To Startup or Not To Startup? Five Things to Consider Before Launching Your Own Company
Why start your own business? After all, it may be one of the most masochistic decisions any individual can make.
To begin, startups come with financial risk, and impact of failure on one’s finances can be severe. Moreover, starting a new business is a sure-fire way to distance oneself from friends and family. Startups can be all-consuming, leaving little time for much else—including personal relationships. Finally, starting a business can take a heavy physical and emotional toll. Late nights and meals at one’s desk are not a healthy lifestyle, and the highs and lows of the startup game can drive a person mad.
Here is why I love being an entrepreneur. In short, starting a business is one of the most exciting, challenging, and rewarding ways to spend my working years. Yes, it can be hard and cruel, but six years into it, I haven’t experienced a single day of boredom.
Startups are not for everyone. Here is some advice if you are considering whether to get into the game:
(1) Get some experience first
Some recent academic literature has concluded that the ideal age for entrepreneurship is 40. This is no doubt because can help to have working experience before you start a business. For one, it provides an opportunity to save up some potential capital to invest. Moreover, you will inevitably pick up some useful skills and knowledge along the way—some of which could prove handy, even if your new business is in a field outside of your expertise. In addition, as you work, your network of contacts will grow. This can prove useful in a variety of ways, including client development, recruiting, the pursuit of capital, to name a few.
(2) Analyze your opportunity costs
If you have nothing to lose, it is easier to take the leap into entrepreneurship. If you are the sole breadwinner for a family of 5 with a limited nest egg, it probably makes sense to save up some cash first, and think very carefully about the impact that a bombed startup would have on your life. One other word of caution here in a different vein: Be aware of the risk of your opportunity cost rising too high. Although an increasing employee paycheck is generally a good thing, the higher your salary rises, the more difficult it can become to quit your job and scratch that entrepreneurial itch.
(3) Build a detailed financial model for the business and test your assumptions thoroughly
Once you begin reducing the business to a spreadsheet, the realities of the numbers will begin to emerge. Taking into account all of your expenses and revenues, as well as when they should occur, will give you a sense of whether the business can make money. It will also give you a sense of how much capital you will need and by when. While there are always financial surprises in the startup experience, waiting to build your projections until after you commit to a business is a dangerous proposition.
(4) Speak to potential clients
Treat your new venture as a sophisticated investor would treat a new potential investment and determine whether your idea can be monetized. Do some due diligence and explore whether there is interest in your product or service. Ask client prospects whether they like your value proposition. If you are entering a competitive industry, ask what it would take for clients to switch providers. Knowing what potential clients want and need is critically important to know if there is room in the marketplace for your business.
(5) Ask yourself whether you have the right DNA
Jumping head first into a startup is not for everyone. If you are the type who needs others to motivate you, or who has trouble staying focused when times get tough, starting a business is probably not be the right move. But if you have self discipline, a fair amount of confidence, passion, and a good deal of intestinal fortitude, you may well be the perfect fit for entrepreneurship.
Keep in mind that starting a business is not for everyone. But for those who have what it takes, becoming an entrepreneur may be the most fulfilling professional path.
About the Author: Paul Mandell is a Founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Consero. In this role, Mr. Mandell provides strategic leadership for the company with a rigid focus on excellence at every level of the business. Prior to founding Consero, Mr. Mandell founded and was the President of a national legal support company that was acquired in 2007. The successor entity was recognized as one of the world’s top legal process outsourcing companies during his continued tenure as President the following year. Prior to entering the business world, Mr. Mandell practiced law at Arnold & Porter LLP and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in Washington, DC, and New York, New York, respectively, where he focused primarily on antitrust and pharmaceutical litigation. Prior to his law firm experience, Mr. Mandell clerked for the Honorable K. Michael Moore of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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What an MBA Won’t Teach About Starting a Business
There is much discussion about how beneficial an MBA education is for entrepreneurs starting a business. The debate is about whether the skills required for success as an entrepreneur can be taught and whether the current MBA curriculum allows its graduates to succeed in today’s business landscape. Entrepreneurs must decide whether to invest in a top Online MBA as a prerequisite for starting a business, or rather instead to invest that money directly into a new business.
According to the article, “Seven Essential Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur” published in the Wall Street Journal, having a vision and being passionate about pursuing that vision are believed to be key requirements for entrepreneurial success. Given that most entrepreneurs accept this driving force as a critical component for entrepreneurs, the question germane to the MBA debate is whether you can teach a student how to think in an innovative manner and to come up with a new idea that they are willing to pursue with an intense and ongoing commitment. Considering the enormous commitment and sacrifice that most new companies require, if an entrepreneur does not make a business dream a top priority in the beginning, it will be very difficult to stick with it when the big challenges arrive.
