Shopify ran a study with The Harris Poll across five countries this year. And there was one number I just couldn’t stop thinking about. 93% of people in the US say they feel at least somewhat ready to start a business. More than half say they could start today. And yet they haven’t. So the problem isn’t readiness. You get stuck in a cycle of “feeling ready.” You just keep reading and watching a little more. You are waiting for that one moment where everything makes sense. Then, before you...

When most people start a business, they have a pretty clear mental image of what “being ready” looks like. A website that looks decent. A logo. Maybe a social profile that’s at least halfway filled out. And I get it. Those things feel like proof. Proof that you’re real, that you’re not just talking about doing something. I found a survey of 500 marketers that came out earlier this year, and one number in it that I wasn’t expecting. Most people had already decided if they were going to contact...

Everyone wants a cool business idea. Something that sounds good when someone asks what you do. Something with an aesthetic, maybe a logo you could put on a tote bag. Bookkeeping is not that. No one brings up bookkeeping at a dinner table. It doesn’t get saved on Pinterest. There is no viral reel showing someone living their best life because they sorted a client’s QuickBooks account. And yet, there was this story on Entrepreneur. A 26-year-old woman started a bookkeeping side hustle about a...