Rules for the “Experiment”

As I go through this experiment, I will adhere to the following rules (based on stated misconceptions):

1. Misconception: “I cannot afford to start my own business.”
   Therefore, I cannot use any of my own money.
   Taking on debt and outside investment is OK. I think it is actually easier than ever to find affordable financing. I’ll get into how when my new business is at a point where it actually needs it.
     
2. Misconception: “I don’t have time. I have a job/family/life/hobby/alcohol addiction.”
   Therefore, my time cannot be spent on creating value.
   I must assume my own incompetence in whatever I am doing, meaning almost everything must be outsourced to specialists. There are exceptions to this rule, which I will explain later on.
     
3. Misconception: “I’ll have to deal with employees. I can’t trust/depend on/deal with/babysit them.”
   Therefore, I will directly manage no more than 1 employee.
   One employee is OK at some point when cash flow allows. This will be an operations manager / president / CEO. The title doesn’t matter, what they will be responsible for is hiring, firing and otherwise managing the performance all other vendors and employees. Until I can find and afford such a person, I will be responsible for managing the vendors. Note, this will take some time but it does not violate rule #2. I am facilitating the creation of value, not creating value myself. I will compare my perceptions on the difference between the two in a future post.
     
4. Misconception:“Pigs may break into my office and eat my computers/inventory/money.”
   Therefore, there I will not take a lease on office or warehouse space.
   Aside from not wanting to spend money (covered in rule 1) or your own commitment issues, I actually don’t have a good reason why someone would use office space as an excuse for not starting a business, hence blaming pigs. I just think it sounds like a fun stipulation and another reason to limit your involvement (aka time) spent in the business. While I will most likely outsource the warehouse space to some other company, I will not lease either office space or warehouse space myself. My future president / CEO / operations manager may request otherwise. I’ll let him/her deal with the pigs.
    
5. Misconception:“I don’t want financial freedom. Rich people are greedy!”
   Therefore, I will donate at least 10% of profits to worthy causes.
   First and foremost, there are greedy poor people and there are greedy middle class people. A blanket statement that assumes the rich are greedy is downright silly. The donation rule comes from more of a personal philosophy than a need to prove anyone wrong, but I’ll make it official anyway.

Do you think it’s possible to reach financial freedom while abiding by the 5 aforementioned rules? I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had some doubts of my own!