Education Cannot Teach Passion or Innovation
Considering the large number of highly successful entrepreneurs without formal MBA training, a persuasive argument can be made that entrepreneurs do not need an MBA to succeed when they have a good idea and are willing to pursue it against all odds. Some of the better-known entrepreneurs who are recognized as high-profile contributors to society without an MBA include Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft. Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple computer is another entrepreneur that must be recognized as one of the most celebrated entrepreneurs without an advanced education. These visionaries created technologies that have directly impacted the lives of most people in technology-savvy cultures. The problem with MBAs is that its curriculum teaches students what’s worked for businesses in the past; it doesn’t teach them what being innovative and determined are.
People Skills
While many innovative entrepreneurs in the technology industry have not suffered from a lack of people skills, in many other industries this lack could prove a block to success. We’ve all heard the saying that it is not what you know, but whom you know that makes you successful. If this is true for most entrepreneurs, then it is easy to understand why so many people who are well liked do so well in business.
Networking is promoted as a plausible way to find business partners and key employees. An entrepreneur must be able to depend on talent and commitment to make up for a lack of other resources to compete. This is where leadership and charisma play a key role in recruiting the talent necessary for success.
Conclusion
The debate will continue about whether an entrepreneur needs an MBA to succeed as an entrepreneur. Some questions that any new entrepreneur must consider is whether they can commit for the long-term, and whether they can withstand the pressure to compete under duress. Some of the considerations to think about are financial demands and a support system. Entrepreneurs’ challenges are often not limited to business competition, but also include family concerns. Having a spouse or partner who is also committed to an entrepreneur’s dream can make a substantial difference in whether an entrepreneur succeeds.
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Three cost-effective ways to market your start-up in 2012
Friends sneered at you when you said that you are going the entrepreneurial way. You quit your job in that MNC to build this dream product. Now the product is finally out in the open but how do you find takers for your product.
Needless to say, being a startup you always have this financial question mark staring blankly at your face. Keeping in mind the limitations, startups can easily use these three tools to market their product. It is working for us and if you do it right, it will work for you too.
Social Networking might be passé but networking is not :
Start by using your own personal contacts and their contacts. Ask your friends to try and use your product. Talk about your product when you meet each other during social gatherings. You somehow have to ensure that the optimism you have for your product, gets communicated around. And all said and done, Facebook and Twitter are still one of the best ways to talk about your brand online.
Data Visualizations:
A picture is worth a thousand words. People might not be interested in your 1000 words article but they would love to see a nice graphic communicating the same idea. Try exploring infographics to market what your product stands for, what problem it seeks to solve, industry trends in your market, etc.
Blogging:
This is an effective way to make yourself heard online. Post articles that you think your target market would be interested in. Try and establish yourself as the thought leader in your industry. Encourage the idea of blogging within your organization. Ask employees to contribute their own take on things.
All the best and have a rocking year!
About the Author: Shilpi Choudhury is an Inbound Marketing Specialist and Business Blogger based out of Bangalore, India. She is currently working for DiscountPandit, Bangalore, which is a deal search engine that provides users a faster, simpler and a comprehensive deal search experience.
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Reach Success: 5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Clientele
Establishing a solid customer-base is crucial for any start up or small business owner—after all, without any customers/clients, you make no money and without any money your small business will crash and burn. While hiring a strong marketing team can help you acquire a good number of costumers, this route can be pretty expensive. And naturally with any small business owner, funds are tight. But there are few things you can do on your own to help build your number of customers that is relatively cheap or even better, free. To learn how you can increase your clientele and help ensure the success of your business, continue reading below.
1. Do Research
First and foremost you need to get in touch with the needs of your target audience. You could be selling the most innovative product or service known to man but if you don’t know how to appeal and relate to your target audience’s wants and needs, your campaign may fall flat. For example, could your audience be hesitant about taking a chance on you because they are hard up for cash? If this is the case you need to directly state how your product or service is beneficial to your customer despite their economic hardship, which leads us to out next tip—
2. Offer Exclusive Deals
The truth of the matter is that consumers are always looking for a good bargain, especially now (during the holidays). To appeal to the masses, offer some discounts and exclusive deals to new customers or offer a promotional limited time-only offer to people already on your email list serve for example. You can offer an immediate discount or a next-purchase discount, you can offer a 2-for-1 deal, offer free shipping and handling, or even offer a free consultation or an introductory class. The goal is to find a way to persuade new costumers to try your product or service because the deal is irresistible (and of course superior than your competitors.)
3. Get on the Social Media Map
This is crucial. If you do not know how to use popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to self-market your business it’s time you learn now. Right now. The power of social medial isn’t going to dwindle anytime soon and these free tools are a great way to reach your target audience and establish your brand free of cost. In fact, even those that refused to give-in to social media in the past will be jumping on the bandwagon come the New Year. According to statistics, 40 % of surveyed small business owners said they finally plan on using social media in 2012.
