For many of us, launching our first startup is a dream come true. Not only do we get the chance to be our own boss, but do so in an industry that we love and want to help grow. And if you can believe it or not, there’s no better time than right now to start making an impact with your own company. However, that’s why I’m giving you a few pointers on how to get started. Check them out below:
Come Up With A Solid Idea Others Can Understand
A significant mistake a lot of first time entrepreneurs make is that they assume everyone else will simply automatically understand their idea. This not only alienates their audience but limits the amount of word-of-mouth marketing that could be spread. Plus, the more simple an idea is to explain, the more likely it stands to be successful because as noted by Wanderlust Worker, in a study conducted on Harvard MBAs, 13 percent that had set goals were making twice as much money as the 84 percent that set none. And for your startup, this is a must.
Start out by jotting down the different goals of your startup, including how you can explain your business idea in a sentence or less. The mission here is to not only keep it simple but additionally make it something that others are willing to spread, which means your messaging needs to be inspiring. Try to approach this in terms of if this idea is something you think could change the world because as high-minded as that sounds, it’s also the core of any successful brand.
Have Your Pieces In Place For Success
Another important factor for getting your startup rolling is ensuring that you have all the pieces in place to construct your foundation. While this might sound obvious, you’d be surprised at how dangerous the “I’ll worry about it later” mentality can be, especially when moving fast in a startup. However, by establishing these aspects now, the process will be much simpler down the road.
An excellent example is with something like hiring a contractor. As noted by UpWork, the average freelance designer costs around $45 per hour. While that isn’t terrible, it can be quite costly if you’re not careful. By clearly defining your terms beforehand and using a lawyer like Aaron Kelly, who specializes in startup law, to lock down your contract, you can rest easy knowing the deal is done right. These foundational elements will give you a fair amount of stress relief from the jump, so be patient and get these locked in place as soon as possible.
Follow Thought Leaders
No matter what entrepreneur you find inspiring, there needs to be a figure in your life that you consider a visionary or has a good perspective on your industry. No matter if it’s a VC or fellow founder, this needs to be an individual who you admire for their previous success; whether that means you find a serial entrepreneur like Brian Magierski or a big-name player like Elon Musk to be your inspiration, now is the time to get yourself some good advice.
Make a list of the entrepreneurs you admire, including what their blogs are and what insights you like to gain from them. It might not also be a bad idea to start doing some writing yourself for some inbound traffic, because as noted by Impact Bound, 53 percent of marketers say that blogging is their top priority; this is a surefire way to showcase the leaders you’ve been following. Start utilizing this is as a journal to improve your outlook and strategy, looking to create the best experience possible for your company.
Stay As Bootstrapped As Possible
Finally, depending on how familiar you are with startup strategy, bootstrapping is essentially figuring out the lowest cost way of doing something. For example, as noted by Small Business Trends, 69 percent of entrepreneurs start their business at home, which is one of the best ways to save. Which, regardless if you’ve consciously been mindful of including this with your plan, it’s never too late to start now.
See what type of ways you can save, such as working from home or a coworking space, as well as reducing overhead by having your team play other autonomous roles. Another important piece of note is starting to get in the mindset of how much of an ROI you’ll be receiving out of your spending, for example, traveling to another city (like New York or San Francisco) for investor meetings and setting up the most in that time frame. These practices will become more intuitive rather quickly, but it’s good to start working on them now to maximize runway.
What are you most excited about in getting your startup off the ground? Comment with your answers below!