By Revuka Capital
To the millennial who wants to start a business: This is what I love about you; you are driven and highly ambitious. The world is your oyster. The possibilities are endless. You don’t see obstacles, you see opportunity.
You will be the ones that will come up with great inventions that will eliminate corruption, cure diseases and streamline businesses.
The end is bright but allow me to share with you what may happen along the journey. It will be hard at first. Chances are 90% of you will quit (or the business won’t make it) during the first three years of operations.
Here are some of the things you will learn along the way:
- Just because someone else is successful at doing it doesn’t mean that you will. It takes time and consistently building up a loyal client base. You may be a hotshot lawyer at your firm but if you chose to start your own firm tomorrow you’ll be surprised at how many of the clients you have serviced will still want to remain with your old boss (even if it was you doing all the work!). People are averse to change.
- Just like everyone else, you will need to climb up the ladder one step at a time. There are no short cuts in business growth, you have to have a good product for it to be successful. If you’re offering a service it has to be a good quality service, if you’re selling a product it needs to meet the needs of your target market. If there are already 1,000 other hustlers doing what you do, it will be harder. You will need to be smarter than the rest in order for you to sell more than the rest.
- You will need to learn how to manage a team. If your business does well enough to grow, you will need to learn how to manage your employees. Managing people isn’t an easy feat and unfortunately, most employees are there for the money and may not be interested in your vision for the business. However, it is possible to inspire others below you if you are a good leader. Good leadership is a key foundation of a healthy corporate culture. If the culture of your business is toxic, you’ll find the reason why at the top.
- You will need strength and resilience. If you are used to getting what you want most of the time, then you will have to brace yourself for doors being slammed in your face and perhaps a polite ‘No’ on a good day. Don’t let this get you down, keep improving your product until you get your first yes. Believe me when I say one yes to your product will drown out the 100 No’s you received the day before.
If you manage to survive the first year of the business – you are on the right track. If your business operations are steadily growing on the second to third year and you can cover your own expenses– then you’ve nailed it! If you manage to earn a profit after the third year – then you can consider yourself successful!
If this is not you, that doesn’t matter. I don’t believe in the school of thought that says you need to persevere doing the same thing till it works! Be flexible, change your strategy, improve your product or service, get feedback from your client to see how you can be better. Whatever the case may be, make sure that your product is gradually becoming the best option in the market and after a while everyone will be knocking on your door.