4. Be Mobile and Tablet Compatible
If you’ve created a website or blog to get your name out there that’s a great start but it isn’t enough—it’s the age of the smartphone and the tablet and consumers must be able to access your website/blog through these devices. Your site has to be compatible. While some platforms will automatically convert, others do not and you may need to download a special plug-in like WpTap to make your blog compatible. And you’re going to want to make your site convert. After all, some experts predict smartphones and tablets will replace the laptop one day and since the latest figures say one-third of the U.S. population owns a smartphone and uses it for its remote mobile access, you don’t want to risk missing out on a pool of smartphone/tablet- using costumers.
5. Hire Ambassadors
Lastly you can hire someone to utilize the traditional “word-of-mouth” marketing technique by hiring someone closely related to your target audience. For example, if you created a product that is specifically tailored to college-aged students, then you can hire a few students at the campus nearest to you and get them to tell their friends and other students how great your products or service is. You wouldn’t have to pay them much (or you could offer free merchandise instead for example), but it’s a great way to dig in deeper and go straight to the source.
Of course these aren’t the only things you can do to expand your costumer-base, but it’s a start. Do some research and investigate all of the other resources that are available to you to ensure that you find costumers and keep them coming back.
About the Author: This guest post is contributed by Katheryn Rivas, who writes for online universities blog. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: katherynrivas87@gmail.com.
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How to Run Your Small Business (Instead of Having Your Small Business Run You)
Owning your own business is like going on a new adventure every day, without knowing where it will take you, what dangers you’ll face along the way, or even whether you’ll make it out alive. That last part depends mostly on the business you’re in, but hey, it can certainly feel like your small business is going to kill you, or at least get the better of you on any given day.
A very close friend of mine, who happens to own his own apparel company, came to me recently, shaken, unshaven, and obviously stressed. He began telling me how he was missing meetings, losing track of time, neglecting personal relationships, and generally forming more bad habits than he could keep up with, on account of his business was taking over his life.
I definitely related to his situation, and then started thinking about ways to help him (and other small business owner like him, myself included).
Here’s what I came up with:
Know How (and When) to Say No
Small business owners should have four legs, we scramble so much. And while the world appreciates our hustle, we often agree very hastily to much more than we can actually take on, in the hopes that we can cut a better deal here, or get more funding there.
Much of this hustle is necessary, but much of it is not. Yes, it is important to make contacts, to pitch your product, and to get funding, but missing meetings because you have too much on your plate is much more damaging to your reputation than saying no ahead of time. If you are feeling like your business is running you instead of the other way around, than examine your current commitments to see which are essential, acknowledge to yourself that it is OK to say no, and then, in the future, say no to the things that aren’t.
Plan Every Second of Your Life
No, I’m not exaggerating. What kills many small business owners is ambiguity in their schedules. Don’t allow this to happen. Get a planner, a journal, a piece of notebook paper, or a napkin — whatever it takes — and write down exactly what you have to do that week, and when you will be doing it. Zero in as microscopically as possible, to the point that you include such details as “eating ham sandwich alone at 12:05,” or “meeting with (x) investor at Starbucks on 1234 Main at 1:39pm.” Specificity in activity and time count. Don’t leave any “wiggle room”; free time is time that is unaccounted for, unless, that is, you schedule it in. See how that works? You can’t feel guilty about free time if you knew you were taking it.
This should go without saying, but often we small business owners need to hear what goes without saying, so: DO NOT VARY FROM THE SCHEDULE. Once it is written, DO IT.
Take Free Time
This is extremely important. There’s a reason the normal work week is only Monday to Friday: Neither the human body nor the human mind were designed to work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. With that in mind, plan some free time, and even some vacation time, into your week. You will be able to focus better, and will feel more in control of your life if you do things outside of running your business, and, best of all, you will be able to run your business better when you are refreshed and thinking clearly.
By the way, after I presented my friend with these strategies, he adopted them, and while I can’t vouch for his business, I can vouch for his health and happiness, and I can say that after following my advice for a few weeks, he looked like a million dollars, and felt like it, too. And you can’t run a business if you feel like anything less.
About the Author: This is a guest post by Eliza Morgan who is a full time blogger. She specializes in writing about business credit cards. You can reach her at: elizamorgan856 at gmail dot com.
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Key SEO Copywriting Tips for Start Ups
Understanding how to utilize the web is a crucial component in the success of a modern start-up. While social media driven businesses are becoming popular, you’re doing yourself a great deal of harm if you neglect the best source of potential customers that exists online: the search engines, and especially Google. SEO (search engine optimization) is the art of gaining high search engine rankings. SEO copywriting is the art of making sure your content not only ranks highly in search engines, but also persuades visitors to your website to buy from you.
