If you want a little less uncertainty in your life as an entrepreneur, there are certain things you can do to reduce the risk of failure. Below is a selection of the best tips we collected from entrepreneurs and business owners to make your (now) small business jump to stardom:
Less post-its, more action: While it is important to plan before acting, sometimes we get stuck in the planning phase and don’t go out and sell. As an entrepreneur friend told us: “The best tip I can give is to fill out an Excel spreadsheet with the entire target market and contact each potential client one by one, without fear or shame. If you don’t dare to do it, it’s better not to start a business. In the end, I think you should spend less time planning, post-its, management software and spend more time on the street selling your product.” Roll up your sleeves and go out and sell, your
Choose what you are good at: Choose to do what you are good at. While it is very important to like what you do every day, something equally or more important is to do it well…as another entrepreneur told us: “You will see that when it starts to make money, you will love it anyway.”
Don't get bogged down in administrative work: Whenever your income allows it, outsource paperwork (such as invoices, VAT payments, SII declarations). Your time is more valuable than the cost of paying someone to help you with this. Of course, you should always supervise that the work you delegate is done well. Find a good accountant, who is not only intelligent, but also one you can fully trust.
Down with fixed costs!: Having your own office sounds glamorous, but when our income is not high enough to pass the dreaded “break even point” it is better to leave the glamour for later. As much as possible reduce fixed costs such as philippines business mailing list hired staff and office, at least until you have stable income and well above the minimum to cover them (“that was my biggest mistake twice” says the entrepreneur friend who gave us this tip).
Differentiate yourself through quality and service: One of the great advantages of being a micro-business is that the client sees the face behind the scenes: you. Compete by giving that excellent service that the “big fish” often miss out on due to the volume they handle. Only large companies (perhaps) have the possibility of competing on price. “Personally, concern for the client, after-sales service and follow-up, along with basic recommendations regarding my service, have given me very good results,” says a small
businessman who puts service as a priority in his company.
If you have employees, align them with your goals : If you work with employees, try to align them through incentives, whether monetary or otherwise. Whenever the nature of their jobs allows it, hire them with large variable incentives and moderate fixed salaries. Also, look for non-monetary benefits that your employees may be interested in, such as flexible hours.
Don't fall in love with your product or service: Tip number one in recent years, very common in the start-up world. Your product must solve a problem for the client you are targeting, not something you "believe" is a problem.
Don’t wait for the product/service to be perfect to start selling: As another of our collaborators told us: “You have to make a minimum saleable value. Then we fix it. We have to fail quickly and as cheaply as possible.” Don’t stick with the version you have created in your head, but go out and find what your client really needs. Your clients are the ones who can give you clues about where to pivot and thus improve your value proposition, generating more income for your company. Sometimes small changes can have a big impact on the solution your client is looking for, and be careful, this does not necessarily mean innovating in products or services that have never been thought of.
Train yourself as much as possible: We know that time is the least of an entrepreneur's resources, but in this era of great and rapid changes, it is necessary to keep up to date, whether in technological, administrative or even technical matters in your industry. Know-how is increasingly important, and those who succeed are those who adapt to changes, hopefully quickly.