Siimon Reynolds, Jack Delosa and Paul Greenberg share their advice for young entrepreneurs

WHO wants to be a millionaire? Don’t we all. Hear what these guys have to say — they’ve made the mistakes so you don’t have to.

Gen Y millionaire Jack Delosa.

AUSTRALIA is gripped with a severe case of start-up fever. Everywhere you look there are accelerators, incubators, mentors and educators.

Former advertising guru turned executive coach Siimon Reynolds — creator of the infamous ‘Grim Reaper’ AIDS campaign from the 1980s — is getting on board through his involvement with Start Up Australia, a not-for-profit dedicated to coaching small business owners.

Start Up Australia is hosting Start Up Success 2014, a free online summit featuring interviews with some of Australia’s leading businesspeople. Federal Minister for Small Business Bruce Billson predicts it will be the “Woodstock of entrepreneurship”.

Meanwhile, alcohol company Lion is running a competition to give young entrepreneurs a leg up. The Hahn JumpStart program gives young entrepreneurs the chance to win a series of personalised coaching sessions and $20,000 towards their business idea.

Hahn’s ambassador for the program is Jack Delosa, founder of entrepreneur coaching community The Entourage. Speaking at the launch event this week, Mr Delosa highlighted the contribution of entrepreneurs to society.

“Absolutely everything around us was once an idea,” he said. “It was once an idea in the mind of an everyday person who not only had the courage and the belief to instigate that idea, but then the perseverance the dedication to see that idea through to something that’s now in our everyday lives.”

News.com.au spoke with Mr Reynolds, Mr Delosa, and Paul Greenberg, co-founder of online retailer DealsDirect and head of the National Online Retailers Association, to get their advice for the next generation.

Former advertising guru Siimon Reynolds.

Siimon Reynolds, The Fortune Institute

FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT

One of the most common issues he sees in businesspeople, Mr Reynolds said, is they focus on building a business without building a strong self-image as well.

“You need to have a vision of what your future company is going to look like, but also about what you as a future great entrepreneur will look like,” he said. “What happens very often is we build a company but we don’t build ourselves.”

He advocates the ‘fake it till you make it’ technique. “We need to choose a future version of ourselves and then behave as if you already have those qualities. I’m a great believer in the power of mental rehearsal — using the power of the mind each day to see yourself performing well.”

FORGET ABOUT THE FURNITURE

According to Mr Reynolds, the most common mistake made by new business owners is they don’t spend enough time studying marketing and how to actually attract customers.

“A start-up needs to spend 70 per cent of its time trying to get customers — most of the time they’re choosing office furniture, getting the website up and running,” he said. “We need to ask people for money, all the time.”

According to a study by research company Dunn & Bradstreet, the number one reason businesses fail across most industries is low sales. “It’s just a reminder that at the end of the day, as a start-up if we don’t spend most of our time working out ways to generate sales, we’re going to fail.”

Online retail pioneer Paul Greenberg.

Paul Greenberg, NORA

ONLINE START-UPS ARE OVERDONE

A point raised by all three men was the glut of online start-ups. Mr Greenberg said it was important to remember that customers don’t think by channel, they think by brand. “Start with your brand and work backwards,” he said. “What is your proposition, what is your point of difference, how can you compete?”

Too many businesses focus on their platform, he said. “If I was starting a business today, I’d be thinking about how I could grow a brand using the digital assets and tools available, but I wouldn’t be pigeonholing myself by ruling out physical intersection with the customer.”

He highlighted shoe retailer Shoes of Prey, which began as an online business but has now opened its second physical store in Westfield, and fashion retailer The Iconic, which has partnered with Broadway Shopping Centre to offers a ‘click and collect’ service.

LEARN TO FAIL FORWARDS

The risk of inactivity is greater than the risk of activity, according to Mr Greenberg. The cost of failure today is lower than in the past, so there’s no excuse not to have a go.

“I’m not saying take a second mortgage or be a cowboy and bet the farm on one venture,” he said. “But every journey leads somewhere. It might not be where you want to go, but you have to understand success is not a straight line journey.”

Failure is part of that journey, he said. “In Silicon Valley they call it ‘failing forward’. The way to get into the game is to get into the game — some of the great businesses of our time, Facebook, Google, Twitter, where they are now is very far from where they started out.”

Gen Y millionaire Jack Delosa.

Jack Delosa, The Entourage

FOCUS ON DOING ONE THING WELL

The most common barrier to growth for most start-ups, Mr Delosa said, is a lack of focus. “They try to start one business with 20 products, or they try to start multiple businesses at once,” he said.

“We look at Richard Branson on the beach with his Palm Pilot running 400 companies, but what we don’t realise is he had one company for 10 years. To be successful you have to start with one business and one product.”

The successful entrepreneur was not necessarily the one who chases the shiny thing or the shiny market, he added. “Ask yourself, if I was to pick one thing and become the best in the world at it, what would it be?”

THROW OUT THE SCHOOLBOOK

In order to be a successful entrepreneur, according to Mr Delosa, you need to throw out everything you’ve ever learned about traditional education.

“Most of our successful entrepreneurs have degrees, however most do not have a degree that relates to their business,” he said. “University degrees don’t build successful businesses. The rules of the game have changed — there is no rule book in 2014 for how to start a successful business.”

That is less a reflection on the universities themselves and more on the fact that the business world is changing so fast, he added. “While an MBA prepares you to think entrepreneurially within another organisation, it falls a little short for starting your own business — for example, how do I market this product with no money?”

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Originally published as Siimon Reynolds, Jack Delosa and Paul Greenberg share their advice for young entrepreneurs