By @Manisha Rewani
Develop Your Idea
It doesn’t have to be a totally unique or groundbreaking business idea in order to be a successful one. The popular rideshare company Lyft was started three years after the introduction of Uber. They took on the business model of Uber and just tweaked it a little.
Just because there is competition in a field doesn’t mean that you can’t be very successful when you start a business, too.
Go ahead and use the business model of the most successful competitor, but make it your own by identifying shortcomings and weaknesses that you can exploit for your own success.
Keep Your Time Organized
Whether your business is brand new or fully established, entrepreneurs often have many projects and responsibilities going at once. It’s one of the things that make owning your own business so exciting, but it can also lead to stress if your time is overloaded and disorganized.
This is an area where technology shines. Scheduling apps can help you organize your day and set boundaries around your time. Find a tool that works for you and keeps your days running smoothly. Time-blocking is an effective strategy to use when you are planning out how you can manage your time.
Hire Solid Talent and Support Their Success
When you start a business, it is often just one person or a tiny group handling every aspect of the company’s day-to-day functions. As you possibly expand and prosper, however, stepping back and offloading certain responsibilities is a natural and expected part of the process. Locating and hiring a great team is only half of the equation, and setting them up for success is the other half.
Keeping lines of communication open, while setting clear expectations, allows your employees to own their positions and create a path to winning for themselves and the business. Investing in supporting resources for your employees can be another way to set them up for success.
Avoid Risk and Prepare for the Future
Hiccups or unforeseen circumstances are going to happen now and again in business. Occasionally going into crisis mode isn’t necessarily a cause for concern. However, if you feel like a large portion of your time is spent putting out proverbial fires rather than operating a well-oiled machine, you might want to place more focus on looking at potential difficulties coming your way and implementing support and processes to avoid them.
Try to educate yourself first rather than jumping into risky strategies. For example, the metaverse is a major buzzword going around that can be a risk for entrepreneurs. One of the leading innovation experts I’ve worked with in the past and respect is Jeff Wong, EY Global Chief of Innovation.
Be Selective With Your Clientele
Being selective in your clientele should be the goal of every aspiring entrepreneur. Not only does it indicate stability in your company in that you can afford to turn down paying work, but it also allows you to have much greater control over the overall direction of your business progression.
For example, one of my friends, Jason Hennessey—who wrote the book, Law Firm SEO: Exposing the Google Algorithm to Help You Get More Cases—was an expert in marketing that found that he had success with law firms. A lot of marketing experts say that they can work with every industry and take on all varieties of clients that aren’t a fit. Hennessey found the niche and dedicated time into owning that niche.
Don’t Overlook Branding
Branding is so much more than just expressing to your team and client who you are as a company and an entrepreneur. Having a strong vision also gives you a clear path for the future, as well as goals to go along with it.
Some entrepreneurs get lost in the day-to-day slog of keeping processes going, such as practical things like cash flow. Consequently, they neglect to assess and create a plan for their business branding.
Seek Expert Guidance
Most entrepreneurs typically bring a specific skill set to the table. Whether you’re providing a service or a product, it can be assumed you are very talented in—or knowledgeable about—your industry. As very few people are experts in every aspect of business, however, it is recommended to bring in expert assistance when contemplating major changes or new ventures.
Guidance can be astoundingly useful for a variety of areas, such as finance, advertising, and technology. While it can be tempting to try and keep everything in-house for cost savings or control purposes, investing in a specialist or a team of specialists can be more than worth the investment.
Starting an advertising campaign is a great example of when it can be useful to elicit assistance to create focus and specify goals and metrics for success. In attempting it alone, you might invest $10,000 to dabble in a variety of advertising strategies. Even if you do see some limited success, you might not know which avenue generated the best results and would not know where to focus your effort in the future.
Compare this to investing $20,000 with an agency. You may have spent more money upfront, but they should be giving you a company-specific plan and delivering follow-up reports detailing the results of your campaign with supporting metrics.
Build Your Network
No one can build a successful business on their own. You’ll need investors, attorneys, accountants, bankers, as well as vendors, industry contacts, employees, and a whole host of others.
Start attending trade shows and conventions, as well as joining trade associations and online groups. These are all great networking resources for you.
Turn Early Customers Into Fans
Another advantage of starting out on a small scale while learning how to become an entrepreneur is that you can develop more personal relationships with customers.
Make sure to provide a great experience for these first customers to build up the most effective advertising there is — word of mouth.
Raise Capital and Scale Your Business
At this point, you should have a proven business model with customers, cash flow, and a plan for expansion. You can now start to raise money through investors, venture capitalists, and banks.
Take the money raised and use it to scale the business for maximum returns for you, your employees, investors, and early backers.
Manisha Rewani [MBA]
Manager Mktg
AirCrews Aviation Pvt. Ltd
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