These days starting a business is easy; failing with it is even easier. The truth is, building your own business is hard, very likely the hardest thing you ever undertake. It is an adventure with no guarantees, a rollercoaster ride that will draw out the best and the worst in you. I have been at every point multiple times so far during my journey. While there is no guaranteed success formula, there is the next best thing in my opinion: preparation. Basic priorities that you can evaluate before you embark on that adventure.
Here is my personal shortlist of priorities, that I find important before starting a business:
- The You – Starting a business begins with an unshakable belief in your idea and the attitude that this is what you want to do for the rest of your life. That belief will fire your passion and your passion is required in any of the following steps. In the process of building a company, you will have to convince multiple groups of people. They will need to understand your vision and the validity of your idea. You can only convince people if you yourself are absolutely convinced of your undertaking. You will need to know that you are going to love what you do even at the worst times.
- Funding – While it is possible to start a business with limited resources, you also have to realize that running out of funds is the number one reason most startups fail. Therefore, you need to be able to have a very clear picture of both funds required and how to generate them. You need to secure the amount of capital needed to pass that first critical time period. You might have limited funds yourself in which case you have to find external sources that can fund you.
- Customers – Know your market and know your products. The products need to represent a value, a value that customers want to engage with. Make sure that you’re able to offer it as an essential need to the market. Be critical and ask yourself if you want to buy and use that product. In that sense you are your own first customer. Find your target audience and plan how to reach them. Be aware that selling is nothing more than creating demand, by understanding how to create that demand, you will sell by default.
- Team – To quote Arnold Schwarzenegger: “No one is completely successful on their own”. While you might start on your own, you will need support to drive your business successfully. Evaluate your own strengths, detect the gaps and plan how to complement these gaps with talents that will join your business. The ability to build a highly capable team is in direct correlation to its success.
- Vision & Mission – make sure that you are absolutely clear about your vision and that you’re able to share your vision with all stakeholders. Your Vision & Mission statement will define your brand and represent its purpose. It is part of the value proposition to the market. You can’t start too early to have a very clear vision and mission statement.
There are of course many more principles and components that apply but if you follow the above checklist, you’ll have a solid base to start your own business.
I’m looking forward to read about your personal shortlist of priorities to build a successful business in the comments.
Mauro Beck | Author & Partner
