5 Tips From Successful Entrepreneurs for the First Year of Your Startup

With over 45,500 listed companies and a plethora of non-listed companies, and thousands of new companies emerging and dying every year, it isn’t hard to see why the business world is not meant for everyone.

But, if you belong to the lot that is daring enough to venture into this realm to make their mark, then you’ve stumbled upon the right article for some pointers.

Here are the 5 tips from successful entrepreneurs for the first year of your startup:

1. Planning is the key

For the success of every startup, it is necessary to have a goal in mind, but that isn’t the most important part. Knowing what you have to do in order to achieve that goal is actually what really matters.

Before you can send your million dollar idea out into the world, it’s always best to stop, think and come up with a strategy that can help you achieve the desired result. All the big businesses have multiple teams who strategize and come up with business plans.

As one of the most successful investors of all time, Warren Buffett once said, “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree long ago.”

2. Advertise your product or business

No one will be interested in purchasing your product if you don’t tell them what it actually is/does. The key ingredient for success of a startup is visibility, and in the modern day and age, there is no better platform to promote your business than social media. Sure, traditional methods of advertising are good, but in the words of Internet pioneer William Schrader:

“Almost overnight, the Internet’s gone from a technical wonder to a business must.” 

The internet is used by billions of people across the world. In light of this, digital marketing services are a reliable way to get you and your product on the track to becoming a household name.

3. Keep your customers happy

Happy customers equal a successful company. Therefore, the first priority of a business, whether it’s a startup in its infancy or a technological iceberg like Microsoft or Apple, should be customer satisfaction.

World’s famous management consultant, and the author of over 30 books, Peter Drucker said, “The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.”

Efficient business sales are the difference between a good company and a great company. But the difference between a successful business and a failed one is of good customer relationship management (CRM).

Hence, the main aim of a startup should be to build a solid consumer base and to maintain it without fail. As the great Sir Henry Ford so eloquently put it, “A business absolutely devoted to customer service excellence will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.”

4. No risk is the biggest risk

Avoiding calculated risks is one factor that leads to the failure of so many companies. And this is why many companies get left behind in this ever advancing world – they play it too safe.

Throughout the course of your business career, there will be many risky steps or choices that you will have to take. These are the kind of choices that can make or break a company. So, always weigh your options and make the smart decision, and if it fails then be it. Make  peace with it and move on. Always look to the future and never become stagnant.

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… in a world that is changing really quickly; the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” – Mark Zuckerberg

5. Having fortitude and strength is essential

If being an entrepreneur is what you want to do, then do it and don’t look back. Many will tell you that it is going to be impossible, many will doubt you, and many will try to put you down; but pay no heed to the naysayers and keep working towards your goals.  If you face failures and get knocked down, remember to always rise up and work smarter.

Late Steve Jobs, the founder of the tech behemoth Apple.inc, said, “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”

Coming from the personal experience of a revolutionary man like Jobs, there is no denying this fact. Being ousted from his own company in 1985, he persevered and worked on his own and surely in 1997 he was brought back when Apple’s profits were at a record low; and by 1998 it made over $45 million in profit.

Therefore, act on these tips for the success of your business because they have been tried and tested by some of the greatest entrepreneurs around the world. Employing these tips will allow you to put down your roots and solidify your presence in the business world.

What tip are you going to focus on today? Leave your thoughts below!

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