Hey Everyone
I have been thinking about this for quite a while and decided to share my success after failure story with you.
I've always been a very ambitious person, whereas I try to push myself to the limits, nothing has always been good enough for me which has led me to believe that I CAN start a very successful business. I didn't know much about business, only the product&service that I was about to deliver.
There I was, on my first day in my brand spanking new office and three eager looking employees...sipping on my freshly brewed coffee..I look out my office window and thought about how much money I was going to make...hmmmmm....month end came and went, why wasn't my bank account ticking over and why was my investment decreasing at a rapid pace...Maybe I need to spend more money on advertising (light bulb moment) People need to be aware of my product. Ok so I go to my white-board and start drawing the money making marketing plan that will surely save this business from going under within the first two months. I soon realized that I wasn't the only business delivering this product and that I should focus on what will make it sell and why people should go for my product instead of my competitors.
This didn't really work out since I soon found out the hard way that it wasn't about my price point nor my product, but instead it was about my credibility and the fact that I was the "new kid on the block" which made it almost impossible to become profitable within the first six months, by looking for new clients. I managed to sign quite a few deals and business was suddenly doing great. The problem is since I had this nice office and employees sitting and doing almost nothing for the last six months, there was a massive amount of debt that I incurred over this period of time. This killed all the profit that I was making and put everything that I worked for at a massive risk.
Unfortunately due to some small and big mistakes that was made, the business had to close down after a year due to financial reasons. I don't take failure very well and this almost killed me, since I scrutinized every minor failure and turned it back to my own personal identity...maybe I should have tried harder...maybe I should not have slept for six hours, but only for two hours...I went into a bit of a depressed state and thought that I can never attempt anything again in my life as it will inevitably end up in failure...I started drinking in the morning till late at night...I found my life falling apart right in front of my eyes because of this failure...I woke up the one evening and realized that I was looking at this failure from a completely wrong angle and that I should rather look at the positive...Yeah right, what positive results could there have come from a failed business...something that was your baby...your entire life depended on this...what positivity could come from it...wait...I have made all these mistakes and can now look at them from a "third party" perspective and realize the mistakes that I have made and then advise others on what not to do...
My best friend approached me a few months later and wanted to start his own business...I was eager to assist him, since I knew what the stumbling blocks were of achieving success or trying to...He followed my advise carefully and after 18Months he stepped back and was the proud owner of a very successful business...this was quite a heart felt moment as it felt like his success was partly due to my failure...
My List of Business choices that you should consider, when starting your own business
1)Don't quit your day job.
This sounds like quite a strange one, how can you expect me to run my own business and still work full-time. Well it's pretty easy, if you run your own business full-time you need to know that you will be responsible for your salary at the end of the month. Normally you would start with no clients and would need to scratch around to find money to pay for your expenses (groceries, rent, car, gas money, family responsibilities etc.)
BUT
If you start your business whilst working at your currently company then you don't have to stress about making ends meat without any clients (provided your current company are 100% happy with your new business) This will give you the much needed breather whilst you build your clientèle and have a good income before pursuing it full-time.
2)Monthly Expenses and keeping them as low as possible.
We all want a nice office, the latest phone, laptop and coffee machine...after all it's about image right?? Well as much as that's what you want, it's not a must have which is what we need to distinguish between. You need to start your business off with as little as possible, a cheap phone and a single sales person is all you need..You can run your business from home and you can fill all the roles..for example, sales, marketing and technical all-in-one. You need to spend as little as possible whilst your business is still in it's growing stages. I made this mistake by hiring employees too early in the game, whereas I should have done all the work myself and rather hired them once I have a sustainable business.
3)Know your competition and what sets you apart from them.
One of the biggest challenges of starting any business, would be to go up against your competition...especially if it's a product that everyone is doing. It doesn't make sense that you are going to make a fortune by doing the exact same thing that everyone else is doing...so you should just give up...DEFINITELY NOT!! But what I am referring to, is simply to make yourself stand out from the rest. Instead of selling a product, sell a solution which comes with a product...when promoting your product, don't introduce it as a laptop or a new microwave...rather introduce it as a way of cooking your food faster and healthier or are you having endless problems with equipment that keep on breaking and don't stand by their name...well that's what makes us stand out from the crowd, we go far behind the call of duty, by delivering quality products & service that we are proud of. If you don't believe us, put us to the test (for example)
4)NETWORK....NETWORK.....NETWORK!!!
