Successful business people and entrepreneurs start out at the same place – with an idea. Rarely does someone start as an expert, perfectly qualified to understand and address every element of their new business. Businesses are always evolving and innovating, and even experts can find themselves facing unprecedented challenges and situations.
Learn from those who have already achieved success and seek out their advice when beginning your business. There’s no shame in learning from the best, in fact, it is proactive and shows that you are not afraid to be resourceful and do whatever it takes when it comes to making your business succeed. Don’t be shy: take the time to talk to other successful business owners and get a head start on your road to success.
Half of new businesses fail within the first five years. While that’s an intimidating statistic to hear, understanding the odds and being aware of common pitfalls will increase the chances of your business being part of that 50% that make it.
So how can you determine what advice is solid and what isn’t? Who is beneficial to talk to and who will give you misleading, irrelevant or even potentially harmful advice? While there are plenty of myths about what makes for a successful startup venture, it’s important to distinguish between myth and fact. Here are some of the popular myths, and what you really need to know:
Myth 1 – Determination, inspiration, and a great idea are all you need
Inspiration alone is not enough to start a successful business. To get your business up and running it is imperative to maintain steady cash flow. Expenses including payroll, taxes, ongoing utilities bills, purchasing tools and/ or stock and business insurance come part and parcel with most businesses and are integral to their operation. A company with inspired and tireless workers will ultimately fail without adequate revenue to pay wages. Closely monitor your cash flow and figure out how you can make sure that it is steady and allows you to meet your business’s needs in a timely manner.
Myth 2 – You must have a huge reserve of money
Having a healthy reserve of money in your account is always beneficial but it is not a guaranteed
measure of success. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you invest a modest or large amount of your savings, take a bank loan or borrow from relatives to get your business up and running. The secret to success is being able to build your business to a sustainable level and manage your cash flow so that you can pay back loans or investors and turn a profit by maintaining and growing steady cashflow.
Myth 3 – Successful entrepreneurs work 24/7
It may seem counter-intuitive but stepping back from your business sometimes can really help it to succeed. Why? Because maintaining a reasonable schedule, delegating tasks when appropriate, and allowing yourself down time prevents burnout, recharges your energy, can boost creativity, and helps you reduce mistakes that arise through stress and exhaustion. Even the smartest and most creative business owners can burn out, potentially having devastating effects on their companies.
Myth 4 – You must know how to do everything
This is simply not necessary. We build teams to share your company’s workload – teams that contain different people with different areas of expertise. Build a team that can share the load, and that complements your strengths, and address any weaknesses in your company. You focus on what you do best.
Myth 5 – All you need is a great product
The product is important but there is only one part of the marketing mix which includes product, placement (where you advertise and sell your service) price and how you promote your business. It is evident that you need to establish a solid marketing plan and strong financial practices to support it. You might have to hire employees that are experts at this – but it will pay off.
Myth 6 – You don’t need help from experts
You’re not expected to be a jack-of-all-trades. No one knows everything there is to know about starting and maintaining a thriving business – especially as a startup company. Learn from the experts and never stop developing new ideas and ways to make your business thrive. And don’t be afraid to hire consultants as needed.
Myth 7 – You must hire a full team of permanent staff
One of a business’s biggest expenses is their staff. Investigate what functions can be outsourced and utilise these services until it is feasible to permanently hire staff members. You can use websites such as UpWork, Fiverr and more can help you reduce costs, and find someone perfectly suited to the task at hand.
Myth 8 – You need a completed business plan
You don’t need to have a full, detailed business plan in the beginning. It’s fine to start off with a two to three page plan. Afterall, there may be aspects to your business and its functions that only appear later down the track. Your initial business plans should include your mission statement, your company vision, basic financial and marketing information, and tools for measuring your progress. You can improve and refine it from there as your business evolves and expands.
Myth 9 – Entrepreneurship is easy
Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy, and its rarely a success on the first try. Many successful business owners and CEOs have several failed start-ups before they create a business that succeeds. This includes Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and Melanie Hopkins, founder of Canva. Expect to put in hard work in order to reap rewards, and don’t get discouraged if your venture fails. It can take many frustrating attempts before you create a successful and profitable company.
Myth 10 – There’s a perfect time to start
There’s never a perfect time to start. You’ve done your research, made your business plan, you’re inspired, and motivated – get started now. Here’s to your future success!
In addition to preparing to launch your start up business, it’s critical to identify and maintain suitable business insurance for your company. BizCover NZ has access to a network of insurance companies and can quickly provide you many policy options to choose from to secure the most suitable insurance to your business.
