Several years ago I wrote
an article for a business magazine giving my '6 Golden Rules' for anyone starting a business. As a result of the article I received
many positive comments from the magazine's readers. So I thought it would be worth reproducing
the article again here. Some of this advice might sound a bit counter-intuitive, but
trust me - it works.
RULE 1 - Get everything
ready before you give up your job
Sort out all the boring
stuff before you give up your day job; your business will then be able to hit
the ground running right from day one. Before I had even handed in my
resignation letter, I had sorted out office space and also arranged limited
company status, an accountant, business banking, insurance, a website,
publicity materials, business cards… in fact everything needed to start trading
immediately. So, within 24 hours of giving up my day job, I was quite literally
sat in the office working on a large project for our first client, rather than
wasting valuable time getting things organised.
RULE 2 - Make sacrifices
in order to start your business
It’s essential that you
make sacrifices because it will spur you on to succeed. I was previously working
in a well paid senior marketing role and living in a detached house in a nice
area. But in order to start my company, I gave up a good salary, sold
my house and moved into a tiny terraced house in the inner city so that I
wouldn't have a big mortgage to worry about. When you have made a sacrifice
like this, it forces you to do absolutely everything necessary to make your
business a success.
RULE 3 - Marketing is an
investment, not an expense
In our first year we
spent eight thousand pounds on producing publicity materials and doing mailings
to thousands of potential clients. It seemed like a lot of money at the time,
but it paid for itself several times over when we won our first big contract
for a large West Yorkshire council.
RULE 4 - Don’t be afraid
to make mistakes, but always make sure you learn from them
Starting-up a new
business, especially in the present climate, is definitely not for the
faint-hearted. You have got to be prepared to take risks and potentially make
expensive mistakes. With careful planning and research you can minimise the
risks, but it is inevitable that you will still make some mistakes. I have made
plenty of mistakes myself over the last 10 years, but I have always learnt
from them. I now accept that failure is just a minor detour on the long and
winding road to success.
RULE 5 - Think of other similar companies as opportunities, not threats
People get very hung-up
about beating the competition. However, it’s more constructive to look for ways
you can work together and help each other. Our company works with several
similar businesses on joint projects - and we all benefit from the mutual
relationship.
RULE 6 - Don’t let the
b*ggers grind you down!
There will be lots of
people who want you to fail because they are jealous of your courage in
starting a business. Worse still, you will come across people who make you feel
small by pretending they are more successful than they really are. You can end
up feeling very insecure if you constantly compare yourself to other people. In
the early days of running my company I found myself in this position. But then
I started doing a bit of business ‘detective’ work and discovered that I was
actually doing a lot better than virtually all of these people who were
pretending to be so successful. So just relax, stay positive and always believe
in your own abilities. You’re almost certainly doing better than what you think
you are!
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