Categorized as StartUp

Launching A Startup: 10 Important Tips To Care About

by Andre Oentoro Originally published   ·  Updated 

Launching a startup may be a big problem for you, as well as a good starting point if you can beat it.

If you’re thinking about entering into the world of entrepreneurship, and want your brainchild to become amongst the next fortune 500, then be prepared. The ride is going to be adventurous; with lots of highs and lows. 

And to help you make this journey a tad bit smoother, we’ve compiled a list of 10 important tips that you must go through before launching your startup.

Read ahead everything about choosing your niche, validating your business idea, making your customers happy, and all the way to making great profits. 

So, let’s tap into it, shall we? 

1. Be Passionate and Have A Legacy

Starting and maintaining a successful business is hard work. If you love what you do or why you do it, you are more likely to endure the effort required.

Focus on building your legacy business by doing what you do often and doing it better than anyone else.”

As an entrepreneur and company founder, you are constantly forced to make decisions with limited amounts of data.

As an entrepreneur and company founder, you are constantly forced to make decisions with limited amounts of data to avoid your startup failure.

You need to have maximum skills, from being an entrepreneur to communication skills, decision-making skills, leading skills, and much more. You’ve to be passionate about your business, otherwise, you’re going to tire yourself out sooner or later. 

E.g., The Colosseum is 1949 years old and is still intact and strong. The material used to build it was way more robust than today’s concrete. It’s so levitating and beautiful that most people fly to Italy just to look at its glory.

Romans used the best materials and put their best into this masterpiece, and after all these years, it’s still standing with all its glory. 

When it comes to building a business, many entrepreneurs build it in the short term. They see this business as a way to earn a few thousand extra dollars. Instead, they must create something that will last for years to come.”

Create a process to continuously receive feedback from your team, customers, partners, and investors in a state of constant awareness to help. Hire domain experts where you need them. Create a culture where people can make informed decisions quickly, act on them, learn from the results, and iterate.

2. Choose the Appropriate Niche

Niche selection is where people realize they often make mistakes. Expanding too much into a regular business can be challenging to understand who your audience is. You’ll find the niche too narrow if you’re too specific about a barre-class sock shop.

You’ll also want to pick a popular niche with hundreds of thousands of monthly searches, whether fashion, beauty, fitness or home décor. Finally, avoid maternity, weddings, or niche businesses where you can’t build a long-term email list as it’s a niche that isn’t short-term.

E.g., If you want to start a maternity clothing business for women, you need to keep in mind that women get pregnant for 9 months only, so they won’t be shopping in the store once she gives birth.

So when deciding your niche, consider it is looking among all circumstances. Go for Google Trends, and it can show you the most popular and stable niche. 

3. Hire The Right Manpower

Employees are the foundations of any great business. If you want your startup to appear in the headlines of the press, then focus on choosing the right people for your team.

Choose people who are not only skillful but are also passionate about your business’ vision and mission. Focus on building and hiring a team that will grow and ages with your startup. 

Your employees will take your small startup to a level where you want it to be. 

Take extensive interviews, set up clear workplace expectations upfront, be flexible with salary negotiations, and choose people that seem excited when hearing your business idea.

4. Create a Business Plan

Developing a small business plan is essential to the startup process as it requires you to articulate your vision and business structure, management, financing, and support methods. Every little detail matters at the start – from choosing the right logo design matching your brand identity to carefully managing your resources.

A successful business story almost always starts with complex preparation and forecasting based on real-world industry knowledge. Most successful business owners we’ve seen have carefully studied the competition and the need for a product or service in the industry to develop a plan” 

5. Get your Finance in Order

Once you start your own business, you will no longer be as financially accessible as at your job. It means that now you need to keep your luxury life on your extra budget.

Suppose you do not receive a series of funding from other supporting organizations. In that case, you will start the next day and rely on personal finances to help you start, maintain, and expand your business. Simply put, proper business financing is critical.

Before starting a small business, you should:

  • Start and maintain budgeting
  • Pay off all debts
  • Reduces cost
  • Determines how much you need to get
  • Calculate how much money can ruin a startup

For more guidance, a helpful finance blog can provide practical insights and tips to get you started.

