It is becoming increasingly obvious to new and experienced entrepreneurs that if they want to live a self-directed life, they must take matters into their own hands. It’s fair to say that expecting the politicians to help is a lost cause at this stage. To be successful, they know it’s necessary to create smart plans and push ahead to fruition with your own game plan. Anything less just won’t work any longer.
Here is some smart advice for entrepreneurs creating new business venues this year.
Always. Be. Recruiting
Just like the famous line in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross with Alec Baldwin declaring to the salespeople that they should “Always. Be. Closing,” for startup entrepreneurs, “Always. Be. Recruiting” is apt because what you require, other than financing, is great people. Make no mistake, a startup lives and dies by its people. The technology matters, the people are key.
While certain roles can be filled by people lacking ambition or a serious drive to succeed, most positions in a startup require long hours, hard work, and creative solutions to work through new problems that the business hasn’t faced before. There’s less of a mentality of doing things the way they’ve always been done because in many cases a startup is doing something completely new every time. Therefore, most staff need to be self-motivated with personal confidence and the ability to think on their feet while under pressure.
Leave Perfection for Other People
Perfectionists will tell you that it must be just right, but for a startup burning through initial seed money or the latest VC round, time is money. There’s too few dollars and no time for perfectionist approaches to product creation. With that said, the product must be good enough to go to market and not get released to booing virtual crowds. Bear in mind that most product launches roll out gradually, in phases, which provides sufficient time to iron out the kinks while still moving forward.
Depending on the type of product, it sometimes is a good idea to keep customers updated with what future improvements will be made (with software and SAAS startups this is especially true). In other situations, releasing a physical product while pointing out that version two is coming soon may just put off buyers who would have otherwise bought version one and provide the company with much needed revenue. Common sense must be applied here.
Seek Wisdom to Shortcut Success
Whether you’ve previously been to college or you were planning to go, it’s interesting to note that many past graduates have barely read a book since leaving college. It seems that they’re “all read out” when it comes to self-education and don’t want to learn more. Perhaps the instant gratification of endless picture updates on Instagram or Twitter messages and retweets are grabbing too much mind share. It’s almost like gaining useful, new knowledge has become a lost art.
Tai Lopez has set out to change all that with his Book of the Day show, which is a podcast that focuses on what he’s learned over the years from reading hundreds of books and running several businesses. He seems particularly adept at taking in knowledge and encapsulating it into reformed ideas that are readily accessible in a practical way. Along with his popular YouTube channel, the podcast is a way to share these ideas with his growing audience.
With a new startup, getting a few things right is the key to early success. Pulling in the right people, standing on the shoulders of others who went before, and avoiding perfectionism is an excellent way to proceed.
