If you’re looking to get your company off the ground and turn something from a hobby into a business, it can be a scary thought. You have a lot of pressure to get this right, because it’s likely you’re investing a lot into it. We’ve got some tips on how to hit the ground running. Start as you mean to go on, and avoid the failure flop.
It’s a case of sink or swim as the GIF above helps demonstrate. Unfortunately, many companies that could have made a success, don’t because they don’t have the right mentality. Once things start to go wrong, they pack it in rather than pushing through. It can be challenging, but all the best things are. You can’t have the success without the hard work. So, it might seem like things aren’t going your way, but stick with it, and you’ll come out the other side. Before all of this, check out our tips below on how to first establish your startup business. These will be important rules to live by.
Solidify your concept
Do people need your idea? It could be something that sounds great to you, and you’re super excited by. However, if you’re the only one who seems to have a need for that product or service, you won’t make any sales. You need to first establish whether a large amount of people will buy from you. What are you offering them, that they can’t get elsewhere? Why should they go with your designs? If you can’t answer these questions, it might be worth thinking some more about your ideas.
This doesn’t mean stop what you’re doing because nobody’s interested. It simply means you might need to adapt things a bit further. Maybe branch out further with your products and make them more versatile, so you can capture a larger audience. For example, say your products are hairbrushes, but there’s nothing completely stand out about yours from others. Why not make them customisable, or add in combs and other hair products to reach even more people? This could change your audience from people with long hair, to people of all hair types.
By starting off smaller, you can see what works and what doesn’t. You have the advantage of trial and error before it really counts. You’ll learn about your market by taking a look at your competition along the way. This will give you an idea about errors they’re making too, so you can avoid making those yourself. It acts as a time to learn and discover exactly what your message is going to be. Make sure you use the starting point wisely because once you’re fully up and running, you need to have your business plan finalised. Get yourself comfortable with who you are and what you do before you start properly.
Create a business plan
When you force yourself to sit down and create a business plan, you take away the chance to create excuses. You have to completely iron out what you want to do, how you plan on doing it and what your deadlines are. Otherwise, you’re just stabbing in the dark. You’ll have no real direction without a plan, and therefore growth isn’t something you can expect to see. It’s essential that any business big or small has a plan. Think of the future of your business and how you want to see yourself expand. Preparation is key to success. If you fail to prepare, you can prepare to fail because the two go hand-in-hand.
Startups have less room for failure. Yes, as mentioned previously, in the beginning you have the advantage of being fresh and new, and you can play around with ideas. However, once things are fully in motion, you need to be more solid. By sitting down and creating a business plan, you’re showing yourself you care deeply about how this startup performs. You’re showing potential investors why they should choose you. If things don’t work out as planned, you can return to the plan and work out why they were successful. It will allow you to consider how to move forward.
Have passion for your startup
This is yours, no one else’s. It’s your project, your ideas and your name behind it. If it doesn’t work out, you’re the one that has invested time and money into it. So, it only makes sense that you’re the one who cares the most about it. You need the passion to keep yourself going. As mentioned previously, it won’t always be easy. You’ll be putting everything you have into it and a successful business requires a lot of hard work. It’s something you’ll need to continue to build on. Until you’re much bigger there won’t be any breaks from it. It might even become something you’re working on almost 24/7.
This is why you need nothing but passion. Don’t try and sell products you don’t love. You’re creating this startup as your career, something you’ll be in for a long time. So, make sure you love it. If you have no passion for your brand, you can’t expect anyone else to. It will show through your posts. Your social media won’t have the right enthusiasm behind it, and your customer support will suffer. As soon as your customer support suffers, you know you’ve got a problem. Show your startup love and in return you should see great things come from it.
Find the right support
Whether it be hiring or collaborations. Ensure you work closely with people who want to see you succeed. Don’t hire people just because they’re good at what they do. If you can’t work happily with them, don’t work with them at all. It’s your business remember, and you want people who will help you grow your startup rather than those who could potentially damage it. Having ideas presented to you is great and could be really beneficial, but you don’t want to hire someone that will try to take over because at the end of the day, it’s your idea. If you find someone who you can work with to grow your business then keep them close because you’ll need all the support you can get.
The same goes for collaborations. Find people who work well with your products or your niche. Look at how they run their company and how their startup began. They’re likely to share a lot of useful dos and don’ts of the industry with you. They’ll be able to help you avoid mistakes they previously made and could be exactly what you need. If you find the right person to work with, they’ll be happy to share your products with their audience because they’ll see you as an ally rather than competition. You could expand your consumer base by being promoted to a whole new world of people.
