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If you feel called to start a business, you probably know you have your work cut out for you. There are, of course, some things you know, but there’s going to be a constant influx of new information as you find your sea legs. The following will explore four vital tips for new entrepreneurs at the moment. The goal here is to help you build a solid foundation from which to launch your business no matter what field or industry you work in.
Photo by Kristin Wilson on Unsplash
Strategize, Strategize, Strategize
First and foremost, when you’re looking to launch a business, you need to get really clear on what your business is, why you’re doing it, and how you plan on doing it. Are you going to need to make adjustments to the plan as you go along? Absolutely. But without a plan, you’re far more likely to flounder, waste time and money, and make unnecessary mistakes. Start with your business mission and expand upon it. Ask yourself what your ultimate goal with the business is and write out a detailed response that is at least a paragraph long; it’s okay if this question starts a several-hour journaling session. You need to know where you’re going if you’re going to craft a strategy to get you there.
Once you have a firm outline of where you’d like your business to end up, you need to start working backward. Identify the steps and milestones between where you are now and where you’re trying to go. Some of the steps will be super obvious. If you want to sell things online, for instance, you’re probably going to need to have an online storefront. As you expand upon these steps, however, you’re likely going to find some gaps in your understanding of the industry or your business. This is where research comes in.
Take the time to scour the internet for the intermediary steps between the milestones you’re aware of. If you decide at some point that you need a newsletter with a few thousand subscribers, for instance, you might find yourself with questions about how to get subscribers. Do your research and fill out the steps between no subscribers and some subscribers.
It’s important that while you’re doing this, you’re constantly cross-referencing the steps you’re writing down with your long-term goal and asking whether this will actually contribute to you getting there. You also need to feel out each step. If something feels wrong or misaligned to you, do more research; there might be alternatives that better suit your business or personality.
Meet The Legal Standards
This point often gets overlooked, but depending on where you live, there could be incredibly strict guidelines that need to be followed if you want to start a business. This includes following the appropriate regulations for company formation as well as meeting all the legal requirements that come with your particular industry, like certifications. If you’d like to have a physical location where customers can visit you and shop or make appointments, you will probably also have standards you have to meet in regards to the equipment you use and the steps you take to protect staff and clients within the building.
Not only will meeting your legal requirements keep you from getting into trouble (neither hefty fines nor criminal proceedings are ideal when you’re launching a business), but it will also serve to protect you from personal problems should something go wrong within your business. It’s a good idea to have at least one consultation with a lawyer to make sure you’re meeting all requirements. It’s also important to understand that when it comes to legal standards for data collection, data privacy, and digital marketing, things are changing rapidly. What was a completely legal practice two months ago might not be allowed any longer. Be careful when reading articles about data collection if they are more than a year old.
Address Emotions And Thoughts
This is the part no one tells you about. Yes, you’ve heard that starting a business is hard and it’s going to take hard work, but you probably haven’t been told that a huge percentage of the work is going to be internal. When you’re starting a business, you’re constantly going to come up against your own self-limiting beliefs, and when you do, things will get super uncomfortable super quick. Your instinct will be to suppress the emotions or thoughts or avoid the trigger altogether. Neither of these approaches works long term. If you’re going to manage a successful business, you’re going to have to tackle things like your scarcity mindset, your fear of failure, your inability to ask for help—whatever your buttons are, your business is going to press them.
When discomfort arises, acknowledge it. Never minimize the feeling. Saying something validating to yourself like: I’m feeling anxious right now. And that makes perfect sense because I really care about this meeting, and I don’t want to mess it up. Thank the discomfort for arising and for reminding you to take things seriously or avoid potential pitfalls. And then find an example, either in your own life or in someone else’s, where what you’re facing worked out. Pay special attention to limiting thoughts like: I’d only be able to bring in those numbers if I had rich parents giving me capital. The moment you have a thought like that, you need to find an example that proves it false.
Photo by Roberto Nickson on Unsplash
Measure Everything, Study Your Results, Make Changes, Repeat
As you progress into the world of business, one of the best things you can do for yourself is measure everything you do. You should have a daily log of money in, money out, energy levels, problems encountered, stressors present, accomplishments, and a little blurb about how you felt about it all. This way, every time you take action, you’ll have a breakdown of the impacts of that action. At the end of every day, week, month, and quarter review all this data and make the appropriate changes to your approach to reflect what you’ve learned.
The above tips might not be the typical advice you get when starting a business, but each is absolutely vital in today’s business environment. If you get really discouraged at any point, just hop onto Goodreads and look up one-star reviews for the best books of all time. No matter what you’re working on, there’s going to be someone who doesn’t get it. That doesn’t mean your business is not worthwhile, so keep going!
