People start businesses for a variety of reasons. Some people might start a business because they’re tired of working for someone else and want financial freedom, others might start one because they have the funds and backing to start something of their own, and some people might start a business because they want to provide a service or product to people that they are genuinely passionate about.
Whatever reason you have to start up a business, there’s just one larger hurdle that everyone seems to fumble over; financing. Let’s face it, no matter how great your business idea is there’s always going to be someone somewhere that doesn’t think you know what you are doing and will not give you the funds to start. Perhaps you’ve got an excellent elevator pitch ready, maybe you’ve got a presentation loaded up on a USB drive waiting to be played, and perhaps you’ve condensed your ideas into a several-page document that details everything from your entry strategy to the exit plan.
Sadly, no matter how many great ideas you have or how you try to pitch them, you’re essentially rolling a dice if you approach without any real experience. Let’s face it; no one is going to trust someone who is young in the business world and has no experience to back them up. Lenders are giving you their own money in hopes that you will succeed, but if you have a bad track record (or no record at all) then the chances of them collaborating with you are extremely slim.
If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, then it’s essential to establish a presence early on and gain experience instead of complaining that no one is giving you a chance. Here’s how you can do that.
Start Small
As mentioned before, you can’t get lenders and banks on your side if you have no experience. It doesn’t matter what type of business you run—as long as you get some experience managing a company (even if it’s a solo venture) you’re going to have a much better time pitching a mediocre idea than pitching your best idea with no experience at all.
Small starts can be anything from freelancing to running the blog, both of which are easy businesses to start and operate from home. The path to greatness is a long one, and there are times when you will have to work for free to build up a portfolio or even worse, lose money trying to grow. But this is something you have to come to grips with. You need to spend money to grow and you need to work from the bottom. Unless you were born into a family with lots of business connections, there is no other way besides relying on luck to climb up the entrepreneurial ladder.
Formulate a Plan
What do you plan to do with your business? Let’s say you start a blog, where do you go from there? Do you write the content on your own, or will you hire freelance writers or an outsourcing company to create content for you? Do you plan to keep it as a blog and monetize it with advertisements, or is your goal to build an audience and then sell an eBook or other services through affiliate marketing?
There are many questions to ask and there are many ways to promote your business. The point of a plan is to prepare for any situation you might run into. What if you do build up a really wide audience with a test blog that you planned to abandon after gaining some experience? Do you throw it away, sell it, or continue developing it? And what after that? How do you plan to make money from it?
Business is dynamic. It’s always changing according to consumer needs, trends and your current situation. It makes sense to have a general plan so that you know where you want to be and how to get there, but you always have to adjust to each situation. If you come across a sudden success, then you need to chase that success and develop your blog into a real business idea. If you start a small business and realise that you’re getting more demand than you can supply, then it’s time to pitch your business to investors and look for funding.
Do Your Research
If you’re planning to be an entrepreneur then you need to be able to listen as well as you talk. Check out websites like The College CEO if you want some tips and tricks on how to get started in business at an early age, browse communities such as Reddit to pick up first-hand advice from other members, and participate in discussions to learn. You need to be a sponge that soaks up heavy amounts of information, but you also need to be something who is capable of processing that information. Anyone can listen, but not everyone can listen and learn at the same time.
Get Used to Failing
Fail faster is a controversial piece of advice. No one wants to fail quickly but at the same time, you can’t gain knowledge and experience if you don’t learn from your failures. This is the major problem with getting your foot in the door of an industry, but it’s mostly psychological as opposed to a money-limiting factor.
As mentioned before, you can start small businesses that don’t require much investment at all. A blog does not take much money to start up (if any) and you can slowly build up an audience over social media and other online platforms. In other words, you can essentially start up businesses for free and acquire experience regardless if they fail or not. If you manage to latch onto an idea that is successful, then you can continue working on that idea and growing it. Add your successes and failures to your portfolio, and when you bring it to a meeting where you’re asking for money to start a business, you’ll have a much higher chance of making a deal.
Mia Guerra
Latest posts by Mia Guerra (see all)
- Five Wedding Details You Shouldn’t Forget While Planning - July 17, 2023
- Essential Considerations When Planning an Extension - July 17, 2023
- Easy Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint and Contribute to a Greener World - July 17, 2023