Using Keywords on Your Site
Most start-up entrepreneurs have a vague idea that they need to know about “keywords,” but they don’t have a clear understanding of what that means. Here’s a quick breakdown of what you need to know.
Keywords are simply words or phrases that people search for at a search engine like Google. You want to do some keyword research to find out what people are searching for that relates to your product or business. You can use the Google Keyword Tool for an overview, or a paid product like Market Samurai for a more in-depth analysis of keywords.
Each of your web pages should be built around one main keyword phrase and two or three secondary keywords. The main keyword should appear in the Title of the web page, the page URL, the Description, the first headline, and it should make up 1-2% of the body copy. (If you’re using WordPress to build your site, you can make all this a lot easier by installing the All in One SEO Pack plugin).
Crafting Persuasive Web Copy
That’s a basic introduction to keywords – now you also need to understand the psychology of online selling. Just getting people to your site from the search engines isn’t enough – you want them to take some action. That action is called your Most Wanted Response. This could be making a purchase, signing up for an email list, or submitting contact details. It might even be as simple as clicking through to another page on your site. Each page should be written with a Most Wanted Response in mind. With sales pages, the Most Wanted Response is obviously to get an order there and then.
To be persuasive online your site must convey a sense of authority and trust. People are wary of Internet scams, so before anyone will punch their credit card details into your website they need to feel you are “legit.”
Your copy should also emphasize the benefits of what you’re selling rather than just the features. A feature is something the product has – a benefit is something it actually does for the buyer. For instance, if you’re selling a Spanish learning product, you might mention it includes interactive lessons. That’s a feature – but what’s the benefit to the customer? The benefit is that they can take advantage of the fast learning they would have in a class environment, without even having to leave their house.
Every feature corresponds to a benefit – it saves the customer time or money, or it just makes life easier in some way. Emphasize those benefits. Those are what people care about and what will ultimately make them buy.
Pleasing your human visitors should always take priority over making your pages “search engine friendly.” Some people get carried away with the need to get search traffic and they end up creating a lot of low-value content which has no real use to human visitors.
Don’t be one of those people. Stick to creating quality web pages and you’ll reap the benefits in the long run.
About the Author: Tom McSherry is a professional SEO copywriter and the founder of Premium Online Writing. His mission is to provide web businesses with a go-to shop for high quality written marketing materials and information product creation.
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Crowdfunding Your Startup [INFOGRAPHIC]
In a down economy, it’s difficult for entrepreneurs to access the capital needed to build their venture from the ground up. Luckily, projects can now be funded by a powerful combination of the social Internet and generous networks of friends, colleagues, and communities. This model is called “crowdfunding” and is sweeping the startup nation by storm. It seem s to be an entrepreneurs dream,. bit are there problems in the way?
Check out the below infographic on how to navigate the new crowdfunding landscape (click image for larger view).
Click for Larger View
infographic source: drawing a crowd
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Is There Ever a Bad Time To Start a Business?
Do you dream about starting a business, but don’t know if it is the right time? Are you concerned that the economic recovery still has a long way to go, so now might not be the right moment? Are you letting fear stop you from following your dream of owning a business?
Starting a business is something that can be done, no matter the economic climate. You may have to adjust your plan, but if you are savvy enough, you can find the customers your new business needs.
You cannot wait for the perfect time, or you will always be making an excuse as to why now is not the right time. The fear will always be there, so embrace it instead of running from it. Harness your fear and direct it in a positive way to ensure you are making smart decisions and thinking before acting.
The Right Frame Of Mind
The one thing that you need to have before starting a new business is the right frame of mind – the right attitude. If you are not mentally in the game, then don’t even bother. Conceptualizing, forming, growing, and running, a business takes a lot of time and energy, and creates a lot of stress and uncertainty. If your head is not in the game, then your business is doomed to fail from the start.
A great mental attitude can trump your lack of business knowledge. You can always gain knowledge, or hire someone smarter than you, but without passion, you lack the drive to be able to have a successful business. Having the right mindset is something you need before becoming an entrepreneur. You have to believe in yourself, and you have to be willing to sacrifice a lot while you build your company.
The Right Idea
However, the right frame of mind will only get you so far. You also need to have a great concept for a business. This doesn’t mean that your idea for the perfect business has to be something that nobody has heard of before – it just needs to be unique.
While there are probably plenty of unique businesses that have yet to be thought of, you don’t have to be a pioneer in order to be a successful business owner. What you do need is to bring something original to the table. If you are going to compete with existing companies in the marketplace, you have to have your own unique selling point. What makes you different from the other guys? Why would consumers (or businesses) choose you over your competition?
Take The Bull By The Horns
You can analyze yourself to death and never take the first step to realizing your dream of being an entrepreneur. While it would be foolish to throw caution to the wind, quit your day job and devote all of your energy to starting a business, there is nothing to say that you can’t commit to moving forward as quickly as you can, under your current circumstances.
