Top Lessons You Learn When Starting a New Company
As Mark Twain once said, “The secret to getting ahead is getting started.”
This is probably the very first tough lesson that many entrepreneurs learn. That is, you can’t actually be an entrepreneur until you make a move on your business plan.
Once that’s done, though, it’s still an uphill battle.
Dave Brewer, owner of a PC Support company in San Jose CA asks “what other lessons should you expect to learn as you build and grow your company?”
Here are 4 to consider.
- It’s imperative that you know (and playoff of) your strengths and accepts your weaknesses.
Everyone has advantages in the business world. Even if you’ve never even been in the business world yet, you have skills and abilities that others don’t possess. Knowing what these skills and abilities are will be key to your potential success.
At the same time, it’s crucial to know where your weaknesses lie as well. What do you struggle with? Is it getting started, staying the course, making rash decisions? Knowing both your advantages and disadvantages before you go into a business venture can save you a lot of trouble down the line.
- Having a strong team is key.
Marius Nel from Atlanta IT support company, 360 Smart Networks says “You can’t create a business alone. Even if your team is made up of only a few people, those people and their abilities can make or break your potential success. In other words, choose your people wisely. When you do, you’re setting yourself up for success from the get-go.”
- Some aspects of business will be unpredictable (and that’s just the way it is).
How do you know if your product or service is going to take off?
Well, you don’t.
The truth of the matter is, there are a few things in business that you simply can’t know for sure: Why people will or won’t buy your product or service, what trends will come and go in your industry’s marketplace, and why people will want to work for your company — or why they won’t.
Don’t expect to know these things, and you’ve already learned a vital lesson.
- There will be ups and downs. That’s the nature of the beast.
If you’re envisioning the growth of your company as a line on a graph that goes steadily up, up, up … think again. That’s not a realistic depiction of how any successful businesses grow.
You should expect setbacks. You should expect chaos. You should even expect moments in which you think you might have to give it all up and quit. If your idea is good, however, and if you have the grit, work ethic, and resources to press on, you will succeed.
And that’s the last lesson: Be diligent and persistent because the growth of a new company takes time. Put in that time and effort, and you’ll earn the right to call yourself a true entrepreneur with a successful business.
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