Most entrepreneurs will admit they spent little time doing their homework when starting their first business! Most entrepreneurs have had multiple business failures, which doesn't bother them.
The entrepreneur focuses on action, not research. An excellent metaphor for an entrepreneur's thinking looks like this: Imagine driving down the road at night. The headlights on your car light up the next 200 yards of the highway, and even going 70 mph, you feel confident that you could maneuver around any obstacles, pull off the road, or even stop entirely in those 200 yards.
So, as long as you can see 200 yards ahead, you feel confident to drive the speed limit in the dark, knowing that you can handle anything that shows up in your path.
An entrepreneur's business is the same. He doesn't need to know what's going on a mile ahead. Most of the time, he cannot possibly know what's waiting for him a mile down the road. But he is confident he can handle anything that appears in the foreseeable future.
The Importance of Doing Your Homework
However, most entrepreneurs will also tell you that when they started their first business, they found all kinds of obstacles in their way and spent way too much of their time, money, and energy trying to avoid them.
Some eventually succumbed to those obstacles. Their business spluttered, misfired, and finally stopped altogether. With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to see why some things don't work as expected.
- If only they drove that route in the daylight when they could see everything.
- If only they could have talked to people who travel that route daily.
- If only they had done their homework before they encountered the obstacles!
The business might still have failed, but look at the time, money, and energy that you would have saved.
Consider this:
- Good entrepreneurs learn very well from their own mistakes.
- Seasoned entrepreneurs learn even better from other people's mistakes!
Seek Experience
The best entrepreneurial minds who have started and owned multiple businesses seek out others who have been there, done that. They always try to be more efficient, effective, and quicker in everything. For entrepreneurs, speed is always more appealing.
They want to find the guy who made the path and ask him how he did it:
- How long did it take?
- How much did it cost?
- If he had to do it over again, what would he do differently?
They want to find out exactly what worked and what didn't, so they can take the best tried and tested strategies, improve on them, and create a new track of their own to run on. They always like to make their path.
Questions Find Solutions
One of the best skills any entrepreneur can develop is the skill of asking thoughtful questions. Then, listen to the answers!
Not only will it save you time, money, and energy, but you'll also learn and grow in direct proportion to the number and quality of the questions you ask. An excellent skill is learning to ask practical questions that bodes well for talking to future partners, customers, and people who are likely to endorse you and promote your business.
When you engage with someone for the first time, there is always the temptation to tell, tell, tell. However, if you ask, ask, ask instead, you'll create a more exciting impression, and who you are talking to will never forget you.
Which Strategy Is Better?
Doing your homework means finding out exactly what works and what doesn't. However, it's essential to know that not every strategy always works for everyone. You'll find that there are some strategies for growing a business that doesn't fit you at all.
You will always need alternatives that are a good fit for you. But you need to be aware of everything that works, even if you're not using that strategy. You might need to collaborate with someone one day, which turns out to be a poor fit for all the methods you've found to work so well for you but is brilliant at using all the strategies that don't fit you!
Learn to delegate
When starting a business, you might often perform many different roles within the company, but spending time doing inefficient or monotonous tasks will prevent your business from growing. By learning to delegate tasks, you can focus on your business's strategic moves to keep growing and increase profit.
Nonetheless, we know that in the beginning, it can be challenging to cover the costs of salaries and the recruitment process, which is why we have the solution for you. You can hire a nearshore virtual assistant with Cápita Works to cover these tasks for a low cost. We offer talented professionals from México at a fraction of the cost compared to the salaries in the US.
VAs can help you with various tasks and are not limited to administrative tasks only. VAs can be bookkeepers, social media managers, customer service representatives, and many more. If interested, you can check out our industry guide to see how a VA can suit your needs.
It's more common than you might think!
An essential part of building a business is finding techniques that work well for business partners or team members, even if they're opposite to your own best efforts. Finding methods that work for you can create a solid business strategy.
You play to your strengths; they play to theirs, and you don't have to worry about any weaknesses.
Mindset is Everything
Mindset is everything when it comes to starting and growing a business. The strategies for building your business are usually straightforward to grasp. What makes the difference is the mindset and the application of those strategies with consistency, determination, and enthusiasm long enough to reap long-term rewards.
The more time you spend with fellow entrepreneurs, the more questions you ask, the faster you'll learn, and the quicker your business will grow, and it is way more fun than working for an employer too!
Starting and growing a business can be challenging, but with the right strategies, you can do it! Here at Cápita Works, we can help your business by finding a virtual assistant. Read our article to know the benefits of hiring one and contact us for more information.
