Advice from our members—tips for start-ups
Starting up your own business is an exciting affair. To potentially watch a life-long dream become a reality is always a precious sight. Nowadays, it appears that more and more entrepreneurs are taking the plunge giving their ideas a chance at the big leagues.
However, startups can be tricky to manage and can be a slight struggle for those entering the business world for the first time. So, where do you start? What should you do and/or avoid before launching your brand?
Here at Glandore, we are fortunate enough to have a fantastic network of industry professionals and business experts who have all founded or dealt with startups in the past. We’ve reached out to some of these members to help offer some useful advice for those looking to get their start-up off the ground.
1. What advice would you give someone thinking of starting their own business?
Following the feedback we received, one of the biggest pieces of advice was to focus on your brand with a singular purpose.
Essentially, do one thing well rather than taking on too much. Your brand is your currency. You want it to hold value, not just to yourself but to potential customers and clients.
Once you develop your core product, one that reflects your brand as a whole, then you can branch off into other ventures. Use your core product to get your foot in the door before investing in other projects.
2. What key traits does an entrepreneur need to be successful?
An entrepreneur requires a multitude of different traits in order to survive in in this industry. However, if you had to narrow one key trait that trumps others, the majority of business owners agree that it is creativity.
Being a creative entrepreneur is important in order to stand out from the competition. At the start, you may find yourself as the CEO, the sales rep and the marketing exec until you find a suitable individual to take the role. Therefore you need to be able to come up with your creative marketing strategies as well as innovative sales strategies.
In wearing many hats in your business, you should be able to find unique solutions to any problems and obstacles that may arise. In differentiating yourself from the competition and finding your unique selling point (USP), creativity can go a long way.
3. What is the one thing startups should avoid?
There are unfortunately a lot of pitfalls you need to avoid when setting up your own business. You will most likely make a number of mistakes on your way to success, but understanding where you fell is just as important as getting it right.
According to our members, the one thing that you need to avoid at all costs is overscaling too quickly. This usually happens when a startup raises their required funds and squanders it all by either hiring too many staff or going over their office rental budget.
You have to remember, until you know you can make a steady income to cover your overheads, you cannot make any rash decisions with money. Start small and remain small, until you have the resources and support to scale your business.
4. What makes a startup successful?
Success can be easy for some but a nightmare for others. However, both class of entrepreneurs are sure to have one thing in common: commitment.
As a business owner, you need to be able to fully commit to a startup business in order to take it off the ground. If that means taking on three roles at once than so be it. You need to be the one driving the idea from the ground up; putting every drop of focus and energy you have into your start-up in order to turn your vision into reality.
You must commit to chasing every lead, every sales contact, and every potential investor to help grow your business. After all, it is those who keep their eyes on the bigger prize that are the ones who end up becoming successful.