Top 10 RULES for Entrepreneurial Growth

You have got to be willing to share your business idea and ask for help if you want to have success as an entrepreneur. Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. I believe that hungry entrepreneurs deserve help, and so today I'm answering a question from one of my YouTube viewers, Osama, who wrote in saying he's got all these great ideas for an amusement park but is afraid to share the idea with other people because he thinks they're going to steal it. So, Osama, thanks for the question. Something a lot of entrepreneurs go through. If you want to have success, you have to ask for help. You've got to be careful about who you tell your ideas to, but you have to ask for help. This isn't going to happen all on your own. It's not possible. And you don't want to be sitting in your home with all these great ideas and have nothing materialize. When I was in the venture capital business, I would get business plans throwing at me all day long. And people would ask me to sign non-disclosure agreements, basically saying that by looking at their information, I couldn't work with other companies that were in the similar business because I'd be sharing ideas. I'm not gonna do that. There's no way I'm gonna sign that non-disclosure agreement, because whatever company comes in, there's 100 others who are trying to do the same thing and trying to raise money. It's not so much about the idea, it's the execution. And some companies would refuse to work with us because I wouldn't sign that non-disclosure agreement. And it's a huge mistake. I'm in a venture capital business. What interest do I have in running a restaurant company or an amusement park? Nothing. I'm just trying to help you. If you don't let me know what your business idea is, then I can't help you. I still get it now. Entrepreneurs come to me, they want my advice. But they want me to sign a non-disclosure agreement, confidentiality agreement. I can't do it. You know, they have a revolutionary new car design or restaurant business they want to start, or pet food store. What interest do I have in running a pet food store? What interest do I have in running an amusement park? Nothing. I'm just trying to help you. I'm trying to give you some advice, maybe some capital, maybe some expertise, maybe some connections. I'm just trying to help you. And there's a lot of people out there who are trying to help you, but if you don't let them know about what your concept is all about, they can't. And too many entrepreneurs and inventors hold their idea onto— just for themselves. They don't share it, and it never goes anywhere. You're not going to be able to do this by yourself. You have to let people in. Yes, you have to be careful who you tell this to, okay? You're not going to go up to your biggest competition and say, Hey, here's a great idea for you. So you do a little research on the people you're telling the idea to, but you've got to share it. You can't hold it to yourself, or you're never going to achieve the success that you're after. I hope that helps. For those of you watching, give the video a thumbs up if you like it. I love to hear what you have to think. If you want to leave a comment under the video, I always check those out. I always love seeing them come in. Thank you, and I'll see you on the next episode.