Avoiding entrepreneur mistakes is the only way startup companies can reach their fifth year of operations. Recent studies indicated that 80% of the small businesses that were started in 2014 made it to the second year of operations, 2015. However, several research studies have proven that less than 70% of the small startups don’t get to see their third year of operations, let alone the fifth. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the entrepreneur tips that small business owners can use to succeed in business.
1. Adequate Capitalization
One of the most important entrepreneur tips that startup entrepreneurs can use to succeed in their investments is having adequate capitalization, otherwise known as money. There is no way business can succeed without sufficient capital. Entrepreneurs make the mistake of having little capitalization at the onset of the business. Little do they know that the company will not be able to withstand market forces and turbulence in the first few years.
2. Excellent Planning
One of the most common entrepreneur tips that all potential investors know is that they need to plan for their businesses. Most failed businesses have attributed failure to poor planning and lack of contingency plans. Reading a reputable entrepreneurship blog could provide an entrepreneur with some important details on how to formulate simple plans and contingency strategies that the business will follow, especially when the original strategy fails to deliver results.
3. Understanding the Market
For a business to succeed, understanding the market is an essential factor. Many entrepreneurs know everything concerning their product and they are convinced that it is a great product. However, they fail to understand whether the product they are offering fits the market. Entrepreneur mistakes don’t just happen, but they result from a series of minor mistakes, such as not analyzing the market and not understanding buyer behavior. Professional understanding of the market generates the expected results and helps the business to succeed.
4. Hiring Professionals
History has proven that it is very difficult for a business to succeed without the support of professionals. Small business owners tend to cut costs by doing everything themselves. That is one of the methods of bringing the business down. Startup companies are very delicate, which means that they require the services of experts to stabilize. Hiring an attorney, an accountant, and an experienced marketing expert is a great recipe for growth. As a business owner, you cannot handle everything by yourself, unless you’re planning to fail.
5. Working with Partners
Hiring professionals has been highlighted as one of the tips that entrepreneurs can use to succeed. However, finding a business partner is also a strategic method of moving the business to the next level. Although a partner will reduce the share of profits, they will be offering professional services that you’re not likely to get when working alone. Moreover, a partner can inject funds into the business while helping in critical decision-making processes.
6. Incorporating Technology
Technology is one of the strategies that small business can use to succeed in a competitive market. A business that uses advanced techniques to handle most of its services cannot be compared to the brick and motor companies that still use manual operations. Besides cutting down operational costs, technology increases productivity and efficiency while improving service delivery to customers. Businesses that want to succeed in the digital era must use technology as one of their operational pillars.
7. Get a Motivational Speaker
You can occasionally hire a motivational speaker to speak to your employees and keep motivated. A paid international speaker could prove to be relevant to your employees because they will instill a sense of belonging to your employees and keep focused on the goals of the company. Corporate speakers have for a longer period been known to provide entrepreneur tips that could also be important to the owner of the business.
Not one of these entrepreneur tips will deliver results alone. All these factors and business tips must be incorporated in tandem by the entrepreneur and employees working in the company. This is the only way the company will be able to break the curse of collapsing with the first three years of its inception.