Business Education

Debunking Entrepreneurial Myths. What New Company Owners Don’t Actually Need to Do

Starting a new company is an exhilarating and challenging endeavor that often comes with a long list of to-dos. However, amidst the excitement and eagerness to succeed, entrepreneurs can fall into the trap of believing they must do certain things that are not actually necessary for the initial stages of their venture.

So, let’s go ahead and debunk some common myths surrounding startup requirements and shed light on what new company owners don’t actually need to do.

Debunking Entrepreneurial Myths: What New Company Owners Don’t Actually Need to Do

Starting a new company is a daunting task. There are so many things to think about, and it can be easy to get caught up in the details. However, there are some things that entrepreneurs often believe they need to do when starting a new company that they don’t actually need to do. Like the following:

Perfecting every detail. While attention to detail is crucial for any business, obsessing over perfection in every aspect of your startup can lead to unnecessary delays and increased stress. It’s important to remember that launching a new company is a dynamic process, and adjustments and improvements can be made along the way. Instead of striving for perfection from the outset, focus on building a solid foundation and refining your business as it evolves.
Extensive market research. Market research is undoubtedly important for understanding your target audience, industry trends, and potential competitors. However, many entrepreneurs spend excessive time and resources conducting extensive market research before launching their businesses. While having a basic understanding of your target market is crucial, it’s equally important to take action and gain real-world feedback from customers. Embrace a “lean startup” mentality, gather feedback through early prototypes or minimum viable products, and iterate based on customer responses.
Super-sized funding rounds. Securing substantial funding is often perceived as a prerequisite for launching a successful company. While funding can undoubtedly accelerate growth, it is not an absolute necessity in the early stages. In fact, focusing too much on raising funds can distract entrepreneurs from the core aspects of their business, such as developing a compelling value proposition and acquiring initial customers. By focusing on building a viable product or service and demonstrating traction, entrepreneurs can attract investors when the time is right.
Over-elaborate product development. Entrepreneurs sometimes believe that their product must be fully developed and feature-rich before launching. However, this can lead to prolonged development cycles and missed market opportunities. Instead, embrace the concept of a minimum viable product (MVP) that focuses on delivering a core set of features that solve a specific problem for your target audience. Launching an MVP allows you to gather valuable customer feedback early on and iterate your product based on real-world usage.
Hiring a large team. While having a talented team is essential for the long-term success of a company, hiring a large workforce from the outset is not always necessary or feasible for start-ups. In fact, it can be downright counterproductive. This is because you’ll spend a lot of time (too much time) training, onboarding, and more – all of which could be used in much more useful ways. This approach can help startups stay nimble and flexible, enabling them to adapt to changes in the market and grow more rapidly.

Starting a new company is a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By avoiding the things that entrepreneurs often believe they need to do when starting a new company but don’t actually need to do, you can save yourself time, money, and stress.

What other things do you think entrepreneurs don’t actually need when forming a start-up? Please, go ahead and share your thoughts and experiences so others can benefit from your input!

Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group to learn more about us and the services we offer.

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Are You Focused or Frantic?

