It never ceases to amaze me: the naivety of wannabe entrepreneurs.
When I started out in business at the tender age of 23, I was ultra sceptical when it came to looking at businesses in which I may have been interested. I would treat every statement and representation made to me as untrue or grossly exaggerated, and then proceed from there.
If it turns out that my disbelief was misplaced, it was a bonus. If I was correct in my default analysis, then I had avoided a potential mistake in relying on those statements.
Nowadays I come across individuals who want to start their own business or take over an existing one. And they appear to believer everything they are told by the franchisor, business owner with whom they are negotiation, the estate agent, etc.
They have no filter and ability to understand that there may be other reasons, apart from the truth or in an effort to be helpful, why the person who is making the statement is uttering an untruth or at least exaggerating.
It’s frustrating because when you give them a quotation for your work and factor in the prudent, necessary checks and due diligence which will need to be undertaken the individual disappears and thinks you are trying to rip them off or you are charging an exorbitant fee.
What I am trying to do is save them from themselves. If they don’t recognise that, that is fine. I will not act.
For I do not want to be associated with the inevitable car crash of dreams and hopes for a business founded on untrue statements, blandishments, and exaggerations.