Succeed Early in Your Business: 7 Focus Areas

How do you move from chaos to an infrastructure that can handle the normal demands of the business, helping you succeed early in your business? In your first year of business, every day is a firefight, with competing demands for your time and attention. As well as being the founder of your business, you also need to handle the marketing side, grow your customer base, and develop a solid financial plan that helps you transition from surviving to thriving. To succeed early in your business, you have to balance growing your business with operating it, find money to pay bills, as well as fund those areas necessary for growth, and keep everyone on your team motivated. It’s a daunting task.

There is no denying that the first year of business is always the toughest. It’s the year when you will make mistakes (and early mistakes might prove fatal if they’re serious enough), and you’ll have more highs and lows than any other time in your life. If you’re setting out with the notion to succeed early in your business, here are seven essential factors to bear in mind throughout the twelve months to create long-term success.

What are the seven areas to succeed early in your business?

1. Product-market fit

There’s almost no surer way to fail than to offer a product (or products) that don’t have a market. Or, offering a product with no competitive advantage over those currently available. These “also ran” companies are doomed to failure before they ever open their doors. Similarly, products that don’t offer a sufficient advantage over existing products by solving a pain point that is annoying enough that consumers will pay for it and experienced by a sufficient number of consumers to pay your expenses with a little left over to earn a profit.

Creating a competitive advantage doesn’t require you to develop a new product; merely offering something not offered by other brands operating in the same space. And that’s harder to do than you might imagine. Consider the massive success of the iPod in the days before smartphones. Its competitive advantage came from being the first in an entirely new market. Later, Microsoft developed the Zune, which was technologically superior, but failed against the iPod due to late entry, poor marketing, a clunky user interface, and it lacked the “coolness” factor that surrounds most Apple products.

Such “new-to-the-world” products represent a substantial risk. If you wish to succeed early in your business, you might choose another area to develop a competitive advantage, such as:

• Superior processes, such as the way Disney theme parks incorporate the waiting time into the ride to reduce the perception of how long you must wait. Instead of a traditional line, the line is often inside, away from the sun, and surrounded by themed decorations or a short film.
• Intimate knowledge and relationships with customers so you can provide better customer service.
• Dedicated, knowledgeable, and hard-working employees willing to go the extra mile to serve customers, innovate, and help advance your goals.
• Operational efficiencies and great relationships with supply chain partners. For instance, a client told the story of a supplier who established alternative suppliers when the company anticipated an employee strike might interrupt deliveries of a critical product.
• Technical expertise that helps you work smarter and more efficiently, with less waste.
• Access and utilization of data that helps you succeed early in your business.

2. Efficient cash flow management

One of the main factors that helps you succeed early in your business is making finances a priority. You need to carefully manage your burn rate, for instance, to ensure you can survive until revenue-positive, since cash flow problems is a major reason why startups fail. Plow too much money into too quickly, and cash flow problems will arise over time. Don’t put enough money into the start-up phase, and you’ll starve the organization so that it seriously lacks quality across various areas.

It’s common for small businesses and start-ups to take out a loan to get started. Even if you don’t have the best financial history, you can often get loans for bad credit these days, especially when it comes to factoring your receivables. Similarly, keep your burn rate as low as possible by spending wisely, such as:

• Renting versus buying
• Contracting versus making products in-house
• Hiring consultants versus full-time employees to get the expertise you need without the waste of hiring workers with general skills or folks you don’t need all the time. For instance, you can hire an outside accounting firm or one that manages HR.
• Negotiate for the best prices
• Monitor spending carefully

Maintaining tight control of your finances may seem a little strange, especially if you came out of corporate employment where there were deeper pockets and more resources. You just have to learn to do more with less.

Don’t be afraid to seek help if you struggle to get your head around this side of the business in the first few months. You’ll find there are plenty of tools online that provide guidance, including government websites, start-up networking grounds, and SME handbooks to help you take control of your finances.

3. Develop scalable systems

To succeed early in your business, you need to delegate so that every task isn’t reliant on your personal attention. In a study I made on businesses that survived through multiple generations, this was a significant factor. They hired people with the necessary skills, gave them clear areas of responsibility and reporting that fit these skills, and established operating procedures so that everyone knew exactly how things should be done. Waiting for the owner to make every decision might feel like you have control, but it means everything comes to a standstill when you’re busy with another task.