Figure out what type of business you want to start, and assuming it isn’t a totally unique concept that the world has never seen, figure out how your business is going to be able to set itself apart from the competition. Commit to yourself that you are going to actually become a business owner sometime in the foreseeable future.
Don’t procrastinate any longer thinking now isn’t the right time to move forward. You have the power to convince yourself the time is never right. You also have the power to take control and move past your fears. Working for yourself is like nothing else. Why would you want to delay this opportunity any longer?
About the Author: Marshall Davis runs Business Service Reviews, a website where small business owners and budding entrepreneurs can learn about products and services to help them become more successful. Read his blog and learn more about becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Photo Credit: milos milosevic
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4 Lessons Learned From Mistakes of Internet Past
The speculative bubble of “dot com” era was a period of rapid growth followed by a significant decline between 1995 and 2000. Many of the companies that prospered during this brief explosion relied on venture capital and initial public offerings to cover expenses.
They valued growth over profitability which later led to significant problems. Companies soared to incredible heights on paper with little actual value, leading to numerous repercussions in the financial world. Even at the time, one didn’t need a PhD to see the problems in online businesses, Companies of today may learn from the mistakes of this time.
1. Using IPOs and Venture Capital for Expenses
Many successful businesses such as Amazon.com, Google, and eBay survived the dot com era. Amazon and Google in particular relied on IPOs and venture capital for expenses, used the free spending strategy, and valued growth over making a profit in the first few years as their stocks soared exponentially. During this time, the founders mostly had no income. Many people profited from this speculative wealth that ultimately led to crash. Educated investors knew the crash was coming and thus profited from the companies’ growth and got out before the stock market crashed. Companies should have a plan for profitability and capital for expenses to avoid this pitfall.
2. Failure to Develop a Solid Business Plan
Businesses should develop plans that include strategies to become profitable within a short time. Investors are more astute since the ’90s’ dot com bubble, and are less likely to invest in companies when the stock prices are overvalued and the fundamentals aren’t favorable. Profitable business plans should include a strategy for marketing, sales, product development, and asset acquisition. Without both long-term and short-term strategy, businesses will fall victim to using the Internet for growth with little concern for their sustainability.
Dot-com-era business all had similar business plans essentially promoting a monopoly in each particular sector. Ultimately, this strategy would allow only one company to emerge successfully and the majority would fail. Moreover, some businesses’ ideas simply didn’t pan out. For instance, online retailers didn’t consider that huge shipping costs would deter users. Their business plans and models were not well researched and didn’t anticipate potential problems that e-commerce would bring, but just relied on the momentum of the public to propel the ideas.
Businesses with novel ideas that will change the way people interact in the world should recognize that these ideas are not developed instantaneously. Many companies have become seemingly successful overnight, but other vital events happened to prepare them for this success. Every company should recognize that not every idea will be profitable immediately.
3. Free Spending
Venture capitalists were freely giving money to business owners, and business owners were freely spending it in turn. They purchased lavish items for the business, took expensive trips, and stayed in luxury hotels. Executives were paid in stock options as opposed to cash. Many of the founders became instant millionaires after the IPO, then founded more dot com companies to repeat the cycle of empty explosive growth. Businesses need to spend prudently until they become actually, sustainably profitable.
4. Predictive Tools Not Used
Many business owners mistakenly expected the adoption of the Internet to be immediate. Current and historical data should be gathered and analyzed to avoid similar mistakes with other new technologies. Numerous tools have been developed since that time to help investors and business owners analyze the market. With these tools, business owners may better be able to identify ideas that don’t have the potential for longevity.
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These are just a few problems that occurred during the dot com era that were detrimental to companies. From the business plan designed to create monopoly to the lack of use of predictive tools for success, the dot com era was plagued with mistakes. The self-made millionaires of the time might disagree, as well as companies such as eBay, Amazon, and Google that survived the crash and continued as internet giants. They are, though, the exceptions, not the rule. In general, businesses should adhere to basic models and principles with proven success rates, even if a lucky few have managed to shoot the moon.
About the Author: Elaine Hirsch is kind of a jack-of-all-interests, from education and
history to medicine and videogames. This makes it difficult to choose just one life path, so she is currently working as a writer for various education-related sites and writing about all these things
instead.
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Are you clear about your Business Idea?
Having worked with a startup since quite some time now, I have realized that one does not need to know rocket science to be an entrepreneur. You just have to plan and plan well. Right from the ideation stage to the execution to the allocation of your resources, all your activities should be planned well. Your idea need not be revolutionary in order for you to start; it just has to be in place!
Do You Lack Clarity?
One key reason why most startups fail is due to the lack of this clarity. ‘What do you want to achieve through this endeavor? What solution are you attempting to provide? Who are your target customers?’ – these are some crucial questions which need to be answered before you venture out.
