我是如何成为一名创业者的？

    大多数创业新人在初期都玩过类似的把戏。如果这听起来有些可怕，那时因为的确如此。由于一笔早期订单落空，我曾经不得不透支早已负债累累的信用卡来给员工发工资。在成功之前，你一定得先伪装好自己。

    要成功创业，你必须兼顾打造完美的公司（理想主义者）和支付账单（现实主义者）这两个方面，缺少任何一方面最终都会令你一败涂地。我相信，这也是现实主义者和理想主义者合伙创业在商界如此常见的原因之一。

    不要过早扩大规模。不要过早就想成为一家大公司——只要将“做大”定为自己的目标即可。一开始，不要着急大笔投入和招聘。别把时间浪费在撰写使命宣言和政策文件上。你的公司小巧灵活，有着自己的使命。生产和销售商品。未来总会有人力资源部的用武之地。

    如果你完全改变了自己的公司，不要感到意外。首次与客户接触之后，有独特之处的企业总会生存下来。

    生存足够长的时间，将微不足道的成果进行再投资，随后进一步加大投资力度。最终，你可以将自己解放出来。

    这是大多数小公司从未达到的一步。此时，你的神奇商业机器已经包含了一个不可替代的零件：你自己。如果你的背景是会计，那你可能是公司的会计主管。如果你是一名程序设计员，你可能是最出色的程序员。不论你做什么，你都会感觉自己必不可少，但也会有一些精疲力竭。

    接下来是比较难的一部分：你需要让自己成为一个“多余人”。如果你明天不在了，你的公司应该能够继续正常运行。你应该把所有时间用于影响你的公司，而不是为你的公司工作。换一种说法，从根本上说，你就是一名配了助理的自由职业者。

    许多公司无法逃离这种困境。比如，你是一名出色的广告文案写手——你会苦苦挣扎。这是因为你的公司是否出色完全取决于你，除非你可以将自己融入到一种商业模式当中，否则公司无法发展。

    麦当劳打造了一门即使它聘用最低工资员工也可以正常运行的生意。这得益于它的工作流程：每一个汉堡都是高效的，所有汉堡几乎都一模一样，并且任何细节都不会被疏忽。他们的品牌如此强大，以至于全世界的消费者要排队用餐。你的公司或许与麦当劳存在根本上的区别，但应该做到与其一样稳健。

    如果你达到了这一步，你就拥有了一家能够自我维持的公司。即便你从来不去上班，也可以领取一份丰厚的薪资。你现在有大把的时间对公司进行不断调整，使其变得更好。现在，为了征服全世界，你需要做的就是扩大公司规模，这就像参加电视节目《谁想成为百万富翁》（Who Wants to Be A Millionaire）一样。每答对一个问题，你的奖金都会翻倍，否则只能打道回府了。

    不要幼稚地认为大公司就是小公司的放大版。这就像告诉自己的孩子喝酒真的不会让人变酷一样。只有经历过惨痛教训之后，你才会明白。

    随着公司的发展，公司的规定和文化就会彻底改变。你甚至可能发现自己讨厌当初创立的公司（许多创始人最终都感受到类似的矛盾）。如果你已经到达这个阶段，你可以有许多选择：聘请帮手，出售公司，或者双管齐下，看看它会把你带到哪里。

    Most new entrepreneurs play a few gambits early on like this. If it sounds scary, that’s because it is. I once had to pay staff salaries on my heavily burdened credit cards when an early order fell through. You fake it until you make it.

    While doing all this you need to juggle between making the perfect company (idealist) and paying your bills (realist) – an absence of either will eventually kill you. I believe it’s one reason why realist/idealist partnerships are so common in business.

    Do not scale prematurely, however. Don’t try to be a big company early on – just aim to be one. Be slow to spend and to hire at first. Don’t waste time writing mission statements and policy documents. You’re small, nimble and on a mission. Make and sell things. There will be time for an HR department later.

    Don’t be surprised if you change your company entirely. Unique businesses survive first contact with its customers.

    Survive long enough, reinvest your meager successes and compound them. Eventually, you can extract yourself.

    This is the step most small businesses never accomplish. Up until now, your magical business machine almost certainly contains one irreplaceable part: you. If your background is accounts, you’re probably the head accountant. If you’re a programmer, you’re probably the best coder. Whatever you do, chances are you’ll feel essential and somewhat overworked.

    Here’s the hard part: you need to make yourself redundant. If you dropped dead tomorrow, your business should carry on working just fine. All of your time needs to be spent working on your business, not for your business. The alternative is you’re basically self-employed with assistants.

    Some businesses can’t escape this trap. Say you’re a brilliant copywriter – you’ll struggle. That’s because what makes you a great company is you, and unless you can bottle up you into a business model, you can’t grow.

    McDonalds built a business that works even if they hire almost entirely minimum wage workers. Their process makes it work: every burger is efficient and nearly indistinct, and nothing is left to chance. Their brand is so strong people line up worldwide to eat there. Your business may be radically different, but it should be similarly robust.

    If you accomplish this, you can own something that is self-sustaining. You should be able to pull a good salary even if you never go into work. Your time is now free to tweak your business endlessly into something better. Now to conquer the world, all you need to do is scale your business, which is a bit like playing Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. Each question you get right doubles your money, or you’re going home.

    Do not make the naive mistake of assuming a big company is like a small one but bigger. That’s like telling your kids to listen to you, really, drinking doesn’t make you cool. You’ll learn the hard way.

    As a company grows the rules and your culture change completely. You may even find yourself disliking the company you created (many founders feel conflicted like this, eventually). If you’ve made it this far, you have many options: hire help, sell or double-down, and see where the ride takes you.