Be Different or be dead

September 12, 2018

10 simple reasons most startups fail to get going

10 simple reasons most startups fail to get going.

Starting a business is daunting, shadowed by the truth that the majority of startup business fail. While the difficulties and challenges of starting a business are well publicized, many entrepreneurs continue to make the same crucial mistakes.

So.  Think your new business idea is brilliant? Below are some of the most common and surprising reasons why startups fail.
If you can avoid these mistakes, your chances of success will rise.

1. No market need

The most fatal thing a startup business can do is to try and push a product that has zero market need. If people have no interest in what you’re selling in the first place, your business is doomed to fail. A good product or service actually solves a real market problem.
It sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many entrepreneurs skip over this first thing to check.

2. Poor business planning

New business owners are often overly optimistic and unrealistic about how easy it will be to gain customers. They think that just because they have an interesting idea and a great website to showcase it, customers will suddenly pop out like daffodils in a snowy field.

But without a strategic and systematic business model, your business won’t get very far. A solid business model should include every detail of how you will run your business, potential problems, and how you plan to overcome these challenges to reach success.

3. Inadequate funds

Many new business owners don’t have a clear understanding of their cash flow. They underestimate how much capital they will need, waste money on the wrong things, and have unrealistic profit expectations.
Eventually, their businesses run out of money and they are forced to shut down. To avoid this, determine a realistic figure of how much money you will need for the long haul, not just startup costs.

4. The wrong team

Finding a winning team of people can be a challenge – another big reason why so many startups fail. Teams in the startup environment should have a diverse set of adaptable skills – and even more importantly, the right mindset for surviving the tumultuous first few years of a startup.

Teams that recover and learn from their mistakes, work harmoniously, respect each other, and survive tough times together without losing their enthusiasm are the ones who will go far.
Running a startup business comes with many challenges, and it’s important to have a team that you know will stick by you.

5. Lack of environmental awareness

Startups fail when their only priority is to make money. A good startup business doesn’t just care about financial gains, but about more important issues affecting the planet as well, such as the environment. For example, if you’re running a restaurant, collaborating with a company that recycles food waste can help reduce landfill waste and make a positive impact on the earth.

Customers are now more conscious about how their purchases and pollution from business systems such as farming practices and plastic factories are affecting the natural world – including water systems, oceans, local wildlife. These customers are looking for eco-friendly products and services — and businesses that care enough to implement ethical practices that protect the environment, communities and the economy are the answer.

6. Pricing errors

The price of a product or service can make or break a business. Many startup businesses make the mistake of setting their prices either too high or too low. The more research and expert advice you get about your pricing strategy, the greater chance of success.
The key is to price the product high enough to cover costs, but low enough to attract your target customer base.

7. Poor marketing

Having a great product or service idea is useless if your marketing is poor. Many startups suffer enormously from not doing enough market research and targeting the wrong people.
Knowing the needs and shopping habits of your target audience and how to get their attention is crucial.

8. Ignoring customers

Not responding to customer feedback is a sure way for a startup to fail. As a small business, customers will often expect you to be more open to communication — and your relationship with them is key to your success.
Make every effort to connect with them on a regular basis, whether through friendly face-to-face conversation, interactive social media posts, or fun competitions.

Don’t underestimate the power of prompt, honest, helpful replies, even for the simplest questions. If you ignore your customers’ needs, wants, suggestions, or praise — even unintentionally — your business will lose out on many chances to grow and improve.

9. Lack of self-awareness

Startups can be brought to their knees, not because of faults within the business itself, but from a lack of self-awareness in its founders. Some founders get stuck in their egos and believe they have everything all figured out.

A founder with a wrong, arrogant attitude wants to be seen as the smartest, most important person in the company, and can’t admit they’re wrong. However, relationships are a huge part of any business.
A good leader remains humble and realistic, respects their team, and retains their sense of humour. Leaders should take time to celebrate small successes and regularly thank their loyal team, while not taking themselves too seriously.

