I decided to go into business before my partner Pete and I had settled on a business idea. This is an unusual way to start a business. Most entrepreneurs have a particular idea in mind before they risk it all to start a new business.

When you have a partner, it’s important that you have a business idea that works for both parties. Pete and I were so different, and this complicated the process. Pete brought to the table significant entrepreneurial experience. He had developed a very successful pizza restaurant that is to this day a fixture on Route 70 in Cherry Hill, NJ. Pete was in his mid-30s and married with children. I had just graduated from college and turned 22 in the same month. I had nothing more to contribute than a lot of energy, some book smarts and a false sense that I had a clue what I was doing.

Differences notwithstanding, we started brainstorming and working through ideas. Pete started out wanting to do something in food service or at least something that was a cash business. Selling to corporate customers appealed to me, so I dug out a business plan I had written for a computer training company when I was in college. We were getting nowhere, and we were both growing impatient.

Pete was not tech savvy and computer-related business ideas made him uncomfortable. I had no other ideas and was very insecure about my lack of experience. We were stuck.

Soon thereafter, someone told Pete that video stores were real cash cows. Pete began looking for real estate that could house a video store and found a small building for sale with a retail storefront that was a steal – about $63,000. When we went to look at it, we discovered it had a well worn, but beautiful and functional 1950s era ice cream fountain. It also had a two bedroom apartment upstairs. It was just perfect, and inspired the evolution of our video store into a retro video store/ice cream parlor. Though the last thing I wanted to do was admit to my Wharton friends I was scooping ice cream for a living, I figured that once we got our systems in place, we would franchise the business and be the next Baskin Robbins. With this in mind, I agreed that we should move forward, and Hometown Video and Ice Cream Store was born.

In the end, the business failed. While Hometown Video and Ice Cream Store wasn’t the greatest idea since selling pizza by the slice, the business’ demise had more to do with the mistakes Pete and I made than the idea itself.

I have learned more about business from my mistakes than from my successes. I believe that through these articles you can learn from my mistakes as well. Click here to learn more about my first business venture and the mistakes Pete and I made with the Hometown Video and Ice Cream Store.

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