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This is the most common question which is faced by many entrepreneurs at the very beginning of their career. A lot of us plan a big leap and yes I have seen a few who have been successful too and really admire them. But I personally feel that to think big, you need not start big.
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Small but consistent steps towards your goals will eventually lead to bigger success which you always dreamed of achieving. Don’t look at expanding your business from day one. The point is to dream big, start small but most cardinal thing is to START.
As per my experience as an entrepreneur, here are few aspects to consider when you are just starting off:
• Understanding the problem to solve: The most vital aspect of starting up any new venture is to completely understand the problem area related to the market in which you are going to launch your product or service. Accordingly offer effective solutions to those problem areas to stand out in the target market. Or if you are entering an existing market then you need to enhance and simplify your product offerings or services keeping in mind the concerned areas.
• Understanding the market: Not every market will react to the problem in the same manner. Understand the intensity of the problems in the market. Accordingly choose the market you would like to target first, which you feel will give you more profit.
• Rejection and dejection: Not everyone is going to like your idea…even if they are your potential customers. India is still a market where people are using age old techniques of business. But if you have faith in your idea and you feel that you can simplify the processes, go ahead with. Rejection and dejection can be converted with good understanding, execution and finally success.
When I say start small, I literally mean SMALL! Take small steps towards launching your venture.
• Reaching out to early adopters: Get some common people who have absolutely nothing to do with the field of your business to test your application / your venture idea. See what loopholes they spot in your idea, take their feedback; give your opinion and accordingly fix those loopholes.
Post that you are set to launch your venture.
• To expand to other regions or not to: Every entrepreneur wants to expand his business to a pan India level and overseas. But as I mentioned earlier, each market functions and behaves differently. It is best to start with a smaller region, get the expected success and profits from it and then expand to a whole new level. Go step by step
• A team of multi-taskers: A new venture highly demands each member to be the Jack of all trades. And this is no joke! You and your teams need to wear multiple hats in order to meet the deadlines and customer expectations. Make sure that you hire driven team members who are open to take up multiple tasks without hesitations and complaints. There should be no scope for “This is not my job!”
• Small team, big benefits: I can definitely vouch for the benefits of having a compact team than the bigger one. Many of you might think that if you have managed to get funding then you should appoint more people for different roles. Trust me, when the team is small there will be fewer people issues and quicker decision making processes as compared to bigger teams. In addition to this, members of small teams have more trust and rapport amongst each other which is one of the most vital characteristics of an ideal team.
• Utilize the break hours: Always think of the ways you can utilize the break hours during work to your maximum potential, like quick huddles. You never know you and your team might come up with few creative business developing ideas during those hours. Talk about random things under the sky and see how you can link it with your business thoughts. You will be surprised with your team’s creativity.