Editor's note: Failure can be a beautiful thing. With the right attitude, an entrepreneur can take the message from what went wrong and turn it into something that will be right in the future. Portfolio.com has partnered with the Young Entrepreneur Council to offer real-world stories of mistakes and the lessons they produce. Come back each Thursday for another column in the series.

In the beginning, I was incredibly naive. I made a lot of assumptions—and failed miserably—as most entrepreneurs do.

But there was one glaring assumption that outshined them all. And it almost killed my business.

At the start of my entrepreneurial journey, I had a lot of hopeful expectations, just as hordes of other rosy-minded rookies do. My expectations about what it would take to build a business were horribly optimistic. But there was one mantra that lived in my head, my own secret weapon.

I knew that it was just a matter of time. I was willing to do whatever it took. I would give up whatever I needed to to make this work. And, for a long time, my business was the only life I had.

Despite that, one assumption I made was nearly fatal.

I thought that I could start a blog, just write, get a million subscribers, and somehow the money thing would take care of itself.

Ah, the good ol' "create and monetize it approach" (a not-too-distant cousin of the "build it and they will come" maxim).

I'm not sure when this became entrenched in the minds of businessmen and businesswomen, but I'm fairly certain 13th century carpenters weren't trying to figure out how they could "monetize" shelves. Probably because they built something and sold it.

Back to our story. As I was saying, I was too advanced for a real business model. I could figure that out later. I needed the popularity, the accolades, and crowds of followers first.