What would you do if you were the richest man (or women) alive? would you revel in the fame or stand back? Personally the latter would be my choice. This week with the growth of my current company increasing I have been largely thinking about exit strategy’s, planning my what ifs and my backup what ifs. A plan is important for me - gives me something to beat, something to surpass.
I suppose provided I make it to the multi billionaire status I will probably split my time between family and sustained growth of my empire. I have plans of space and intend to leave earth permanently before I die, perhaps that ambition is a bi-product of a misspent youth, with first person shooters, star trek games and farscape the igniting flame. But wont it be cool when we make it to proper outer space? Where you could just jet off in a direction and see completely new things unseen previously by any human. In business terms I think space is so inconceivably huge that its the equivalent of 1000 gold mines the size of 134million earth’s in terms of available business pursuits. You could operate a deep space expedition or just farm red sand on Mars, operate a hotel on Pluto or pretend to run a jedi school..(lol)
So maybe we will be the generation to which 80% of exit strategies were underplanned, maybe we will find a trick to an extra 60 years of life or work out how to see Mars in person for under £500. I guess we have to keep at our real world business’s - I just don’t see technology slowing down!
I thought I would throw down a ‘5 things’ relative to starting your first business. I speak from personal experience so they will vary - comments appreciated as ever 
- It will be difficult, stressful and lonely in 99% of cases (at least for the first bit) - be ready for a bit of a slog. If you are really lucky your business will fly quickly and this won’t last too long. But be prepared to give up to 6 months of hard work before giving up on an idea or seeing it really soar.
- You’ll may become addicted - When you first start a business it can be addictive to work - you can spend all day in the office/shop/boardroom then come home and chat about work then go to bed and lay there thinking about work. This is ok but bare in mind this is not sustainable forever so plan your exit!
- You should always have an exit strategy - Having a clear plan about how you will leave the business with profit will give you a good target to aim for and stop you wasting your life chasing dreams.
- Its All in the Planning - As well as an exit strategy, mission statements, month, quarter, year and 2 year plans are also worth doing - whether you manage to achieve or surpass them they will act as a framework freeing you up for day to day business decisions.
- Manage less, Lead More - In an ideal situation you will be able to start a company and employ a manager - but this is not likely when you start out. This means you will have to act as both the director/leader of your business and the general manager. This can be a messy conflicting pair of roles and confuse you and make you act as neither of the two. Define a clear plan as to how you will deal with the managerial roles and allot a time for leadership.
Like these 5? Why not check out some more of my start up business posts:
- Business Mission Statements - A requirement or a waste of time - depends on your market - perhaps?
- Early Starts Late Nights - A look on how we spend our time working on our business’s.
- Hyper Local - A great new way to target people by street - or over the top?
- Organise your online reading - how I get my sites in order - read only what is worth reading!
Some times being an entrepreneur can be a daunting pursuit. Hardwork, lonely and an uphill struggle it can take a lot of work to get an idea off the ground.
I’ve found myself spending little amounts of time on a vast amount of skillsets including video editing, php, graphic design, photography, selling, economics, journalistic writing, development plans, strategy, driving, drawing, seo, sem, printing, training - and that’s just off the top of my head.
This irritates me for two reasons: 1. I could be doing what I am good at, but perhaps doing the above is leadership? and 2. Someone who is more professional could be doing it and getting it a lot more precisely mastered. This however is a toss up. I would always lean towards the professional approach, because someone who has mastered an art is much better at it than an amateur, if even just because of practice.
But with start up companies this is not always possible. To start a small web based firm on a shoe string is possible - but not if you started with a professional marketing manager, accountant, web developer, strategist etc. So on a start up financial basis alone the entrepreneur is almost force to be a jack of all trades. But as the maxim goes - Jack of all trades, Master of none - so attention should be paid to how much of your time you devote to skilled work. After you start getting a little sales in or get some sort of funding - be able and prepared to give up certain control of the business. Be ready to employ a marketing professional - professional designer or what have you.
Half of the art of being an entrepreneur is people, learning when to employ who and for what job, term and intention. So perhaps entrepreneurship, if anything is mastering several skills, just on a different level. We just need to have exit strategy’s, plans for handing down control and progressing onwards. Because we have more important things than mastering video editing!!!
Never an easy one to master but according to many well worth the attention.
Before I say anything here is Starbucks Mission Statement, might as well start with a multi-national:
- Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity.
- Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business.
- Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee.
- Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time.
- Contribute positively to our communities and our environment.
- Recognize that profitability is essential to our future success.
I personally would not write a mission statement like that, it seems in my opinion too much like ‘yes we will do this *enter giving phrase* this *second nice thing to say* and this *more kindness* but to do that we will have to *play down the mercyless profit chase*.
I mean its a good mission statement, its to the point and no doubt its had a lot of work put into creating it, after all its a huge corporate thing the mission statement. However I would still write one if I was a one man show - the mission statement is a concatenated version of all the big plans, its the short, to the point intention behind the company. Writing it well and keeping it in the for-front of your business thinking will allow you to focus on your goals while operating on a day to day basis.
Here’s a few tips on writing your mission statement:
- Keep it short - avoid floundering, be blunt but eloquent.
- Sugar coat it - for the public if its to be published - but don’t lie
- Make sure all employees know it - and understand it
- Let employees change it - partaking in its refinement will help you get everyone on board the same boat
- Change it as often as you need too - almost no expense should be spared because essentially it is the core of your business - once a day is too often once a fortnight/month is sustainable
- Do it first, Now - don’t start a whole business trade for 4 years then realise you didn’t actually intend to sell plant pots.
There are numerous writers, business theorists and planners that swear by mission statements, as do I. Personally I originally invested in the concept after reading seven habits by Steven Covey, he suggests going to the level where by you have a family mission statement and a personal mission statement also. So if you haven’t already - bare in mind your mission statement is a great way to focus your business!
How did that taste? Fancy some more? :
- We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
- Using Google Alerts - Watch for your business name or name online - monitor your presence!
- Yahoo Answers - People seeking advice - have you got time?