Who would likelier succeed?

• a) Johnny starting with a "I'll-rock-the-world" approach. Johnny aims for the stars. His startup will have the best people, the best resources, the best tools, the best products, the best offerings, the best yaddas.
• b) Miguel, who starts with a "just-enough" approach. Miguel aims to just get started. He'll provide "just enough" resources, tools, and other ingredients so he can open his doors as quickly as possible.

Did-ya answer (b) Miguel? Ding ding ding! A simplicity approach exponentially increases your chances of achieving your primary goals. You get the best of two worlds: (1) achieve what you really want, (2) in the fastest time possible.

The Complex Approach

Contrast Miguel's simple mindset with Johnny's complex approach. Before he sells, he needs to:

1. The absolute best resources.
2. Hire, train, and build a ridiculous team.
3. Talk with the a variety of consultants.
4. Get his marketing materials branded.
5. Perfect every part/inch/spec of his customer service.
6. Etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

Before you know it, he'd likely:

1. Run out of cash.
2. Make his product obsolete.
3. Drain his team's morale.
4. Drain his own morale.
5. Drain future profits to keep his business afloat.

Most businesses don't succeed because they take too long from Destination A (scratch) to Destination Z (opening doors). Taking too long drains cash -- lots of cash, which would render your hard work fruitless. Remember:

What's the shortest path from SF to New York?

A straight line.

• You have your primary goal -- destination: New York.
• You have limited resources.

How do you get to New York safely, while keeping your resources in check? By taking the path of least resistance. Use Miguel's simple approach to ensure you get there safely, with enough resources to have the time of your oh-so-fabulous life. Says simplicity expert Mark Joyner:

By focusing exclusively on the simple actions that work to achieve desired results, you get them in the fastest possible way with the least possible effort.

But If You Want to Flower It Up...

Take this win/win approach:

1. Achieve your primary goal as quickly possible (i.e. straight line analogy).
2. Flower up you goal after you've achieved it.

That ensures you'll start something quickly, efficiently, and sufficiently maintain cash/morale/resources as you're building your business/product/offering/innovation. So, if you want:

• Spectacularly branded materials
• Amazingly awesome-looking website
• Branded uniforms, stationary, signs, etc.
• Polished employee manuals
• Ridiculously good-looking furnishings
• Yadda, yadda, yadda...

Do it after you open your doors. In the meantime, settling for "just enough" will get you rolling and rocking by maintaining sufficient resources and morale. Advantage: You.

Straight ahead!