Lacking time and money for your startup? 11 strategies to get you started with limited resources
Many people felt that they didn’t have enough time or
money to start or grow their startup successfully. In this article, I have
organized all my notes on this subject to show that severe constraints
shouldn’t stop you. They might slow you down, but moving slowly is much better
than not moving at all.
The
short version: “Focus. Start small before you grow big, fail fast, and fail
cheaply. Implement some time management strategies. Move forward a little bit
every day. Be persistent but flexible, and test a lot.”
1.
Small, aligned actions compound into something big in the long run
You
can create significant momentum by simply taking many small steps that are
aligned toward your goal. In order to do that, it helps to be very clear on
what you want to achieve and how you plan to achieve it. It’s normal that
things move slowly at the beginning, but even with only one hour per day, you
can go a long way.
2.
You can find more free time than you think
Sure,
starting a company can take all of your time, but it doesn’t have to. How much
time do you really need to achieve your goals? If you are lacking time and you
never tried to implement any time management techniques then I am sure you can
reclaim significant time in your day. Between watching less TV, cutting out web
surfing, eliminating distractions and interruptions, and building the
discipline of not looking at your email every five minutes, you can easily find
one hour a day. Build a daily routine that reserves an uninterrupted block of
time on your calendar for working on your startup.
Just imagine what you could do with one more hour a day for the rest of your life.
3.
Learn bootstrapping techniques
The
term “bootstrapping” means starting a company without external funding. Most
companies are started that way. Spend time studying these techniques and see
how other entrepreneurs did it. You shouldn’t believe that the only way to
build a business is to have a ton of money from day one.
Some
people say that bootstrapping is a smart business move; since you are trying and the unproven idea and many new ideas just don’t work, you want to check if it is
worth something before investing a lot of time and money, whether it’s yours or
somebody else’s. Bootstrapping will force you to do exactly that.
The Bootstrapper’s Bible is
a book by Seth Godin.
If you want to read some entrepreneurs’ interviews about bootstrapping, read Entrepreneur Journeys: Bootstrapping: Weapon of Mass Reconstruction (Volume 2) by Sramana Mitra.
4.
Focus on validating your business model before growing
If
you are at the first stage of your business, your focus is figuring out a profitable business model based on your idea. At this stage your needs are
minimal.
You
want to find and fix the problems in your business model quickly. You also want
to “fail cheaply” while you are still small and haven’t invested much. It will
allow you to “pivot” to the next business model and still have some resources
left for the next round.
Remember
also, that fast growth, using external capital, is just an option. You can use your
profit to fund your growth.
5.
Test on a small scale as much as you can
Here
is an important fact: most of what you will try in business will fail. It has
nothing to do with you, it’s just how things work. It’s hard to find something
valuable and there is no way to predict what will work without trying it.
Because most of what you will try will fail, you must be prepared for that.
"Failure is simply the
opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." — Henry Ford
Test many things and always make sure you can afford to lose those “small bets”. Don’t spend a month building the perfect product or website before you know that there is something to gain from it. You can learn more about it in the book by Peter Sims. "Little Bets: How breakthrough ideas emerge from small discoveries"
6.
Pick a battle you can win
Adapt
your expectations as an entrepreneur. Choose a battle you can win with the
constraints you have. It might force you to start with smaller, different, or
narrower goals or even to pursue a different idea for the time being. You
should focus more on what you can achieve with what is available to you, rather
than just looking at what you think you are missing in order to succeed.
7.
Your first focus should be on making sales
Until
you have made that first sale, you don’t have a business. It means not just
having a product, but also a working sales process and a reliable customer
acquisition strategy in place.
If you haven’t a product yet, do everything you can to ship your minimal viable
product (the simplest possible version of a product that you can still sell)
and sell it as soon as possible. Your ability to focus on what is essential to
your customers and your speed of implementation are both critical to generate
income as soon as possible.
"If Apple can launch a smartphone without Find or Cut-and-Paste, what can you cut out of your product
requirements? " — Lance A. Glasser
8.
Connect to your customers early
This
is important for two reasons. First, it will allow you to focus your time and
effort on implementing only what is essential. You can’t do that if you don’t
understand exactly what your customers want. Second, it will give you ideas on
how to reach your customers cheaply. You won’t make any money if you only have
a product but no path to your customers and no clear message to educate them
about the benefits of your solution. Interacting with customers will help you
build that early.
Feedback
from customers is critical to any business success, so start building an audience
around your problem domain: start a blog, comment on other blogs, connect to
people from the industry, go to trade shows, etc. Go into the minds of your
customers: How is their business working? What are their biggest problems? What
are their needs? What is their buying process? What are their aspirations and
beliefs?
"Don’t fall in love with
your products, fall in love with your customer!" — Jay Abraham
9.
Manage your cash flow
As
they say in business: cash is king. This is true whether you are small or big.
If you have a very small capital to start with, you want to put growth ahead of
profits. All the profits you make must be re-invested in your venture. Schedule a regular time to make, update, and check your budget.
10.
Be resourceful
Being
resourceful is the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome problems.
Don’t waste huge amounts of time in a frantic search for resources. Use that
energy to find creative ways to get what you need or figure out a workaround.
"More often than not, if a
business fails with limited resources, it would have simply been a bigger
failure with more resources." — Rich Schefren
11.
Minimize your costs
This
is obvious, but be drastic in buying only what is essential for your business.
If you are just starting, you probably don’t need designed business cards,
personalized logos, rent an office or a shop, or have a designer create your
website. This doesn’t mean that your website or the document you produce
shouldn’t look professional, just that you should use free or cheap tools or
templates whenever you can. Be resourceful.
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