When you’re first getting a business off the ground, your daily schedule can soon descend into chaos if you don’t have a good scheduling system in place. This is especially important if you’re dealing with multiple employees from day one and trying to grow your business to the next level smoothly and seamlessly. Improving communication between you and employees can create a more efficient business, and scheduling software for commercial cannabis cultivators has proven to be an invaluable tool for those working in this type of industry, too. A scheduling system that is directly related to your niche market will help you to forward plan, manage employee schedules and create an effective, well-oiled machine that is scalable without a hitch.

4. Build a strong digital presence

Thinking about how customers will find you is one of the most important aspects to succeed early in your business. No matter what business market you’re in, always look at building a high-quality, easy-to-navigate website, since consumers now do much of their search online, even if they don’t buy there. This should come with clear and concise branding, a strong company message, and all the information customers need.

You can build your own on websites like Wix or Squarespace. They are fairly easy to use, but they need a lot of your time to set up and manage. The bigger problem is that, as your business grows, you may outgrow their options. And their SEO (the critical element necessary to help users find you) is terrible.

If creating a self-hosted website seems too challenging (which isn’t the case, not today where you can get drag-and-drop functionality like Wix from a simple plugin), I created a free ebook that steps you through the process with tons of images and recommended products. You can consider employing a freelance web designer and website builder, which will save time, but will cost more money, so weigh up which one works for you.

To succeed early in your business, building a strong brand, using social proof, and having a strong online presence are crucial.

5. Employ strategic networking

To succeed early in your business, family, and friends are key elements of your life. Therefore, a supportive network around you is crucial. Explain to your family and friends that your business will take priority (at least in the early stages), and that you value their support.

• See if they can help spread the word.
• Could they share your blog posts or special offers on their social media pages?
• Maybe they can have a loyalty discount code they can pass on to people they know for you?
• They might even have the skills and willingness to offer free or low-cost labor to aid your venture.
• There are lots of ways that people close to you can help – just start brainstorming!

Similarly, you might network with others to help succeed early in your business. For instance:

• Mentors, such as financial advisors, board members, or others who have already survived in business, can offer great insights that help you avoid common problems.
• Seek advice from other small business owners. For instance, join the Chamber of Commerce. local business networking groups (search Meetup and similar organizations), and industry associations. Remember, networking isn’t just handing out as many cards as possible. It’s building relationships to glean insights from others who understand your challenges.
• Build strategic partnerships with industry leaders or those serving a similar target market.

You also shouldn’t ignore exposure across your local community. Increasingly, folks want to support local businesses, even if the business is online. Seek out opportunities to engage your community; whether it’s sponsoring a sports team, hosting an event for a local charity, or putting a jar in your store to support a GoFundMe campaign. Don’t ask if you’re not willing to give back to the community.

If there are any local magazines or newspapers in your area, contact them about running a business story on you. Local media love a local success story. If you see any events or fundraising activities around the area, see how your company can support them. These not only involve you in the local community but also help spread the word about your business.

6. Employ data-driven decision-making

If there is one area that will help you succeed early in your business, it is your business plan, which includes detailed action plans (like the one below) and financial forecasts. If your business plan is well structured, built on data and research, and covers everything in detail, it should guide your managerial decisions throughout the launch period and as you grow your business.

A detailed business plan becomes your ‘bible’ – a confirmation of your vision structure, the strengths your company has, your business USP (unique selling proposition), in-depth target market, a detailed marketing plan, product and pricing plans, and finance and sales strategies.

A successful business doesn’t grow overnight. It will take time to build, but with focus, effort, and passion, you can build the basis of a powerful and successful business within twelve months. To continue your success, reassess your business plan periodically (at least once a year), building out data-driven plans based on current conditions, anticipated changes, and your results.

7. Develop resiliance and boundaries

To succeed early in your business, you often have to put other things aside. However, avoiding burnout is a very real thing when it comes to success. You need rest to recharge your batteries and allow you to make better decisions. You also need rest to deal effectively with others who help you succeed early in your business, including employees, partners, and customers.

Conclusion

To succeed early in your business, you don’t need to master all these tasks at once. Instead, focus on a couple of them initially, while you work toward incorporating the rest. You’ll likely find that focusing on one of these contributes to success in one or more of the other factors. For instance, building a strong business plan also helps you succeed early in your business because it forces you to consider cash flow when building forecasts and supply chain partners.

Good luck as you move forward. Let me know how it’s going by commenting in the section below.

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