Post by Trade facilitator on Sept 16, 2021 21:16:24 GMT 1
3 Lessons That Will Help You Survive Your First Year In Business
The first year of any business is usually very critical and challenging. However, there are systems and procedures you need to follow if you must survive it.
Starting your own business with enthusiasm and nostalgia is normal as you want to show the world the stuff you are made of. There are some things you need to know that will make the journey easy for you to scale through the first year.
From my over 25 years’ experience in both the corporate world and private business, there are three things or lessons I have learnt that can become a game changer for any new businessman any day.
Forget About Perfection And Focus On Finding Your Customers
The brutal truth that makes a business fail easily whether in its first year or later is when there are no more customers who want to buy your goods or services.
Take a look at it deeply, if customers are no more coming to patronize the company, it means that the products will just be left there, and funds will stop coming into the company.
But if you can concentrate on finding customers, making them happy, the imperfection in other things can be sorted out with time.
It is important to know that you may not be the cause of the drought in customers, it can be caused by downturn in the economy; in this case you have to do all within your power to get customers to continue coming.
If customers stop coming, no matter the cause, the business will die. With this in mind, your first year in business should be the time for you to find communities of people who will be willing to buy your products or services.
Don’t wait to create a perfect product or service before you start locating your ideal customer base. Once you are able to locate your customers, you are in strong starting position and you can then start fine-tuning your strategies from there.
Control Your Cash Flow
Another reason why businesses fail in their first year is when they run out of cash. There is nothing you can do without cash. Therefore, managing your cash-flow is very crucial for your business survival.
You need to manage your cash inflow and expenses too, so that the business will last long enough to get more cash; you need to adopt a highly conservative approach in handling cash in the business.
You should start implementing a good cash-flow management system to help you in tracking funds going out and coming in. Understand the difference between cashflow and profit as this will guide you in managing your funds.
Check your credit sales and credit purchases; the length of time given to your debtors to pay up and the time given to you by your creditors to pay them; be sure you strike a balance.
Remember that there are expenses you cannot postpone, those that you must incur on daily basis. Take calculated decisions; avoid taking actions that can be left in future when your customer base increases.
Always Be calm, Calculated And Take The Next Step
Anybody that had ever run a business and survived the first year will tell that the first year is always a time that you will be tempted to panic. Maybe your new product has not taken the momentum you expected, a person or staff you believe is critical to the survival of the business resigns; or even some heavy expenses you did not contemplate turns up.
All these listed above are really serious, but be rest assured that they are typical of every new business and you can weather the storm gracefully.
The best thing to do is to remain calm and listen to your instincts and take the next calculated steps.
When you take your time to navigate through all these challenges in your first year, which is usually the toughest, you will discover strength and more experience to deal with future years to come.
The first year of any business is usually very critical and challenging. However, there are systems and procedures you need to follow if you must survive it.
Starting your own business with enthusiasm and nostalgia is normal as you want to show the world the stuff you are made of. There are some things you need to know that will make the journey easy for you to scale through the first year.
From my over 25 years’ experience in both the corporate world and private business, there are three things or lessons I have learnt that can become a game changer for any new businessman any day.
Forget About Perfection And Focus On Finding Your Customers
The brutal truth that makes a business fail easily whether in its first year or later is when there are no more customers who want to buy your goods or services.
Take a look at it deeply, if customers are no more coming to patronize the company, it means that the products will just be left there, and funds will stop coming into the company.
But if you can concentrate on finding customers, making them happy, the imperfection in other things can be sorted out with time.
It is important to know that you may not be the cause of the drought in customers, it can be caused by downturn in the economy; in this case you have to do all within your power to get customers to continue coming.
If customers stop coming, no matter the cause, the business will die. With this in mind, your first year in business should be the time for you to find communities of people who will be willing to buy your products or services.
Don’t wait to create a perfect product or service before you start locating your ideal customer base. Once you are able to locate your customers, you are in strong starting position and you can then start fine-tuning your strategies from there.
Control Your Cash Flow
Another reason why businesses fail in their first year is when they run out of cash. There is nothing you can do without cash. Therefore, managing your cash-flow is very crucial for your business survival.
You need to manage your cash inflow and expenses too, so that the business will last long enough to get more cash; you need to adopt a highly conservative approach in handling cash in the business.
You should start implementing a good cash-flow management system to help you in tracking funds going out and coming in. Understand the difference between cashflow and profit as this will guide you in managing your funds.
Check your credit sales and credit purchases; the length of time given to your debtors to pay up and the time given to you by your creditors to pay them; be sure you strike a balance.
Remember that there are expenses you cannot postpone, those that you must incur on daily basis. Take calculated decisions; avoid taking actions that can be left in future when your customer base increases.
Always Be calm, Calculated And Take The Next Step
Anybody that had ever run a business and survived the first year will tell that the first year is always a time that you will be tempted to panic. Maybe your new product has not taken the momentum you expected, a person or staff you believe is critical to the survival of the business resigns; or even some heavy expenses you did not contemplate turns up.
All these listed above are really serious, but be rest assured that they are typical of every new business and you can weather the storm gracefully.
The best thing to do is to remain calm and listen to your instincts and take the next calculated steps.
When you take your time to navigate through all these challenges in your first year, which is usually the toughest, you will discover strength and more experience to deal with future years to come.
