If you want to be a business owner, the time to get started is now. Not tomorrow or next week, but today.
That’s according to Emma Grede, the self-made millionaire founding partner of Skims, CEO of denim brand Good American and the first-ever Black woman investor judge on ABC’s “Shark Tank.”
“Here’s the truth. The No. 1 mistake founders make is waiting until everything feels perfect,” Grede said in a Nov. 4 episode of her “Aspire” podcast. “I’ve [started a business] more than once, and I will tell you, I’ve succeeded. I’ve failed multiple times. And having mentored and invested in countless ideas and founders, I’ve learned that most people overcomplicate the process and they fail to start.”
In fact, 62% of Americans want to be their own boss one day, according to a 2024 Gallup poll. The poll respondents who said they “have seriously considered starting a business” cited finances, lack of business knowledge and a “lack of confidence that [the] business would succeed” as some of the top challenges they anticipated facing as entrepreneurs.
But risk is an inherent part of entrepreneurship, and it shouldn’t keep you from at least working on a business plan, Grede said.