These questions might seem redundant at the beginning but eventually you will realize that the answers to these questions hold the key to your success. As your venture grows, there would be different teams pulling and pushing this idea in different directions- your marketing team will have a different understanding of your product/service, your product team will have a different approach. At such a juncture your vision of the product/service is important to bring everybody on the same plane. Each team might be right in their own way and (without sounding too skeptical) might be thinking about the good of the organization, but there is only so much that can be achieved with the resourceson hand.
Don’t Be Led Astray
With new technologies coming up and new segments joining your target group, the lure to deviate from your core idea will be very strong. You will always find a better website, a better team and a better technology in the similar field of business and you would be tempted to incorporate their ideas into yours. This might be detrimental to your core idea. I am not suggesting do not take inspiration, I am just saying do not lose out on your key focus.
The clearer you are about your product/service, the easier it will be for you to steer your team in the right direction. Remember you cannot be everything to everybody but you can always be something to somebody!
About the Author: Shilpi Choudhury is a SEO, Social Media and Business Blogger based out of Bangalore, India. She is currently working for Vavia Technologies, Bangalore, specialists in developing Web and Mobile Applications.
Photo Credit: rachaelvoorhees
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The Safest Small Business Startup Strategies Are Virtual, Guerrilla, and Flexible
Our continually struggling economy, at least on ground-level, is sending aspiring entrepreneurs mixed messages. On one hand, there’s enormous incentive to stake your claim at a time when competition is low and human resources are high.On the other hand, the still-unknowable future state of our national and global economies is enough to intimidate even the most ardent of entrepreneurs.
While we often can’t make up our minds as to whether to invest our capital into budding businesses or stow it away in StorageMart lockers for fear of an economic Armageddon, there are ways to make your enterprising dreams come true while minimizing the risk of these uncertain times:
Virtualization
The lingering frailty of the real estate market means that at any moment another crisis could lead to rising rent as mortgages skyrocket. For start-ups renting office space, this could devastate the budget for monthly expenses. In addition, the cost of furnishings and supplies takes their toll on limited income too. Considering the prevalence of cloud computing and mobile Internet connectivity, start-ups should forgo a centralized work environment in favor of a remote operation. The benefits of an office fail to apply to young small businesses in an age when the Internet is the primary means people research goods and services.
Guerrilla Marketing
Guerrilla marketing tactics center on the idea that the modern public responds better to seemingly off-the-cuff promotions and brand awareness. It’s also a conveniently cheaper way of executing large-scale marketing campaigns than traditional means such as television and radio. Guerrilla marketing takes some serious creativity, because, in essence, its got to be a purely original approach to spreading awareness about your goods and services. It does, however, keep you from having to invest large volumes of cash up front for more mainstream campaigns through pricey marketing agencies.
Flexibility
The main objective is to make your business practices elastic in their necessity. Young businesses need the ability to change pace or strategy without the added expenses of increases in marketing and further investment in company assets. You’re going to want to change some of the things you do because every small business start-up makes mistakes. You want to make sure these inevitable mistakes don’t result in major setbacks due to the added cost of fixing them when your business model is set in stone.
Don’t hold back on a great small business idea at a time when the best thing you can do for yourself and for your country is to do your part to help get the economy’s wheels turning again. But at the same time, don’t set yourself up for potential failure by investing large amounts up front when you can succeed just as easily by practicing a Spartan business lifestyle. Offices and expensive marketing can always come later.
About the Author: This article was contributed by Riley Kissel.
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So You’ve Got an Idea – Now What? 8 Foolproof Steps from Idea to Implementation
If you’re reading this blog, you probably had the realization at some point in your life that you could do it better. Maybe you were working for someone, and realized that there was a better way to run the business. Or maybe you were using a product and had a flash of insight about how to improve it. Or perhaps you had a brilliant idea for a product that could change the world.
But you’re realistic. You know things are never as easy as they seem. You’re willing to gamble your time and money on your idea, but what’s the first step towards realizing your dream? And how do you make sure you don’t lose all your money on a business that ends up failing?
Where to Focus?
The answer is to focus on the customer, not the product. It’s easiest to demonstrate this approach by example. Let’s say I have an idea for a new kind of recipe site, designed specifically for professional chefs. Before spending thousands of dollars building the site and creating all the content, I would go and talk to chefs and ask what they would like to see in a recipe site. I’d look for forums or Facebook groups for chefs and ask for ideas. I’d put my vision out and try to get feedback. And I’d do all of this before building the product at all.