10. Lack of passion

People start businesses for many reasons, whether to make more money or for a chance to lead the company of their dreams exactly how they want. But many entrepreneurs lack real passion about what they do, which is often their downfall.
Passion gives you drive, patience, determination and motivation – which are all important characteristics for business leaders.

— Cloe Matheson is a freelance writer from Dunedin, New Zealand who grew up in a very tight-knit family. She is extremely close with her Mum – her greatest role model. You can discover more of Cloe’s work on Tumblr.

• Posted 9.12.18 at 10:42 am by Roy Osing
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August 23, 2018

How should startup entrepreneurs manage their business finances?

Cash flow rules

A highly effective CEO concentrates on creating a convincing product, employing the services of a proficient team, boosting sales, and making his clients satisfied and happy.
However, many leaders are engrossed in managing so many other issues, they do not pay attention to the most critical aspect of their startup; making sure that the organization is constantly raising funds at higher valuations.

The startup entrepreneur must:
— Know when cash is going to run out
— Understand the precise milestones and objectives to be attained in ways to receive an ever-increasing valuation
— Create the most effective plan for fulfilling those milestones in a suitable timeframe

Here are some important ways to effectively manage your business finances if you are a startup owner.

Manage cash flow carefully

Most startups actually do not succeed because of a host of reasons but the most common cause of a startup failure is running out of funds. You need to be very meticulous about all your calculations and know exactly how much money is coming in and where every dollar is being spent.
If you do not keep track of your transactions and cash flow, your business will be in jeopardy. Nobody will care about how fantastic your idea if you have no funds to feed it. It is vital to chalk out the right budget and firmly stick to it.

Constantly monitor all expenses

Once you start operating your business you will be tempted to incur more expenses than you need. It may be impractical for you to hire a full-time accounting professional right at the beginning.

So consider using a competent accounting software package to remain on top of your expenses and stay organized.
This will help “smooth” cash flows over the year in order to accommodate annual expense obligations such as taxes. However, as your operations expand, consider employing the services of a qualified and experienced accounting professional.

Be transparent & honest with lenders & investors

Nothing could be more hazardous to your business than dishonesty and sheer lack of communication.
Startups must necessarily be open and truthful while raising money or taking out loans. If you behave in a secretive and shady manner, nobody will trust you.
Similarly, if you are reluctant about revealing the important numbers such as demand forecasts, you could easily lose the opportunity and trust of capital sources.
Often at the beginning of your business venture, you rely on your friends and family for fundraising. In that case, to establish credibility you must be open to them regarding the organization’s financial condition. If you are relying on investors, you must be as precise as you can about the assumptions behind your forecasts on sales, operating and capital expenses.

Restrict your fixed expenses in the initial stages

At the start of your venture, keep your expenses to a minimum — you don’t need a plush office or catered meals. You must consider operating thin so that you can divert more funds toward the growth of your business.
Many startups fail due to spending lavishly on state-of-the-art amenities; they forget that their top priority is generating more and more revenue. Once your revenues start growing, you can consider incurring more overhead expenses. Until then, you need to be patient and wise.

Be prepared for failures but stay optimistic

When you start a new business you must be prepared to face the possible outcome that your personal finances could be jeopardized. If you have current employment, stay with it until your startup is in a position to effectively replace that income.
Create and keep reserves in some emergency savings account as a preparation for financial crisis situations.
Make the best use of micro-investing opportunities and consider allocating funds to a reliable online platform every month.

Concentrate on getting new customers

Customer acquisition must be your top priority. Remember your business would be a flop-show without customers. Once you are able to take on various acquisition channels, consider optimization the mix to lower your overall costs.
At the outset of your journey, it is obviously not possible for you to examine the pros and cons and reliability of all possible acquisition channels. Your resources are limited so focus on those channel opportunities with the greatest financial potential.

Establish financial objectives

Instead of being mesmerized about building a huge company, set realistic and specific measurable financial goals and objectives. You can set weekly, monthly and even daily revenue objectives and be sure to keep track of your results.
And be prepared to tweak your goals to achieve constant growth. It is essential to constantly keep attaining little goals to keep your morale high and enable you to move forward and achieve the major goals necessary for your success.