April 8, 2017 No Comments

The world of business is often a fast-paced one, an environment which requires attention to many details and dynamics. Those new to the entrepreneurial experience are usually shocked by the sheer amount of things which need to be done. In response to these needs, some business owners try to attend to more than one matter at a time, a solution often called “multitasking.” Unfortunately, abiding by the adage “killing two birds with one stone,” is a counterproductive solution. When you multitask, you lose, plain and simple. Talking on the phone while picking-up groceries or walking the dog while replying to an email seem like smart time-saving ideas, but, they aren’t. You’ll forget the loaf of bread or to run spell check before hitting “send.” It’s a matter of attention, which is to say a matter of fact. We’re not biologically engineered to do multiple things at a time, which is why it’s tricky to pat your head and rub your belly simultaneously. When multitasking is attempted, your attention is less attentive to each task, and something inevitably gets missed. How to Maintain Your Focus in Business Let the nearby quote sink-in for a moment. How professional athletes, trained engineers, scientists, physicians do what they do best isn’t done by trying to do many tasks all at once. They use a process, an incremental approach to everything in a focused manner. When you play a game of chess or go into the gym, you do so with purpose. No matter what the experience, there is purpose, even watching a movie you’ve seen countless times has purpose–to unwind or just to re-live a feeling. It’s not a big surprise that big league baseball players can hit a pitch far better than the rest of us. Research on the game’s best hitters has shown that they have excellent hand-eye coordination and can respond quickly to visual cues. Indeed, one of the keys to a superior ball player’s performance is excellent vision and focus that allow him to see a baseball perfectly as it travels at high velocity toward home plate. —Forbes You’re in business for a purpose and a good one at-that. Regardless of what you sell, your aim is to fulfill a need and derive personal satisfaction, as well as a sense of accomplishment. Those are admirable but what’s probably holding you back from delivering your best is you’re not giving everything your best, you’re simply rushing through one task to get to the next–to rush through it as well. Your argument (read: rationalization) for doing so is that you simply don’t have enough time. Time management is an art-form, but it wouldn’t be as high a priority if you did not have to redo what you just did…again. By focusing, you’re not wasting time, you are ensuring thoughtfulness, quality, and attention to detail–the list goes on and on. What you need to do to succeed in business is be in the business of taking care of business. This doesn’t mean taking an important phone call while on the treadmill and juggling to eat your lunch without spilling it. The person you’re speaking to will certainly know what you’re doing, even though he or she cannot see you, precisely because your attention is distracted. That does not equal good business practice, it undermines and worse, inflicts damage. If “location, location, location,” means everything in real estate, then, focus is of the same importance in business. Here are some things you should be doing, every single day: Eliminate distractions. It’s not rude if you close your office door or go outside to sit on a bench to concentrate, it’s healthy for your psyche, and, for your business. Although I have a home office, I purposely operate out of a professional business office that provides the environment, the accountability and allows me to be more focused and productive. Distractions are the hobgoblin of business, the less, the better. Batch like tasks. If you read each email as it arrives, you’re doing it wrong. There’s an unseen, yet, really felt harm in doing so, because it breaks your focus. Batch similar tasks and schedule these in blocks. An example is email as the first, unfinished tasks as the second, new tasks as the third, you get the idea. Do what’s most productive and works best. Prioritize according to importance. Our natural inclination is to do what’s easiest or what we most prefer, but we also are quite aware of the consequences. If you’re doing this, it’s why you don’t feel much personal satisfaction and like you’re not really moving your business forward. Put everything in its place. You might call it O.C.D., but it’s actually very smart to have a place for everything and put everything in its place. I have very specific spots on my desk for client project priorities, my own business and personal business priorities, prospects, etc. Essentially, the only piles on my desk are those that are high priority so that my focus is aligned. The time you spend looking for this or that might be small, but add-up all those moments and you’ll marvel at the immense waste. One last suggestion is to harness the power of your body’s healing power–sleep. It’s hard to be an entrepreneur but it’s even more difficult when you’re making it more difficult by not getting a good night’s sleep. Instead of watching the late night news, I started going to bed earlier. As a result, I have been getting up earlier to go to the gym, which provided energy and clarity for creativity and productive focus during my day. Turn off the technology, let your brain rest, and rejuvenate each and every night. [shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”26833294″]

3 Biggest Inflation Price-Adjustment Mistakes to Avoid

November 26, 2021 No Comments

Inflation in the United States is at its highest level in 31 years, according to the Wall Street Journal. Currently, it’s measuring around 6%, and complicating matters more is supply chain issues, along with shortages in key materials, as well as labor availability. Due to these factors, businesses are faced with the decision to raise prices. Although practically any business owner would resist, this just isn’t a sound strategy. When a company’s costs rise, it must pass on at least a portion to consumers. If businesses don’t raise prices, they obviously reduce their margins, thereby reducing their revenues. So, do small businesses deal with inflation? How Small Businesses can Deal with Inflation Fortunately, there are a few key strategies you can employ to help your company through an inflationary cycle. One step you can take is to offer bulk discounts on the products you sell, incentivizing your customers to purchase more in exchange for paying less overall. Another thing that you can do is to use the same strategy for wholesale vendors, asking them for a slightly higher discount in exchange for purchasing more inventory, or materials and supplies. The PPI — producer price index– measures the prices of goods immediately postproduction and serves as a critical indicator of the pressure facing companies. Companies that weathered previous storms the best took decisive steps to counter rising inflation by pushing through price increases consistent with PPI — but that alone was not enough. —Havard Business Review Small businesses can also help to offset inflationary pressures by scheduling jobs further into the future. Since materials are more scarce at the moment, this might not be a viable strategy. Of course, this does come with a good deal of risk, because you don’t have a crystal ball into what will unfold over the next several months. Yet another strategy for coping with inflation is to move to alternative materials and supplies that cost a little less. But, be aware this might also mean having to settle for a lesser quality product. 3 Biggest Inflation Price-Adjustment Mistakes to Avoid If these strategies aren’t enough or don’t appeal to you, there are definitely things you should avoid doing. Because any one of these will likely be extremely costly in one way or another. Here are the three most dangerous mistakes businesses really need to avoid in their inflation adjustment pricing: Apologizing. Sure, it’s human nature to empathize. But, you’re not the driving force in rising prices, nor are you in control of the elements that are causing inflation to rise. Although it’s tempting to apologize for having to charge more, it puts you in a position of weakness and can easily lead to you reducing prices at a time where it’s just not feasible. Overcharging. Obviously, price gouging is illegal. But, charging more (particularly above the new, higher market rate) in order to cover your rising costs and increase your margin at the same time is not advisable. Doing this will only result in driving customers to look for less expensive alternatives in your competitors and leave you with a guilty conscience. Undercharging. This is perhaps the biggest temptation small business owners face during inflationary periods. They empathize with their customers, being affected in their own personal lives too. So, they decide to keep their prices the same or only raise them as little as possible, thereby cutting into their margins. While customers will certainly appreciate the break, it could very well become a self-inflicted wound that leads to ruin. What other suggestions do you have for dealing with inflation price adjustments? Please take a brief moment to leave a comment and share your thoughts and experiences so others can benefit from your strategies. Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.