Testing, Testing…
So now I’ve got a sense of how to build this amazing recipe site. My instinct might be to build out a huge site now and have a big release party in 6 months. But what if everybody was excited about it on forums and interviews, but nobody wants to pay? Or what if, when the site is actually built, it turns out to not really work the way people want it to? That’s where the idea of a minimal viable product comes in. Once you feel like you have a basic handle on your customer, create the minimum experience you need in order to test if you’re on the right path. For my recipe site, I might just create a site for desserts, with plans to expand into other meals if it goes well. I might have a very rudimentary billing system, and only the most important of my site’s future features.
Crowdsource and Improve
Once you’ve got some people using your product or service, you’ll have a better understanding of where to go. So far, I haven’t spent too much time or money on my recipe site, so if it turns out it’s a flop, I haven’t lost everything. I can talk to my customers and find out what’s going wrong: Do they have a hard time finding the recipes? Do they like the site but not want to pay as much as I’m charging? Or is the whole idea just not something they’re interested in?
If the answer to the last question is “yes”, it’s a disappointing day, but at least I haven’t wasted a huge amount of time and money. But otherwise, I’ve learned a lot from talking to our first customers. Now I can make changes – changes I probably never would have thought of myself, or changes I thought were unimportant but that my customers really value.
8 Foolproof Steps from Idea to Implementation
The process in its entirety looks like this:
1. Have an idea.
2. Talk to potential customers about the idea.
3. Build a minimal viable product or experience.
4. Get customers.
5. Learn what they like and don’t like.
6. Make changes.
7. Repeat 4-6 until you have a business people are steadily buying from.
If you get to 7, congratulations! It’s time for:
8. Scale out your business and grow like crazy.
The fallacy that too many entrepreneurs fall for is thinking that step 8 comes before step 3. They think (and I’ve thought this, too!) that, if they could just build the perfect product or service, the customers will come. In fact, you need to have the customers in order to know what the perfect product even is.
If you’d like to read more about these ideas, check out Steve Blank’s Four Steps to Epiphany and Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup.
About the Author: Michael Kaiser-Nyman is the CEO and founder of Impact Dialing, an easy to use power dialer and hosted predictive dialer for small businesses, call centers, and political campaigns.
Photo Credit: Roomic Cube
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3 Tips for Startups to Survive
No matter how good the idea is or how much money startups have, they have to first think of survival before they entertain thoughts of success; it’s not that easy to float a company today, simply because the competition is fierce and most spheres of business are saturated and overcrowded. Read more
Running a Small Business From Your Home: 8 Ways to Make it Work
‘Start small’ has always been my mantra in my years of coaching start ups and emerging entrepreneurs. It may feel unambitious to run a business from your home but it has many dividends. It helps you have time to ‘test the waters’ without racking up unnecessary overheads as a start up. It also allows you time to make your mistakes and fine tune that business model you had all nicely painted in you business plan or executive summary.
So go ahead and try to work from home and if you are already at it, lets take a look at how to excel at it.
Get Dressed and Go To Work!
‘But I am at home and besides no one can see me through the telephone ‘, you may say but the very act of getting up in the morning and getting ready to sit in your work area and do some uninterrupted work will boost your work morale and get your innovative juices flowing.
One of the mistakes home based entrepreneurs make is being too informal about their work ethic; that is one robber of time and MONEY.
Look The Part
Remind yourself often the reason why you left paid employment or college, for that matter, to pursue this dream of yours. Don’t allow yourself come across as slouchy and unprofessional. When you are meeting leads or prospective clients, you want them to register some trust in your ability to do what you say you do. ‘You are addressed by the way you are dressed’, one of my mentors always said.
Create A Sanctuary
It may be a desk in the dining area or a cleared out space in the garage, designate a place where you can work on your computer, write down ideas and keep revolving documents. Let other people in your home know and respect this place as your thinking spot. Even the children can understand this, just let them know.
Obey the Routine
Write out your daily schedule and use that to create a roaster which will form the blue print of how you operate. Everything from time for follow up phone calls to time spent online or days and times for hitting the road for some networking etc. Whether your a service provider or manufacturer this can work for you. An entrepreneur has told me he works a mandatory 14 hours everyday and that’s any 14 hours! You can try that if it suits your lifestyle, some personality types work better that way.
Tone Down the Distractions
No need fixing the conference call with your manufacturer and accountant at a time when, for instance, the children are back from school or the cleaning lady is hoovering. Keep the distractions at bay when you are working or better still work from a nearby coffee shop when there is work being done in the house or other similar one off distraction.
Meet the Clients!
Although some traditional professions like accounting and law frown at it, going to meet your client rather than them coming to you may just work very well for entrepreneurs, even ones who have ‘big’ offices. I find that it helps bridge the formality gap and it helps you see your client in his own environment and often helps to meet his need better, given the extra feel of his personality you may be getting from such visits.
Be Honest
If you are a start up and this company is just you for now, say so. It is absolutely unnecessary to say ‘we’ when speaking about your business. You should say ‘I’. If you are good at what you do and deliver on your promises you won’t need to amp the capacity of your business by saying ‘we’.
