More people are starting their own business than ever before, and although the economic climate is highly competitive and incredibly tough, the entrepreneurship journey can be extremely rewarding. Here are five tips for any would-be entrepreneur to give you a head start that you will need. Even as you develop the idea to its fullest, you need to be working on the aspects below to ensure that your entrepreneurial enterprise has the best chance of success.
Have ALL the knowledge that you’ll need
In a knowledge economy, it is the access and use of the vast amounts of information and data that any entrepreneur will need to have access to. Knowledge and big data on market development, sector-specific tech, clients, suppliers, having the information will then allow analyses to determine the best business paths for your enterprise. This means doing some research before you set out and knowing not only potential customers but also your closest competitors and market potential.
Part of making sure you have all the knowledge for your new business entails being open to learning new things and having an enquiring mind. The best way to do this is to spend your time with those who are in the sector and/or have something to teach.
Get a mentor
Having someone to guide, advise and show you the ropes either specifically for business issues or for the sector-specific tips that you will need. There are several business mentorship programmes across the country, and a black led mentorship programme launches in Bristol to capacitate the entire spectrum of entrepreneurs is a great example of the type of development for small and emerging businesses that exist.
An essential part of having a mentor is being agreeable to feedback and, sometimes, criticism. The important thing is to remember that your mentor has been there and done that, so although it might be tempting to ignore any negative feedback, they could be the difference between making or breaking your new business. Try to identify issues and be willing to adapt to them and, if necessary, act on them to ensure your business’s future success and growth.
One of the key advantages of getting a mentor is that they will be able to tap you into already established networks that they belong to. Creating a network of like-minded entrepreneurs not only allows you to draw knowledge from them but once you have some experience under your belt to share that experience back into the network and grow future entrepreneurs.
The tech
As aforementioned, you need to have the best technology possible for the tasks at hand and related to your specific business. This includes any hardware you might need for production processes and software and cloud-based business applications that can support production and customer services in the background. This does not mean you have to make a large initial investment as many new applications have either a free trial period so you can try before you buy, or you can find a comparable free version if you look around. The most common means of ensuring that you have the most appropriate technology is to have a fully managed IT service, software, hardware, and the infrastructure and networks that can all be managed by someone else. The basics, however, is to be clear as to what IT the business needs to function.
The passion and drive
If you’ve just started and don’t like what you’re doing or finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning, then you need to re-evaluate before you spend any more of your time being anything less than happy with what you’re doing, this is the only way that you’ll be driven for the long term that you need to run and establish a business.
The finances
As an emerging enterprise and budding entrepreneur, it will be critical that you have a clear idea of where funding is coming from to drive your business ideas. The business may take a while to get off the ground, make sure that you’ve done your homework and have the financial backing to support you and yours and those who are working for the enterprise through the slow and low times. Yes, you go into business to make money, but you also need to realize that it will cost you money to start a successful business as an entrepreneur.
Concluding remarks
The five tips noted in this article to build and develop entrepreneurs are the essential aspects of developing the entrepreneur.
