Before Starting a Business – Small Business Tips

Before you jump into the world of running your own business, it’s important to understand what you’re getting into and how you can make the most of it. Today’s post focuses on what I believe is one of the most important and vital lessons to understand before starting a business: you get what you put in. Things won’t just happen, and if you want things in your business to change (for the better), it’s up to you to make it happen.

In many ways, working as an employee of a large company tends to make you feel like you’re just another piece of the puzzle. Working for another man can make you feel like what you’re doing isn’t important, that no matter how you try to alter your work ethic, it ultimately fails to affect the grand scheme of things. You have good ideas, but no one gets to listen to them! You may think that most of your work is smoke and mirrors, and that the only hope for progress is to play your cards right in the game of internal office politics.

Okay, so I might be a bit biased. But I’m willing to bet that maybe, just maybe, I’m not that far off! While some employers are better than others at giving their employees a strong sense of responsibility and motivation, there is certainly something to be said for lack of responsibility and how damaging it can be to a person’s morality. Quite simply, no one likes to feel like they’re just another brick in the wall. No one likes to feel like what they do doesn’t matter. When you own your own business, you’re not just given a little extra responsibility. You are given all the responsibility.

The best analogy that effectively illustrates this point can be seen in the comparisons between team sports and individual athletics. Suppose for a moment that you are a member of a basketball team. Your team’s success certainly depends on your individual skill set, but it doesn’t solely depend on your ability to put the ball in the hoop. It must work as a cohesive unit. Even if you are a standout player, a talented team playing alongside you is absolutely crucial if you hope to win the championship.

Playing on a basketball team is a lot like working for a big company. Generally speaking, your team’s success doesn’t entirely depend on your individual skill set. Also, if you have a game out of play, your team will not necessarily lose the game. Your role is important, but no matter how you look at it, you will only be a contributing factor! Just remember, even LeBron James couldn’t win a championship with a mediocre team surrounding him in 2011. The Dallas Mavericks played as a cohesive unit and ended up lifting the trophy in the air as the best basketball team in the world. .

Individual sports, on the other hand, are completely different. Your success, or lack thereof, depends on how rigorous your training routine is and how dedicated you are to a committed regiment. If you work hard, day after day, your passion for excellence will come out when you start winning races. If you don’t work hard, your performance will suffer.

Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times in a row because he worked harder than his opponents. He rode his bike for six hours a day, committed to a strict diet and had a mental toughness that propelled him to the top of the sport. Individual sports can be incredibly liberating. If the star player of a failing basketball team decides to run a marathon, he will no longer be tied down by the talents of his contributing members! His success depends on them! In many ways, however, this can be incredibly intimidating and pressure-filled.

There is no smoke or mirrors to hide behind if you fail in your performance. There is no one to point fingers at, and no excuse to rally in the face of your accusers. This is what it feels like to own your own company. You are no longer part of a team, playing a small role in the overall success of the organization. Now you’re the only one on the track. It’s you against the world. If you put in the effort, you will reap the rewards.

Like so many other concepts relevant to running a small business, accepting this sense of responsibility is often very difficult for new business owners. Of course, it’s much easier to close your eyes and hope for the best, rather than grab the bull by the horns and make things happen.

While building my clothing business from scratch, I traveled to cities around my home state of Minnesota to introduce my brand to store owners. I visited retailers in Milwaukee, Madison, and Chicago with a backpack full of t-shirts, a catalog showing our pricing information, and an order form that I hoped would be completed soon. In addition to my local sales strategy, I developed a spreadsheet containing contact information for buyers across the country in cities I couldn’t meet in person. With each launch, I tirelessly pursued every buyer with my new product offerings, hoping to close deals and develop relationships with those interested in the brand.

As a small brand, things were difficult. Incredibly rough. But with persistent and relentless contact methods, I was eventually able to develop relationships with many retailers that I continue to work with today. These relationships do not exist because they were given to me. They exist because I was tireless in my quest to build a strong chain of retailers.

A common question I hear from friends and supporters hoping to start their own clothing business is, “I see you have retailers selling your products all over the country. How did you get these retailers started?” After explaining to them that I was only able to build this list of retailers with persistence and dedicated sales tactics, it often feels like I just stuck a needle into their balloon of trust. “Wait…you mean you looked at some retailers for several years before you could work with them? You called 125 retailers with each product launch?”

Unfortunately, there’s usually a general attitude of, “That sounds like you put in a lot of work to get to where you are today. I was hoping it wasn’t that hard.” Not seriously! In almost every conversation I have had with aspiring entrepreneurs, they are always surprised to hear how long and arduous the road has been. I guess I’ve been talking to team players, not individual athletes.

In many ways, your business is very similar to a vegetable garden. If you don’t take care of the garden, your vegetables will die. You must be vigilant when watering plants, tilling the soil, and picking up weeds that are trying to overpower healthy produce. You should also build a fence to keep out intruding animals eager to steal your bountiful harvest. And let’s not forget how important the initial planting phase is!

Each element of the garden is as vital as the previous one. Without proper fencing, your wonderfully ripe tomatoes and carrots will be destroyed by ravenous rabbits. Without adequate water or soil, plants would simply be struggling to survive. Your business is very similar. If you hope to see a prosperous company, you must understand that each individual element is just as important as the previous one. Without outstanding customer service, your streamlined trading strategy is completely irrelevant. Without a beautiful website, your incredible price points are not important.

If you want to see your business mature with tomatoes, carrots and pumpkins, you need to give it a proper fence, till the land and pull out the weeds. Also, properly managing your garden is not a neighborhood activity. If the garden is a mess of weeds and dead vegetables, you can’t point a finger at the neighbor across the pond and proclaim it’s their fault.

When you are the owner of a company, there is nowhere to hide. The success of your company is in your hands. Exciting, right? If you work hard every day and put your heart and soul into your business, you will enjoy a flourishing business that will give you a tremendous sense of satisfaction. Remember, you may not necessarily enjoy it overnight! But if you work harder than your competitors, the consequences of this effort will be seen in the professionalism of your business.

If your business isn’t where you expect it to be, ask yourself a simple question. “Am I really giving 100% effort in running this company?” Are you doing everything you can to help this company succeed in a timely and efficient manner? If the answers to these two questions are a resounding “yes” and it’s been six months, give it more time. If you answered yes, and it’s been two years, give it a little more time. If it’s been five years, give it a little more time! Just remember, the cream always rises to the top.

Sometimes it just takes a while to get there.