Why do people find it easier to build a house rather than build a business?

Why do people find it easier to build a house rather than build a business?

2 friends of mine said:

You can control whether the frame is plum and level, whether the roof leaks... you can't control the fates.

In building a house your brains and active participation are not fully needed your dough yes! But in a business, both your brains, dough and participation are highly and always needed.
Also once the foundation of a house is rock solid, chances are that the house will outlive the owner, stand test of times and weather all storms. But in business. There is no such thing as rock solid foundation, a whole lot of dynamics and factors goes into building a successful business and still no guarantee!.

I argue that: Knowledge, skill, time and foresight are the only nuisance of building a business. Just as any house a business needs a foundation while every entrepreneur is building castles in the sky. If one follows the same principles of building a house for a business then they will succeed.

I went to a site to read on the process of building a house and i will use this to rephrase what is required for business building.

In my experience the most crucial of all need for an entrepreneur is having knowledge of how to read in between the lines i.e the ability to research what was found. When someone sets off to build a house they need to scout what houses have been built, look at how it was designed, take notes of what he likes and what he doesn't, talk to suppliers of raw materials to find costing, so a budget can be done, even if it is rough. This may be the work of the QS, but what if you can cut your costs during negotiations knowing the real cost of the materials?

At this point is where many entrepreneurs’ fail themselves, they aren't really interested in business, they want to have it in the box and delivered. First you need to love the art of cost reduction "negotiation", cos this is where management starts. Managing yourself, managing your emotions and managing your savings. This is what builds your negotiation skills, which is tied with ethics and strategy management. You don’t have to attack everyone for bringing you a quotation that is higher. You must realise that everyone is in the market to make a profit, so your job is to beat down the margins, by knocking a number of suppliers heads through bids.

In order to get the right bid, you need to draw up your blue print. Whats the design ie reprocessed checklist of your likes and dislikes of the survey you had done of houses you have seen!

You need an architect and sit with them to discuss what you have seen vs what you know. The architects could be your friend or spouse or a consultant or the competitor “in this case you need to be a spy” an entrepreneur is a James bond. Your image begins to build at the very instance you get in contact with your idea. The easiest things that arnt handled at this moment will be the nuisance you will face when you have set a blue print. What’s your brand. Your brand is your dream + vision, and a brand develops based on the solutions to the problem you have seen. The picture evolves as you go.

Lets take for example how did StartUpSity become what it is.
I had a logo of merged colourful boxes representing 3 types of services that I was strong at. Marketing, Customer service and Organisation development but the boxes didn't speak much to the market. Now over 10 years it has taken a shape of a colourful Umbrella that transforms into a Hot-air balloon and then into a Kite/Hovercraft this represents transformation for the market we am at supporting but still has the same function for our business structure and the services remain the same.

Your logo should have the character of what your market wants to see, not a character that you are found of. People draw first to pictures not just the words or the slogans. Our startup slogan stands for "Igniting dreams", the UP slogan sounds "from grounds up", and Sity stands for "Universal application."

Igniting dreams from grounds up cruising Universal heights.

This speaks of the companies attitude towards business and its customer. This is what motivates both the internal and the external drive. This is what they call culture. Once you have gotten your attitude right, your blue print can be a vision and no longer a dream. Now you need to advocate your position as a company, your market needs to buy into the idea of what you are presenting.

I am sure you have seen what the real-estate companies do, they create a markup of what would be and invite everyone for a presentation, during the presentation they meet their market and the market is made of components, Clients, potential staff, suppliers, partners, investors, sponsors, government agencies. All parties that make a business work, but this blue print will be modified to meet every parties goal and everyone pushes on their side what is needed to get the Vision established, this is how the board of directorship forms. Policies are drawn, a CEO is elected with management competence, the CEO presents a plan of how the resources will be managed, ie supplies needed, staff competences, logistics, location, strategies roll out plans……….customer service unit where feedback is collected on what customers are demanding, or what failed.

This is the planning stage that has been sorted, and all this falls on the shoulders of the founder. Next is the Management operational phase which is responsible for the growth drive of the company.

Reprocessing the raw material (problems) “idea” having the skill to convert it into a workable “Concept” then testing the concept to produce a viable “Prototype” and creating strategies for “roll out” again

The roll out strategies started already during the process of “conceptualising’ the company. Conceptualising in my opinion is the markets acceptance of the idea of what the product would do for them.

If one realises that problems are indicators of opportunities then you already have an indicator that there are opportunities i.e when someone complains of a problem and you find out that a majority agree that the problem exists then all one needs to do is process the census. This is what is called market research, ie method’s of how people solve the problem. It is like a political campaign.

To avoid costly mistakes during the construction process, start with these important steps. As you move from dream house to the real house be sure to ask questions and share your progress. Tell us about your new house.

This is why startups don’t grow, they didn’t start well.
in the film "Gladiator" the slave owner said " win the crowd and you will win your freedom" do what the market wants and you will be the leader"

Half the time entrepreneurs are busy trying to force what they want to do rather than tactfully transcending minds. If you want investors, do what they like! You are a business person, not an investor. As a business person you are the sponsor of your dream, get investors to buy into the vision.

And best start when you are young, this way you will beat the time factor.