Also ‘underpromise and overdeliver’ has been said for years and it still holds true. The customer is always delighted when results are delivered earlier than stated.
Be Memorable
Because there are many other event planners, web designers or software developers everywhere you turn, it should be a priority to make yourself memorable …… in a good way that is.
You are the face of your start up, even where a prospect does not end up an actual client, let them remember the experience of interacting with you. They may just call you again. Being respectful, personable or playing the charm card is not a sign of a lack of confidence, on the contrary it shows you know who you are and what you can deliver.
About the Author: Cynthia Obioma Ezeani has worked extensively in Nigeria coaching start ups and emerging entrepreneurs since 2006. She currently resides in Massachusetts.
Photo Credit: Roland
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Small Business Start-Up Priority #1: Your Office Desk
The Small Business Boom
With all the funding available these days for starting your own business, it is no wonder so many people are choosing to do so. And with so many new businesses around, it is important to ensure that you have the edge it takes to draw a profit in your market. For any business the bottom line is of paramount importance but for a business start-up even more so.
The smart way to surviving and prospering in the early years is by spending the necessary time planning and making smart investments.
Your principal, whether it consists of loans or your own saved cash, is the fuel that will get your business off the ground. The more you invest initially, the longer it will take for you to start turning out profits, but the more properly equipped for success you will be, assuming you plan well.
Your Office Set Up
Most home office set-up investments are used to purchase a few basic things:
A personal computer
An office desk
Peripherals (printers, scanners, extra speakers, fax machines, etc.)
Other job-specific necessities (computer programs, envelopes, etc.)
Of these, the most consistently needed are the first two: a computer and a desk. With the speed at which technology is constantly changing and developing, it is important to know what to look for in a computer, fortunately there is lots of information out there to help you with your PC purchase. Office desks, on the other hand, serve a more basic, less complex function, but there is surprisingly little to be found in the way of advice about this essential purchase, this is what I would like to spend some time on in this article.
When Shopping For an Office Desk
Keep in mind every aspect of your business throughout the process of shopping for your desk. Ideally you need to know how much business you expect to be doing, what the realistic requirements of that business would be, how much time you intend to spend at your desk each day and doing what tasks, and what your relationships with your customers and associates will be like.
A Desk That Speaks Success
Ultimately, the customer is the most important element in the success of any business. The more personable your business appears to your customers, the more likely they will be to choose your product or service.
So of course having an attractive office desk is important where you have a business that requires you to be meeting customers in person on a regular basis. An executive desk may well be your best bet, a Dmi executive desk for instance. Typically a traditional desk in Cherry Veneer, Mahogany or Walnut Veneer will do wonders for your credibility.
Some businesses, however, are run entirely online, and if this is the case then your top priority is that your desk be functional.
You can save a lot of money by buying a more plain-looking contemporary office desk, but which is also packed full of features, like; a hutch, under the desk storage space, grommets for cable management, lateral files, adjustable shelves, keyboard tray and computer tower storage.
The Right Desk for the Job
I reality your choice may not be as clear cut as I have suggested here. That’s to say you may never be receiving customers in your office but you may like to have something that still looks good. There are some nice metal and glass office desks which are inexpensive and offer great functionality.
There is an enormous range of available desks tailored to every imaginable function; in order to know what desk is right for you, you have to make a lot of decisions about what exactly your business is going to do. How extensive will your customer relations be? Will you correspond via email, telephone, fax, conventional mail, or all of these? Will you be shipping packages regularly? How much storage space will you be needing?
Each of these decisions has implications concerning what you will need in a desk, and under-planning by overlooking any of these details can be a costly mistake at worst and a pain in the rear end at best.
Used office desks are not easy to sell, and new ones are not cheap to buy. Make sure you know what equipment besides a personal computer your desk will have to accommodate.
You Know What Desk Is Best for You
While all of these factors are important, there is another overriding one, the way you feel about the desk you are thinking of purchasing. Starting your own businesses is one of the hardest things you can do. If you are serious about doing it without getting burnt out, you need to be satisfied with your work environment. Having the right office desk improves your attitude toward your business, increasing your chances for success.
Finally, because of the long hours required of entrepreneurs, it is important that you find a desk that fits your body type. Injuries related to computer use and other tasks that involve repetitive motions of the hands are no joke. The last thing you need is constant pain holding you back from accomplishing all you are capable of in your market. Take your time and find the right desk for you.
About the Author
Lloyd Burrell is an expert in office desk furniture and other office-related subjects and he is also publisher of the leading office desk review website. Lloyd is British, but currently lives on the West Coast of France with his wife and two children. His hobbies include traveling, enjoying French cuisine and culture, and keeping fit. Whether you are wanting to buy a DMI executive office desk or a ready to assemble office desk, Lloyd can help you find the right product for you.
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