After finishing my business studies, I knew I wanted to create something on my own. I had ideas and I was eager to realize them as soon as possible. I had the so-called “entrepreneurial drive” and the wish to put it into practice while I was young.
SummaryTime spent on legal and financial due diligence can never be wastedSlow down, prioritize and don't expect immediate resultsDoing great work is not enoughLearn to ask for helpConclusionSince I had been freelancing for a while, I thought I had certain skills that would be useful in starting a business. Keeping all of the above in mind, I embarked on the development of a virtual content marketing agency.
It turned out that, no matter how successful and satisfying, starting a business is not a simple and effortless undertaking. As I grew my agency, I made many mistakes and learned a myriad of lessons.
Below I include 4 essential lessons for entrepreneurs.
When I embarked on my entrepreneurial journey, I was full of ideas. I felt like I had clear, well-defined goals and a meticulously crafted, achievable plan.
What could go wrong?
I missed a crucial point - viable ideas are not enough.
Every business operates in a certain environment. The two central elements of any business environment are the legal and financial framework. Certainly, as a business graduate, in theory, I knew this well. However, in practice, everything was much more nuanced. Laws and regulations are constantly changing.
I researched employment and tax laws and came up with a plan. Believing that I knew all that was needed, I went to the local registrar and registered my business.
A day later, I received a call. It turned out that the VAT tax laws for small and medium businesses had changed just a day before I checked in. Therefore, I had to make additional payments.
Additionally, any business that works with international clients should realize that risks, such as exchange rate fluctuations, are difficult to avoid. A week after signing my first contract, the local currency appreciated against the dollar. I was not prepared for it because it was a bit atypical. I ended up losing money.
Finally, managing corporate finances goes beyond accounting compliance. For one thing, no matter the size of your business, you need to know the basics of the time value of money. Otherwise, half of the company's profits will be lost.
The earlier one learns how to make money work for them, the better their chances of achieving their financial goals.
The bottom line: Learn all the ins and outs of your professional environment.
After tackling the legal and financial issues, I immediately started operations. I set up a website, all social media accounts, subscribed to all necessary services and started the recruitment process. Since I had a very detailed plan, I thought everything should go smoothly.
I was wrong.
On the one hand, managing the communication channels and information systems of the company is not as simple and free of contingencies as it seems. I was collaborating with a few freelance Canadian writers and Indian developers and we were providing services to US, UK and Australian clients.
In short, after the start of operations, problems such as time zone differences and cultural communication barriers arose. On the other hand, working in virtual environments requires the use of version control and project management tools, which can sometimes be complex. It took a lot of time, iterations and nerves before we were able to develop processes that worked for our global team.
The bottom line: Be patient and take your time.
As a hopeless perfectionist, I knew I wanted quality to be my company's core competency. I was certain that if we provided services of exceptional quality, we would have no difficulty in winning and retaining customers. Moreover, I was gullible enough to believe that after a few successful transactions, we would have an endless influx of enthusiastic customers.
How naive!
After a while of operation, I noticed that although the few customers we had were happy and loyal, we failed to get as many new customers as expected. Also, some slightly less skilled competitors seem to be getting more attention.
Under such circumstances, one might be tempted to think that either the quality-driven positioning hasn't worked, or that the company has failed to deliver on its promise. However, given the great satisfaction of existing customers, I realized that the problem lay elsewhere.
The main problem was that our small team spent a lot of time and financial resources creating the promised quality. However, we did not spend enough to promote what we did.
We haven't spent a dime on paid media and haven't spent a decent amount of time promoting it organically. As a result, many qualified prospects couldn't find us; they have not had the opportunity to test our service.
The bottom line: Do once, promote twice.
Finally, I learned that in business, you can't go too far without learning to ask for help.
Fortunately, we did not have to deal with a single customer crisis. In other words, all our customers were satisfied with the service they received.
We expected this alone to be enough to trigger “word of mouth” marketing and get referrals. I didn't see the need to ask anyone for testimonials, references, or just "cold emails." However, while for a part-time freelancer such an approach may be satisfying, for an agency aiming to grow and grow, relying on quality-driven word-of-mouth isn't enough. /P>
We struggled to make our “bold statement” on the ground until we started to communicate with existing actors to become part of the existing community, to cooperate, as well as to reach out to people and organizations who seemed to need our services.
The bottom line: Don't be a lone ranger – give and receive.
Being an entrepreneur is perhaps the most complete business education one can get. During my business development journey, I had the chance to learn a lot. I've figured tons of things about the business world and how the "Big World" works.
Hopefully, the lessons for entrepreneurs I outlined above will help you be more effective in achieving your goals.
See also:Top lessons from successful entrepreneurs you need to know now
