So you’re looking to be that person… That person that runs a start-up or that person that decided to leave their security and work for a start-up… You’re that person that is taking the massive risk in a crazy new game!
Well first off, hats off to you! You are stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something new – You’re ready to take on a new challenge. You might be unsure of what to do exactly to take the next step. You know you need to grow – but you want to grow the right way. You’re ready for the next step, but you definitely don’t want to go on the wrong path.
Bottom line, you know there is something you don’t know, which is great! Why is it great you may ask?
Because the only thing worse than being blind, is being blind and thinking you can see. When you know you need to learn, your eyes are open to knowledge and you’re ready to welcome any new insights. The fascinating thing is that with knowledge comes control, and with control comes income…
So the question of course is: What do, as a start-up need to know?
First of all, what is a start-up? How would you define the word “start-up”?
We’d say that a start-up is a group of people that want to take something from an idea to an actuality; and from an actuality to a viable business.
This can be a long or a short process, but once the business is on its feet and is viable, you are officially out of the start-up phase. The sad news is that most businesses around the world and throughout history never get out of this start-up phase.
Why? What is it you don’t know? What mistakes are you potentially making?
That’s the subject of this blog and we hope it provides some shifts in your point of view on what to do to take your start-up to the next level.
See below several basic rules that we advise start-ups to take, to help correct or improve your strategy:
Let’s start with the first thing every start-up needs to know:
YOU MUST MAKE INCOME DAY ONE
What?? Impossible! There is no way!
There is most definitely a way!
Most start-ups get choked on “perfecting the product”, endless development, super in-depth quality control, while never selling anything.
Get selling! Just start! You need to start right away with selling your product. Get it out there! Don’t wait. Make income day one!
QUANTITY IS ALWAYS MORE IMPORTANT THAN QUALITY
This is true for almost every aspect of any new business, but let’s highlight marketing.
What cripples most people’s marketing is over-focusing on quality. QUANTITY of marketing is what actually brings about results. Quality is nice to have and nice to always improve on, but it is not nearly as important as the quantity. In a start-up, you need quantity to bring about brand awareness.
Remember: COMMUNICATION OUT = COMMUNICATION IN
The only factor which determines how much communication is coming in, how much income is coming in, how many leads are coming in…. is determined solely by “How much communication we put out”.
If you don’t have enough communication coming in, you need to communicate out, which is essentially marketing! You can’t expect your business to become known without marketing.
STAY UPBEAT
You and your team must, must, must stay upbeat. You must keep your spirits high.
There will be tough weeks, long weeks, challenging weeks. But every single day, you need to bring the enthusiasm and the excitement in yourself and in your group!
Anyone on your team that hits the brakes in any way, brings the whole team down, so needs to ideally be removed from the team. It’s not worth the dead weight. Remember that your team makes your business.
SURVIVE WITH LESS
The final point is that a start-up must know how to survive with less. Even if you have a million-dollar fund behind you, you need to behave financially as if you are broke.
So many start-ups think they need more. They don’t start before they have invested R25,000 into their website. Before they have bought fancy computers. Before they paid for glossy business cards. Before they got the office with the sea view.
No.
At the beginning especially, you must survive with less, not more. 99% of the time, what you have is enough. Not only can you survive with you what you have, you can thrive with it.
So these are the starting points.
Of course we can talk about each point much more. Of course there is more to know about start-ups, such as: How to acquire funding, if you even need funding, exact marketing strategies and whether you should be on Instagram or TikTok, how to manage expenses, how to hire or fire, and on and on…
There is a lot more to learn. But these fundamentals should assist in shifting your viewpoint to some degree to ensure you ACT and get RESULTS first.
