Contributed Post
When you first embark on your journey as an entrepreneur, you’re going to have a lot on your plate. While getting the most important stuff over with is crucial, such as registering your business and mapping out a decent business, you can always go the extra mile to feel confident and secure. It doesn’t even have to take up that much time as it is really all about the small things.
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Here is a handy guide to how you can manage your startup confidently, thinking ahead, and ensuring that you have everything you need in case something should go wrong. Not that it will go wrong but, you know, it might just as well.
Read up on everything
As I don’t know what kind of industry your business is in, I cannot recommend a specific book you should read – but hit Amazon’s best sellers and you might be able to find something useful. The most important advice any new business owner can receive is to get comfortable with the unknown; unpredictable things may and will happen, so the best thing you can do for your business is to have as much knowledge about the topic as possible.
At one point, you will be forced to make a decision you know very little about, though, no matter how many Amazon books you devour. That’s inevitable and it’s no point freaking out about it either – just prepare yourself the best you can and remember that luck does have a lot to do with a startup’s success. It is what it is.
Don’t seek risks
The best business owners out there know that seeking risks is a sure road to failure. Mitigate it instead and try to figure out how you can minimize the risk. This involves a lot, obviously, and you’re not going to get this done over a cup of coffee.
Try to think about any immediate risks that may cost you that much-needed revenue and safeguard yourself against it. Unreliable suppliers, an unknown market, internal problems – and particularly external problems should be addressed right away.
The chances of natural disasters have been rather high the last two years and it’s a good idea to protect your business in case it should happen again; ensure road access to and from your suppliers with Northern Mat protection mats, and consider finding alternative sources of electricity if your business depends on it. No feeling is as sour as a gigantic loss in revenue due to something as silly as a power failure.
Understand the startup hierarchy
Finally, you can try to think about the landscape of startups as you would think of the high school cafeteria. When you’re brand new to the startup world, you’re equal to a high school freshman – and you wouldn’t try to hang with the big guys quite yet. Not unless you’re looking to make a fool of yourself, that is. By all means, try to network and find mentors that are more experienced than you but keep in mind that they are mentors and not your equals quite yet.
Bond with those who are at your level or just a few steps up, and you will soon enough have grown big enough to help those newbies out yourself.
