This article comes from Entrepreneur.

Want to Start a Business? Ask Yourself Why.

It’s no secret. Most entrepreneurs will never build successful ventures, no matter how much they risk to start and grow and business. A select few will take the same risks and have major success. Why?

I found that the difference between the two is not the availability of resources, perseverance or support. It’s the reason they want to build a startup in the first place. Are the reasons below one of your drivers for starting a business?

1. To build wealth.

If you’re a hustler, an entrepreneur at heart and looking to create or grow wealth, build a small business — not a startup. Small businesses like a restaurant, coffee shop, car dealership or hotel are much more likely to yield a return on investment with higher success predictability than startups.

The day you launch a startup product that you invest blood, sweat and tears in creating, all you’re doing is releasing a hypothesis. A startup is not a business, per se, until the key hypotheses are validated and revenue is generated at a cost lower than the lifetime value of a customer. This is much more complicated and riskier than obtaining the funds to buy the needed equipment, hire staff and advertise a car wash station on radio and television.

2. To build influence.

There are many ways entrepreneurs can build influence in their community, industry and the world. Obviously, building a successful venture that makes a difference in people’s lives is one way but if it’s one of the main reasons behind building a startup, it’s usually the worst way to build influence.

Instead, consider becoming an authority in your space by writing useful content that will allow you to build and grow an audience and a brand. Neil Patel built a worldwide brand as a marketing expert before he had any startup success stories with his ventures Kissmetrics, Crazy Egg and others.

3. Fear of missing out? Start a business.

Truly passionate entrepreneurs should fear missing out on opportunities to build startup value. However, if the goal is just to check off the “built a startup” box, be prepared to waste a lot of resources especially if you don’t have a programming background.

From customer interviews to running qualitative and quantitative validations tests, building an MVP, spending hundreds of hours talking to customers, hiring and managing a team, creating and distributing content and many other key responsibilities, consider investing at least two years and a six-figure check until, with perseverance and continuous iteration, a product worth using and paying for is born.

Instead, if you have the funds and passion for startups, consider providing a group of fully committed startup founders with the needed resources to start and grow while getting an opportunity to be part of the journey as an advisor, investor or mentor with a stake in the company.

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