine would either laugh out loud or at least internally when they heard the idea for a nude colored undershirt.  You immediately think of women's undergarments.  That's actually pretty funny.  And the idea is coming from educated business school students who previously worked in financial services.  

Just imagining the scene now makes me laugh.  I'm picturing people wondering if it was a joke.  Like....oh that's funny Mike.....no what's your REAL idea??

It gets worse when I explain the undershirt is super fitted, has a deep V neck and is breathable.  When they actually see the first prototype is when you see the faces think....wtf is this??

All this to say that the brand is around 10 years later and has tens of thousands of nude colored undershirts.  It never would have happened if we got shook up about some bad comments from friends.  

I like Seth Godin a lot and believe most of what he writes is gold.  He talks about minimum viable audience.  The group you need to succeed with to have your business win doesn't actually have to be that big.  It can be hundreds to thousands of people depending on your business.  An executive coach just needs a handful of well paying clients!  

When you think about it that way it's actually totally fine that most people might say your idea is terrible/strange/small.  Take the feedback.  Don't get discouraged.  There are usually nuggets in the negative feedback that you can use to make your product even better.  It's actually a good thing when there is negative feedback.  That means your idea is striking a chord.  When EVERYONE likes your idea that means there are probably other people already all over it or it's just too bland to strike a chord. 

Looking dumb with your idea is not necessarily always a bad thing.  In our case it was actually a very good thing.    

The idea of The Invisible Undershirt came from one of those random conversations that pops up.  Wasn't a business school project that forced you to think of ideas.  Wasn't from reading an article about money making ideas.  It was simple as my co-founder, Jason, asking me a question while we were in LA traffic on the way to class at USC.  

"Have you ever struggled with your undershirt"?   

I have a pretty open mind about stuff and am pretty curious.  I gave the question some thought and it opened up memories that were locked pretty deep in my brain.  They were strong memories, but ones I never really connected to a product solution.  They were just personal frustrations.  

My childhood and adult life were plagued with scores of stories about my sweat issues.  Sweating at dances.  Sweating at weddings.  Sweating while at dinner tables with friends.  Sweating while delivering a speech.  It could be hot.  It could be cold.  I could be wearing a jacket.  I could be wearing a thin shirt.  I had a sweat problem.  At one point I went to the doctor to see if I had a condition known as hypohidrosis.  Basically my body can't regulate my sweat and I sweat profusely.  Made life fun!  ha.  

I had struggled with my undershirts for years because if I put the classic thick cotton one on underneath clothes it made me really warm......and made me sweat more.  If I didn't use one, then if I sweat at all it would immediately come to my outer shirt and people would notice.  Major embarrassment would ensue.  It was something I just accepted and didn't think much about.  

When Jason asked me the question I thought about it and responded that I had MAJOR issues with my undershirt.  I shared my experience and that's when some sparks started fly. 

Jason struggled with the visibility of the undershirt.  He was in investment banking and hated that the undershirt was clearly visible under his nice white button down.  He hated how people could see the cheapest item of clothing he had on right through all his nice clothing.  That was actually a tension I never had. 

The combo of my sweat issue with Jason't visibility issue is where the idea was born.  I believe that having an open mind to questions is what enables this type of solution.  Many people immediately try to criticize ideas or have THEIR vision of what the idea could be.  Many times it's the combo of two perspectives that makes the idea special. 

Keep an open mind.  Be curious.  Be humble.  Ideas are everywhere.  You need to be open to them versus dismissive.