I know you have heard of the say "it's not about what you know, but who you know" I would say that it's not about what you know OR who you know, but it's about who knows you...Let's say for example, someone knocked on my door and they were selling a vacuum cleaner, I might get to know that person who might pursway me to purchase that product, but I would be skeptical to do so...How about if I already knew the company or the person that offered the vacuum to me in the first place, the conversation would've been completely different since I would've recognized the person or the product that they were selling...I would've gone..ahhh yes I have seen this product before and read it's reviews, I believe in this product and will definitely feel more at ease to buy it...signed, sealed and delivered...
5)Don't let pride stand between yourself and success
We all have pride which is a good thing to have, but at the end of the day we should remember that to get from Point A (Starting Business) to Point B (Successful Business) we have to offer not only our time, but we have to be humble towards our circumstances. People intend to respond more to a start-up whereas the owner has humility, than to a start-up where the owner is arrogant and expect you to buy his product, simply because "IT'S THE BEST"
6)Have a vision and stop at nothing to achieve it
One of the most important things to have is a vision for your company. If you don't know where you would like to be in five or ten years time, then you don't know where you are working towards. You also need to have a never give up attitude...never procrastinate, have the mentality of come hell of high water, this task will be completed today, regardless of what you have to do...
Following the above mentioned, isn't guaranteed to turn your business successful, but it definitely helped my friend to achieve his goals...remember that it's not about how many times you fail, but how you learn from your failures, approach them in the best positive way and move forward..
I would be happy to chat to anyone that are thinking of starting their own business, especially in the tech industry :) as I have experienced the "do's & dont's first hand"
As a business owner myself I agree with this article! I am teaching more than 300,000 students and this article has been very helpful!
I am very glad that I could provide valuable information. I dont mind doing a live talk or Q&A if that would help, maybe when you have a webinar next etc. Please shout if I can assist in any way and I will gladly do so :)
Thank you for your response and being willing to help! If I have any specifics I will surly let you know :)
A strategy that takes your business to the next level with fewer challenges, no matter what your goal is, you may want to increase your business, it may be that you are looking for huge money or you are in your industry Wanted to be famous. When we say business, a strategy comes automatically with a business. The proper planning of your business is often called business strategy or business planning; However, the business plan is slightly different
The only difference between those who fail and those who succeed is basically persistence.
I couldn't agree with you more! This has been an absolute eye opener and thus I can push forward towards my next venture knowing what to expect
I love the point about not quitting your job. Too many people just leave their jobs and then realise they are up the creek without a paddle.
Ohh yes absolutely, at the end of the day we have to think twice before acting because of how the economy doesn't really favor the chance takers. If you ask anyone who started a business 10 years back, they would tell you a completely different story than people that started a business a few years back.
Great post @philip.willemse! I ´m sure all this information will be useful for me. Thank you very much for posting it. Greetings from Venezuela!
Awesome glad I could help :) are you planning to start your own exciting venture?
something like that, but it´s complicated. I´m still thinking of it, how to perform it.
Hahaha shame man..cant be that hectic, I have contacts in many industries, shout if i can assist
Great post @philip.willemse
Gives me motivation in what I'm about to do
Upvoted
Awesome, I am very happy about that :) good luck with your venture and if I can assist in any way don't hesitate to ask.
This post has received a 4.49 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @philip.willemse.
Wao! Thank you for this timely and life saving article.
It just save me from quiting my job.
More grease to your elbow
I am really glad that it helped you, if you can make a difference in at least one persons life a day then you know you are doing something right :)
Good post, very well written. Thanks for sharing :) Keep on Steeming.
Thanks @firepower for the vote of confidence, much appreciated :)
Very useful and very inspiring,
More enthusiasm for success in many ways
Thank brother @philip.willemse
Thanks @mohd.ichsan I appreciate the positive feedback :)
Great article @philip.willemse! I've created my own small business (with a colleague) almost 3 years ago and the thing that saved us so far was your nº2: keep monthly expenses as low as possible! No fancy cellphone, no fancy décor, just the basic to keep the thing running :)
Thats awesome that you guys are still in the game :) if you dont mind me asking, what type of business did you start?
Psychology and Neuropsychology services. A difficult business to maintain but if we keep our marketing going on and our low expenses, I think we can continue growing. Also, word-of-mouth is really important around here!