Remember: time is money

If you are working hard to achieve all the financial goals of your startup, these financial tips will definitely help.

And remember, time is as precious as money so don’t squander it by, for example, attending pointless meetings that have no relevance to your business.
Time is the most precious asset that startup entrepreneurs have so use it wisely by focusing only on activities that are directly linked to your new business idea.

— Marina Thomas is a marketing and communication expert. She also serves as content developer with many years of experience. She helps clients to develop their long term wealth plans. She covers an extensive range of topics in her posts, including business debt consolidation and start-ups.

• Posted 8.23.18 at 04:38 am by Roy Osing
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August 9, 2018

What being a mom teaches you about leadership

Image source: Unsplash

You won’t find better leaders than moms. After all, there’s no leadership boot camp quite like rearing a child or children! To affirm just how great moms are, we’ve picked the top 4 things that motherhood imparts about leadership below. The great news is that these are the kinds of qualities which would be valued in any social situation, including the professional workplace.

#1. Sheer and Utter Selflessness

People often stereotype leaders as bossy and self-interested types. Motherhood, though, is the very definition of selfless leading. As a mother, you’ll make decisions every day – probably every 10 minutes – to put the interests of your child before your own. The fourth trip to ballet for the week, cooking dinner every night… you’ll get used to doing things for everybody else before yourself.

This kind of 24/7 service can be exhausting and feels even more like work when it goes thankless – but the ability of a strong mom to persevere and serve in spite of these downsides is a true testament to their character as a selfless leader.

#2. Faking it Till You Make It

Any woman who’s faced motherhood has asked herself the same question: but how will I do it? Maybe you still remember the feeling you had when you first found out you were pregnant – the feeling that kept reminding you just how much of a kid you were yourself, despite being about to usher in a new life to look after.

As your child grows up though, and the need to “act like an adult” becomes ever more pressing, you’ll quickly get your head around one of the most essential of leadership skills: the ability to act in whichever way a particular situation demands, regardless of how you really feel – because this, flexibility, is what parenting demands.

From tough talks to those awkward PTA gatherings, you’ll have to wear a variety of roles each given day. This isn’t a bad thing! Moms just come to appreciate their own adaptability that much more, and to get to know their new talented selves that motherhood has afforded them.


Image source: Unsplash

#3. Seriously Prioritizing Self-Care

When you put others’ needs before your own daily, you’re bound to burn out. No leaders recognize this as quickly as moms do – after all, parenting is an unpaid full-time job with hours of unpredictable overtime: even billionaire CEOs get more hours off!

Moms are smart leaders because they appreciate the importance of self-care and how precious such time is! Whether it’s regular exercise breaks in the fresh air, or taking a lunch-break out to enjoy a bite to eat with fellow grown-up friends, moms appreciate that to best take care of their kids, they need to look after number one.

#4. Neither You – or Your Child – Has to Be the “Best.”

When you take on such a massive a task as parenting a child, you commit to what’s essentially 17 or 18 years of preparing a human for the adult world. As a mom, you’re bound to want to ensure your kid the best future possible – however, being a leader means championing your flock when they win and when they lose.
Material things like sports trophies or academic prizes don’t prove your child’s achievements (and, by extension, your worth as a mom). The real rewards of your parenting journey are the measurable improvements that you help your child to make in their pursuits.

At the most fundamental level, it’s about the kind of person your child becomes, not how good a competitor they are. Moms know that it’s impossible to completely control somebody – least of all a free-willed kid – so they extend all the assistance they can reasonably give and leave the rest up to their son or daughter to work out for themselves. Now that’s the stuff of a true leader.

— Cloe Matheson is a freelance writer from Dunedin, New Zealand who grew up in a very tight-knit family. She is extremely close with her Mum – her greatest role model. You can discover more of Cloe’s work on Tumblr.