Ways Business Owners can Deal with Personal Crisis

May 18, 2017 No Comments

Entrepreneurs, by their very nature, are self-reliant. They set goals and achieve them with confidence. When a personal crisis strikes a business owner, it can be very damaging to their corporate environment and even its micro-culture. Suddenly, the dynamics change and can lead to irreparable harm. We’ve all heard the advice not to bring personal problems into professional space, but, some are so large they have a nearly uncontrollable effect. It’s best to bring the situation into perspective, but, doing so might be difficult to accomplish. Ways Business Owners can Deal with Personal Crisis In some instances, it’s possible to prepare a business for a crisis. When it’s impending and inevitable, business owners should prepare by speaking with their team members about delegating and assigning responsibilities, seek legal advice (if applicable), and focus on what’s most important. There will be difficulty in maintaining balance but by being proactive, you’ll have less to worry about. Eventually it happens to the best of us. Something occurs in our personal lives that is so devastating, we have difficulty concentrating at work. It may be the death of a loved one, a divorce, a financial crisis, or serious damage to our homes. When our personal lives are in chaos, it can be hard to focus and get what we need to do done. —Inc.com Unfortunately, it’s often the case that a personal crisis strikes without warning. When it does occur, it can be very burdensome to get through. Even the toughest entrepreneurs will have difficulty trying to deal with upset in their personal lives while continuing to run their businesses. Here are some ways business owners can deal with a personal crisis: Outsource and be willing to ask for assistance. It’s okay to let go and farm-out work during turbulent times, especially if you’re having trouble staying focused and concentrating. Also, there’s no shame asking for assistance from your team — it’s actually a smarter choice. Be upfront with customers. As soon as possible, let your clients know about the situation. You don’t have to go into details, but you ought to alert them to what’s going on, particularly if you’re not able to work as usual. You’ll find most to be understanding and that helps to give you some peace-of-mind. Surround yourself with positive people. This is something that successful entrepreneurs naturally do but it’s very important when you’re going through tough times. Personally, I lean on others as well as my faith and prayer to shoulder the burdens of crisis. It’s uplifting and it can be a way to see the silver lining knowing others are walking with you. Give team members more flexibility. Your employees are huge assets to your business and during a personal crisis, can be the best go-to source for carrying-out day-to-day operations. Give them the flexibility that’s needed to keep your company running smoothly. Do not put undue pressure on yourself. If there’s one thing entrepreneurs struggle with, it’s the fear of not getting the job done. When you are dealing with personal issues, give yourself permission to lighten your workload. Take time to reflect on what’s most important. This is an ideal time to put everything in perspective. Give yourself time off and reflect on what’s truly important in your life. In addition to these, you should be honest with yourself about your life’s direction. Some business owners who experience a personal crisis use it as a learning tool advantageously, but others allow the event to cloud their judgment and make rash decisions. When you’re not thinking clearly, be willing and ready to ask for advice from someone you trust. In my life, I have found great opportunity comes from crisis because of my willingness to reflect and make changes. How have you overcome crisis and remained focused and successful with your business? Want to find out about what a business coach can do for you? [shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”26833294″]