Small-Business Owners Offer The Best Advice They Ever Got --- Useful startup lessons came from hard-earned experience or from other entrepreneurs

“About 5.2 million new business applications were filed in 2024, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

 

But based on historical averages dating back to 1994, about half of them will fail over the next five years.

 

So, what makes the difference between success and failure?

 

To find the answer to that question, we asked readers to tell us what one piece of advice was most useful to them in starting and running their business. And what do they wish they had known when they started their business. Here are some of their responses.

 

Ask for help

 

I wish I'd known when I started my business that it is OK to ask for help. I used to be hesitant because I didn't want to seem like I didn't know what I was doing. But I've learned that there's no shame in asking, and it's actually one of the smartest things you can do.

 

In the male-dominated music-promotion business and up against some behemoths, I've found a platform supporting diverse and inclusive artists. As a small-business owner, you just have to continue to pivot until you find a lane you can own and find your community. They will be your biggest champions. They have become mine.

 

-- Marcie Allen, Nashville

 

Be true to your word

 

Say what you'll do, and do what you say. There is no excuse for not returning a phone call or for not calling to say you're late, for example. This is beyond just business, it is common courtesy, but it's not so common anymore.

 

-- Dave Hulett, Hot Springs, Ark

 

Do the homework

 

I've made many mistakes based on emotions, which I now realize could have been avoided if I had taken the time to do market research and data analysis. The perfect example is when we expanded to the United Kingdom. We had received a couple of orders from England, and I thought it was a good time to expand internationally. The U.K. is an English-speaking country, so I assumed it would be easier to start there. But we didn't spend time understanding the different taxes and regulations, as well as market fit. We were not prepared for it and ended up closing down our U.K. operations after one year. It was a $15,000 entrepreneurial lesson!

 

-- Rowena Scherer, New York

 

You have to believe

 

I've learned that mindset plays an important role in running your own business, particularly an abundance mindset. It means believing in your ability to make things possible, even when things are challenging in business. And they will be!

 

This mindset helps you make decisions from a position of strength, gratitude, generosity and learning. Practicing this mindset has helped me to keep moving forward when things don't go as planned or hoped, to continue to invest in my business to create opportunities and proactively build supportive relationships with other entrepreneurs.

 

-- Shanna Hocking, Merion Station, Pa.

 

Ask the big questions

 

Your most important employee is your bookkeeper. He or she must have an accounting degree. Meet with them weekly. Are you spending more than you're bringing in? Where's the money going? Do you really need all of your big-ticket equipment, or services, or consultants? Are you depositing your payroll taxes? We had technical writers placed in Silicon Valley companies, and we had to make federal tax deposits every day, but we didn't know that!

 

Also, a CEO often rolls up her sleeves and helps with the work all day (and night). But you are the only one who had the vision, the passion. So you have to take an hour or a day occasionally to take a helicopter view. Ask: How's it going? What are the weak parts? How can we fix those areas? And, most important, What can we do to grow?

 

-- Dorothy Webster, Humble, Texas

 

It's a marathon

 

Go slowly, especially when it comes to debt. I have seen many gold-plated businesses fail. Debt can drown a new business before it has time to get past its growing pains.

 

The idea of growing slowly is that it will give you time to really get to know your business and to understand where the true opportunities lie. In my case, we had envisioned a fine-dining restaurant with table service at lunch and dinner. Instead, we found out that lunch was a low-margin business because most people skip alcohol and desserts. But an even better opportunity was right under our nose. We had an extra room that we began using for business meetings and group events. These events would usually involve preordered lunches or dinners, so our service costs were reduced, and there was usually a third-party payer, so wines and desserts were quite in fashion.

 

-- Joe Roberts, Helena, Mont.

 

Customers before tech

 

I started my first business in college, building a Bluetooth-based tracking device and focusing, like an engineer, solely on the product and technology. Sales and marketing seemed like something you do later. Sure enough, no one bought it. My co-founder was friends with a tech founder who had just turned the corner in his business. This is where we got the simple advice:

 

Sales solves all problems. He told us to stop focusing on the technology and focus on the customer. Tune the product that they want to buy against our vision of what we wanted to build.

 

-- Chris Herbert, Santa Barbara, Calif.

 

Press on

 

I am a serial entrepreneur with a mix of successes and failures. Even the successes were not without significant struggles, self-doubt, ups and downs. One key insight has stayed with me, though.

 

After my first company crashed and burned when I ran out of money, I started a second company, which was a great idea but slightly ahead of its time. I abandoned it as early revenues were slow to pick up. A few years later, I saw that same idea taken to market by someone else, with millions of customers, and a brand that many of your readers would recognize.

 

During a later startup, I was talking to a successful investor in small businesses. He made what seemed to be, then, an off-the-cuff remark. "It's surprising how many entrepreneurs are successful just by sticking around long enough." As I reflected on this statement and my entrepreneurial experience, to me, this translated to persistence -- never give up. I took that to heart, and that was a key learning that was part of subsequent successes. However difficult the circumstances, my persistence was a key element of my success.

 

-- Venkat Sharma, Louisville, Ky.

 

Don't hire your spouse

 

I have some spectacular successes and spectacular failures. Here is just a little bit of what I've learned.

 

1. Spend at least five years working in the business you intend to start. Before you launch a restaurant, work in them for five years. The most successful founders are ones that see a new trend or creative idea from a business they are currently working in.

 

2. Understand tax strategy, as taxes are your No. 1 expense and your best opportunity to retain operating capital.

 

3. Never hire your spouse or your relatives; it discourages the other goal-achievers.

 

4. Drive an old pickup truck like Sam Walton. Don't be ostentatious. Be humble. Be thankful that you lucked out with the right idea at the right time. You are lucky, not brilliant.

 

5. The least-attractive businesses are the most profitable. Janitorial services are good.

 

-- Michael Lowery, Colorado Springs, Colo.” [1]

 

1. Small-Business Owners Offer The Best Advice They Ever Got --- Useful startup lessons came from hard-earned experience or from other entrepreneurs. Gallegos, Demetria.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 26 June 2025: A12.