Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. — VINCENT VAN GOGH, ARTIST - Josh Kaufman

Loss Aversion is the idea that people hate to lose things more than they like to gain them. There are very few relationships that psychology is able to quantify, but this is one of them: people respond twice as strongly to potential loss as they do to the opportunity of an equivalent gain. If you look at your investment portfolio and notice that it’s increased by 100 percent, you’ll feel pretty good. If you notice that your portfolio went down 100 percent, you’ll feel horrible.

there’s often a huge difference between an interesting idea and a solid business.

Roughly defined, a business is a repeatable process that: 1. Creates and delivers something of value . . . 2. That other people want or need . . . 3. At a price they’re willing to pay . . . 4. In a way that satisfies the customer’s needs and expectations . . . 5. So that the business brings in enough profit to make it worthwhile for the owners to continue operation. It doesn’t matter if you’re running a solo venture or a billion-dollar brand. Take any one of these five factors away, and you don’t have a business — you have something else. A venture that doesn’t create value for others is a hobby.