The first year of a business is a sprint. It’s a rush for the next year so that the chances of survival increase and the business can prosper. Here are four tips to help your startup succeed even in the worst economic environments.
(1) You can’t trust current clients and networks
For any new business, a steady stream of business is a must to survive. Word of mouth is no longer the way people do business.
Whether the business comes from search engine optimization or pay per click, new businesses need to have a strong web presence. Of course, this is in conjunction with strong branding, however the former comes before the latter.
(2) Being the cost leader usually backfires
Many new companies enter the market and immediately position themselves as the most profitable in the industry. Most of the time, this doesn’t work.
When companies search for a service or product, they typically don’t know much about the industry or the subsequent companies they intend to do business with.
Therefore, these companies rely on price to guide them and allow them to make the best decision. You have your Wal-Mart and Targets, but you also have your stores on Madison Avenue that are still in business.
The latter is more difficult to execute. Stand up for quality.
(3) Stop focusing on the business plan, move
Many start-ups sit and overthink their business plan. The opportunity cost of this is extremely high. Also, this does not lead to any execution.
Startups often end up selling a different product or offering a different service than what they set out to offer to their clientele. Market conditions are constantly changing and this disruption leads most companies to find themselves changing with these fluctuations. And that’s not a bad thing.
(4) You probably don’t know your competitors
When my company’s clients come to us, they usually ask about hiring direct competitors. I always tell them that they probably don’t know who these companies are or if they even exist.
When I started this business, I thought I knew my competitors, but every time a customer comes to us with a problem with another company, they give me the name of a staffing organization I’ve never heard of.
Again, this is due to the extremely high percentage of commerce taking place on the web, and the uncertainty of the various keywords that people within these businesses search for on Google.
After closely studying my website analytics, there are almost no duplicate Google keywords that people search for to get to my business site. Also, only 28% land on the home page. The rest are widely scattered.
However, there is a silver lining to not knowing who your competition is as a new business. It comes in the form of not being able to copy them. When it comes to the game of entrepreneurship, only the competitive survive. The rest disappear.
Startups exist to reinvent the wheel, not copy it and get lost in the scheme of things. For start-up owners, this means stepping out of their comfort zone. Sometimes making people look at you instead of you looking at them is a good thing.