• Posted 8.9.18 at 04:11 am by Roy Osing
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June 20, 2018

4 strategic ways to make your mark in the eCommerce world

In 2014, there were around 110,000 eCommerce companies in existence.

By 2017, however, that number had grown to over 2,000,000 according to Pipe Candy’s research. And this doesn’t even include China.

This means that you as an eCommerce store owner face a crazy amount of competition as you bid to stand out in the chaotic eCommerce world.
The good news is that customers are very happy to buy online, and if you get things right, they’ll buy from you.

Now, it might not be possible to turn $200 into $1,000,000 with your store overnight, but you can totally stay afloat and do super well regardless.

Let’s take a look at 4 strategic ways you can make your mark in the eCommerce world.

1. Simplify the buying process

There are a number of things that consumers want when they shop online, and chief among them is an easy as heck buying process. They want to be able to search and buy quickly.

For one thing, customers expect to be able to buy directly from your website. For another thing, they expect to be able to buy online in just one or two clicks.

Amazon is a great example of a company that has simplified the buying process by reducing the amount of clicks a user has to make before they can make a purchase. If you check MAC Cosmetics’ website, on the other hand, it takes three clicks just to view a product. This is too many.

To simplify the buying process, make it really obvious what a customer has to do to make a purchase. Implement large, colourful buttons and super clear directions and reduce the amount of pages they have to move through along their buying journey.

Install a point of service card reader to ensure payments can be made offline, too. This is particularly important if you currently (or plan to) have a physical or retail store. You want to ensure your brand is accessible across all channels.

2. Embrace cryptocurrency as a payment method

More and more people are starting to invest in cryptocurrency, but while the amount of goods and services they could purchase with digital coins used to be few and far between, more merchants in 2018 are starting to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method.

That said, many eCommerce stores still don’t accept crypto as a payment method. This means that it’s open season and you’ve got a great chance to be a trailblazer in your niche if you start accepting payment in Bitcoin and alt coin’s. You’ll capture a new audience that your rivals are missing, and this audience will become repeat customers.

In 2018, the world is changing and customers are getting more demanding. By accepting payment in cryptocurrency, you’ll show that you’re actively listening to people, and this will improve your brands reputation.

3. Offer free shipping

Business models can be the difference between a company doing well online and failing. Amazon has offered free shipping for years, something that’s very attractive to customers.

Naturally, it’s much harder for smaller online stores to offer free shipping. Sending out items around the world is a costly business. But customers love the idea of free shipping and it can boost your sales.

Here are some tips:

— Set a minimum order amount - A customer has to spend at least $X amount before they’ve qualified for free shipping

— Make free shipping a promotional event - For a limited time, offer a free shipping promotion. This will build a buzz around your store and products and can convince window shoppers to become loyal customers.

— Offer free shipping with select items only - Not every item needs to qualify for free shipping. Limit it to low shipping cost items that have a high enough markup that makes them profitable once you’ve factored in shipping fees.

4. Offer discounts and deals

Discounts aren’t available all the time and this creates a sense of urgency - and urgency is one of the key things that makes customers part with their money. If they don’t make a move now, they fear that they won’t get a second chance.

Knowing your customer is knowing human psychology. We don’t want to miss out on things.

There are many different types of discounts you can offer on your site, from a percentage off to a fixed price off, to the aforementioned free shipping. That said, the type of discount matters, as does how you word your discount. For example, if you were to write “Get $$$” off, it sounds like a win.

These small things matter, but how you present your discount will ultimately depend on the type of customer you have.

Implement different discounts, experiment with the wording and use analytics to see which ones perform the best. Creating an account with Google analytics is a great place to start.

These are 4 strategic ways you can make your mark in the eCommerce world.

Make the buying process simple, embrace cryptocurrency as payment and focus on offering deals and discounts that customers want to see.

— Michelle Deery is a writer for Heroic Search, a Tulsa based SEO agency. She writes products content that helps businesses increase their sales and build a powerful brand in the eCommerce world.

• Posted 6.20.18 at 04:11 am by Roy Osing
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