3 Invaluable Tips for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
7 years ago Guest - Jami SchwartzVery few successful entrepreneurs will tell aspiring business owners that founding and managing a business is always easy. Still, they will usually insist that it’s what they were born to do and no other kind of life would have been as satisfying for them. Business founders come from many different walks of life and form a very diverse group. However, they usually do adhere to a few basic rules that they adopted to run their companies in the best possible way.
Three Essential Tips for New Entrepreneurs
According to Ryan Robin, an entrepreneur and Entrepreneur Magazine contributor, the one thing that all successful business owners agree upon is the importance of taking advice from mentors. While most business owners will have to overcome obstacles and mistakes, it’s helpful to minimize these by considering some tips from people who have already traveled this path.
With that bit of good advice in mind, consider these three tips for aspiring entrepreneurs:
1. Prioritize Financial Management from Day One
Companies can generate a lot of revenue and even profits without enjoying long-term success. Most businesses experience both peaks and lows in their business cycles and have to manage unexpected expenses. In addition, generating high revenues won’t guarantee a positive cash flow unless the business can manage to control expenses. Conversely, some companies become sustainable quickly even without very high revenues because the owner has learned to manage finances.
These are all good reasons why business finances have to be managed well from the first day in operation. It helps to use bookkeeping software in order to document revenues and expenses. This kind of software also helps a new entrepreneur develop good money management habits. A solution like an online line of credit can help relieve stress by making sure that the company can enjoy ongoing access to business funding. The best entrepreneurs work to manage money and ensure their company has enough capital to succeed.
2. Focus on Passions
Chase Jarvis founded CreativeLive.com, a company that streams educational material. He expresses his bet bit of advice by telling other business founders to, “Scratch your own itch.” Entrepreneurs need to understand that founding a business will be more like a marathon than a sprint. It’s much easier to maintain high levels of interest, focus, and energy if the company involves a pursuit that is truly meaningful to the business owner.
In this light, Mr. Jarvis says that aspiring entrepreneurs should not just seek some business opportunity because research or experience promises high revenues or low competition. Instead, they should really try to focus on following their own passions. Certainly, it’s always prudent to make sure that a business idea has a chance to succeed by conducting research or relying upon experience. At the same time, a good opportunity may only become a great business if the business owner really cares about it.
3. Focus on the Hustle
Jon Acuff wrote a best-selling business book called “Do Over” that helps people learn to start loving their work again. His best advice for new business owners is to understand how to hustle in order to obtain their dreams. He says that many aspiring business owners don’t really understand how to direct their energy in order to achieve their goals. Mr. Acuff gained his experience by moving through a series of jobs in order to find meaningful work and then finally, founding his own business as an author, business brand consultant, and speaker.
To explain, Acuff says that hustling should be an act of focusing energy towards specific goals and not just moving in a frenzy. He says that the most successful business owners don’t necessarily get more done in a workday than others. Instead, they focus their work upon those activities that contribute to reaching their clearly defined business goals and help them generate profits.
How Do New Business Succeed?
Entrepreneurs tend to be a pretty independent group of people. At the same time, successful business owners should stop to take advice from experienced mentors. They will also take the time to learn how to do essential business tasks, like managing finances, that they may not enjoy as much as they enjoy developing their products or services. In order to find the drive to handle a business startup, it’s helpful to find a business that incorporates meaningful work that really inspires the owner. Finally, it’s important to figure out which tasks are most important and really focus on those so your small business can grow and thrive.
about Author:
Jami Schwartz is in charge of content at Kabbage. Kabbage helps small businesses get the funding they need to grow. Through a fully automated, online platform, businesses can link their latest business data, allowing us to review the overall health of their business to approve and provide lines of credit up to $100,000 in minutes.
Also, read “To Make it BIG You Need to Think SMALL!” written by Mr. Sujit Lalwani