6. Focus on your Profit instead of Revenue

Most Entrepreneurs are more focused and obsessed with the revenue they make from their business than the Profit.

E.g.: I Made $700,000 in 9 months, but you get to ask that digging more profoundly, the profit is much more essential than revenue. You made $700,000 in 5 months, but if you look at your profit after those nine months, which is only $8,000, was it worth it? And is it sustainable? Probably NO!

Steve Rose, Vice President at MoneyTransfers believes “You need to shift from thinking about income to thinking about profits. The more profits you make, the more money you need to reinvest in your business, your staff, and your success.”

As an entrepreneur, you get paid in the end. You must pay the initial cost first. So, you need to make sure you are making more than enough money to indulge yourself.

7. Make Your Competitors Your Friends

Lean on the knowledge and experiences of your close competitors. Network with them, talk to them, schedule zoom interviews, hear their stories, and learn their strategies.

Even if you are constantly battling to get ahead with similar products or services, at the core, you’re still unique specialists or businesses that provide a unique experience to their customers. 

Matt Weidle, Business Development Manager of Buyer’s Guide says “Give credit where it’s due. Ask for guidance or help. They can teach you stuff that you’ll rarely find in entrepreneurship books.”

8. Become a Respected Voice in Your Industry 

Quickly establish credibility and authority in your industry. You can do this by networking with bigger names; names that are serial entrepreneurs.

Leaning on their fame, you can even make your way into the headlines of the press. The key here is to build trust amongst your target customers and future investors.

Your customers and your seed investors, if they see potential in you and your ideas, can take your startup to the next level. But, first, build the required credibility. 

Build your personal brand on platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter. Through content marketing, try to get your name to appear in top publications like Forbes and Entrepreneur. 

9. Focus on Satisfying your Customers

Ever heard of customer relationship management? An approach that uses data, analytics, and automation to engage with prospects and current customers. This is just one of many ways to make your customers the center of your business.

For instance, a company can only make big money when it treats its customers right. Amazon is an excellent example of customer service. Look at the pop-up self-service grocery stores that use the honor system for groceries. If you have been charged for an item you did not purchase, you may be eligible for a refund.

How do you know if you or your business are doing well? 

First, we need to look at income and net income. 

Second, we must listen to our customers. 

Customer reviews are equal to the right attitude towards customers. 

Because they have nothing to do with the game and are the people who interact with you, your business, and your services, they directly understand the right and wrong of private companies.

This could be due to a bad user experience on your website or a mobile app that is too slow.

We tend to despise feedback when it’s terrible and like it when it’s good. But it is an essential aspect of any entrepreneurial spirit, from growth to learning.

Always listen to customers’ Feedback and provide the best solution for the future because that is how you can lead your start-up.”

It doesn’t matter who you are, what industry you are in, or how good your product is. Customers are tickets to the Entrepreneurship Championship game. Whether you stick to the “customer is always right” motto or offer easy refunds, you can always do more to build customer support and trust.

10. Validate Your Business Idea 

Before even thinking about launching a startup, you need to validate your ideas first. 

Is the idea actually scalable? 

Does your business idea solve a specific problem for a specific audience? 

Will people pay money for the solution you’re providing? If so, how much? 

What are the chances of your product getting success in the market? 

Is there even a market to sell in the first place? 

These are the questions you need to ask yourself. And while finding their answers, you’ve to be honest with yourself.

Because it does matter how crazy and passionate you’re about your business or product idea, if you can’t make a business out of it, then there is no use in putting resources, time, and effort into it. 

Conclusion

It is estimated that more than 550,000 people become entrepreneurs each month. It would be great if all of those were running successful businesses, but that’s not possible. Only 10% of those startups succeed each year. 

But don’t let those stats overwhelm you: keep in mind the best practices mentioned above for a great start. 

Key Points: 

  • Become passionate
  • Choose the right niche
  • Hire the right team
  • Get your finance in order
  • Focus on profits, instead of net revenue
  • Learn from competitors
  • Become a trusted voice in your industry
  • Focus on satisfying your customers
  • Don’t forget to validate your business idea
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About the Author

Natasha Rei is the Digital Marketing Manager of Explainerd, an explainer video production agency. She ensures strategic goals are met by directing online and social media campaigns.

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