Starting Your Own Business? Tips for Aspiring Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneurs
Running a successful business takes time, dedication and risks. Here are a handful of tips from small business owners to aspiring entreprenuers.
Who doesn’t want to be successful? Successful venture gives you empowerment but this success comes from hard work, learning, and experiences. Entrepreneurs are their own bosses, so they must come up with realistic plans, be financially responsible, invest time and money, and consider the risks in order to bring their idea to fruition.
Thinking of starting a business? Either you plan to outsource help or do everything by yourself, there is no fool-proof formula for small business success. Here are 15 tips from seasoned small business entrepreneurs and industry experts to help you get started.
Research is Fundamental
Having a good idea is, of course, a good start for founding a successful business. However, it is not enough on its own. The very first prerequisite for a startup is to know their industry and potential customers inside out.
Gathering as much industry information as possible and knowing as much as possible about one's business field can significantly determine the success or failure of a startup. Furthermore, the potential idea needs to be tested, developed, and validated with potential customers to ensure that a need for the product or service exists.
Kai Philipp Malzer, Business Consultant, M&M Consultants
Be Willing to Take Risks
Don't hold yourself back in the face of fears, risks, and ups and downs. From what I have learned, it is not just about losing to risks, I can still lose a million today, the bigger the business, the bigger the loss right? But it is actually about how confident you are about yourself and how open you are to taking huge risks for success. If you are not ready or willing to come out of your comfort zone then it all goes downhill from there.
Furqan Aziz, CEO, InvoZone
Launching Too Early or Too Late
Launching too soon poses multiple problems. For example, the demand may not be there. It’s very hard to convince people to part with their money. Why should they spend it on something they don’t really want or need right now?
On the other hand, your competitors will very likely corner the market if you wait too long to launch. And trust me, you don’t want to be fighting an uphill battle right from the get-go. So, strike while the iron is hot. Launching at the right time can make or break your startup.
Nadeem Ballaj, CEO, Seebiz
Fear of Making the Wrong Decisions
It is normal to feel anxious especially when we are just starting our business. But, letting ourselves be consumed by it is wrong. When you fear falling down, you eventually fear taking risks and fear embracing new opportunities. You start to lose trust in yourself and your preparations. A successful entrepreneur not only thinks of creative ideas but also relies on research and available data in making business decisions.
That’s why we should not fear taking risks and failing. Failure is an ingredient in our trial-and-error in shaping our effective business strategy. Failure may come but we should take it as an opportunity to learn more, to rise, and to try again.
Seb Hall, Founder & CEO, Cloud Employee
Don’t Endorse Only Family Members
See, the thing is, no matter what our context of family is, these are the people who would always show their support because it's what family members do, but they won't be the most and brutally honest people when it comes to giving comments and criticisms.
What happens in incidents like these, is that they only buy from you, one time, and since they aren't really satisfied with it, they'll probably lie about what needs to be improved which is why most businesses fail. Family members are usually the people who will expect much from you but will refuse to manifest their feelings because they are afraid it might hurt you. This is why, in introducing a brand, it's better to make it a different setting rather than that of a family reunion.
Lianne Sanders, Content Editor, Total Shape
Realistic Business Plan
Neglecting to make a business plan is one mistake a lot of rookie entrepreneurs do when launching a start-up. They fail to prepare a business plan. Such a document doesn’t have to be very long or detailed. But taking the time to plan a business model will help keep your efforts consistent, serve as a rallying point for your company and give milestones to measure your progress.
Tanner Arnold, CEO, RevelationMachinery
Robust Documentation Process
Some startup founders are launching their business without a cohesive documentation process. The documentation process is the structural backbone of any business. Your internal and external operations may be prone to inconsistencies, confusion, and unproductive staff if proper documentation procedures are ignored. You will undergo a constant trial and error phase in starting your business.
Thus, it requires a robust document-centric process to define what works and what doesn't. Also, you will be able to make better business decisions and effectively manage your operational processes once you have good documentation practices in your business.
Jake Smith, Managing Director, AbsoluteReg
Emergency Funds
The first few years are always the toughest and you want to be financially secure in case of a bad period or if you face another external crisis. However, entrepreneurs get so hungry for success that they invest all their resources into growing the company. Fast growth can be rather dangerous if you’re not ready and most startups fail because of this reason.
Elena, PR Manager, Airfocus
Smart Content Management
Having a successful business is staying relevant in the wake of an ever-changing society. An important way to keep your content relevant is to not overproduce. Posting too often, clogging your captions with dozens of hashtags, and creating content that is too long can all be off-putting to the average social media user. When it comes to keeping your website relevant, make sure you are investing time in SEO. Find the keywords that’ll bring traffic to your site. You also have to ensure your site is as user-friendly as possible. Users will immediately click off of a confusing website to navigate.
Jim Beard, COO, BoxGenie
Stick to Your Vision
It is easy to lose sight of your vision when bringing an idea to life. There are a lot of roadblocks along the way, so don’t make the mistake of modifying your business too much. Stick to your vision, but be prepared to shift along with new knowledge and advice from your peers.
Kaz Amor, Founder, VoCê Haircare
Invest in New Technology
No matter what business you have, technology makes most processes easier and smoother. The idea of mastering new technology can be daunting, but if you avoid it, your business will suffer in the long run. Advocate innovation and invest in new technology, it guarantees better growth and efficiency.
Max Harland, CEO, Dentaly
The Over/ Under Pitfall
One of the biggest pitfalls I see people make is that in their enthusiasm, they overestimate the revenue they will receive in the first year and underestimate what the startup costs will be. My advice? Take your estimated revenue and halve it. Take your estimated cost and double it. That will get you closer to the reality of your first year in business, and help mitigate the unexpected expenses and unpleasant surprises that come up along the way.
Regina Barr, Founder & CEO, Red Ladder, Inc. & Women at the Top® Network
Delegation is Necessary
New entrepreneurs try to operate independently and watch their business plummet. Don't try to run a new business by yourself. Take time to hire the right people who are just as passionate about the mission of your business and bring them onboard. Discuss business ideas, strategy, challenges, and progress with them, and most importantly trust them. These people might be experts in something that you’re not and that’s the reality of it.
Artie Baxter, CEO, Paperclips
Starting with Certainty in Success
I still see other people expecting success immediately when you start a small business. The biggest challenge that comes with this expectation is that there are high chances of quitting or suspending the operations of the business should the contrary (failure of the business) happen. The best way newbies can avoid this is by having different ways of generating income and not depending on their startups as their primary income generators.
Ryan Rollins, Founder, TeachMePersonalFinance
Flexibility
Quite often, you meet startup founders who are hell-bent on executing their business ideas without changes. They want the highway or no way. Being stubborn leads to two things; loss of money in unprofitable ventures, and startup burnouts in the founders. They will be stuck in a "let's push this through with all the issues" circle through the lifetime of the startup. So avoid rigidity and embrace flexibility.
David Sheppard, Owner, Hvacjudge
About the Creator
Sadia Mehmood
Passion for writing, mostly on latest technological trends. Harnessing the power of curiosity for marketing success. Tea not coffee. Call me a book worm or a 'Prima Ballerina' (No, I am just kidding).
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