IntroductionThink as big as a Roman Emperor and start small towards your own empire. The reason for great vision is clarity of purpose. The reason for taking small steps is to get results quickly. The sooner you can get “returns” the better. Returns can come both in the form of comments and saved income or expenses. There is no business that goes according to plan (commercial). If you take those initial steps without having an overview, you will soon be lost.
Plan for the horizon: Worry a lot about what’s on the horizon, that’s where you’re headed, but worry about what’s on the agenda, that’s what will get you there. Live your future now; If you don’t, it will soon be your past. The profits will be higher if your plan is large. While planning is vital, allow yourself to catch the unexpected – don’t avoid opportunities that arise simply because they weren’t in the plan.
Sell your prototype: If that’s all you have ready, sell it, maybe at a big discount. However, even give it away (protecting your invention, of course). Getting feedback on prototypes in advance ensures that you will get feedback from others later on and ensure that you can improve on ‘Mark II’. That’s the whole idea behind software developers releasing Beta versions for free. It is the best alternative to being your own customer.
Work with potential users: You can collaborate with top users, offering them special offers in exchange for being available for reference once your final product is on the market. When I started in the business, I was very happy to work from day one with a company that was always asked by others for advice. I offered more in use value than was paid for, but the ‘payback’ was generated over a long period.
Offer service before products: There may be a way to sell a service before your product is ready. There are many services that you can perform if you have the experience to produce products. Your knowledge will allow you to offer your time to the sale more quickly than perfecting something that you have to manufacture. The fee you earn generates the revenue that you can apply to the production process. the return may be less, but it is earlier.
Stick to a simple range at first: You may have come up with a great plan for your product range, but you shouldn’t wait until everything is in place before you start selling. Selling a few items will keep your income flowing and more importantly, you’ll start getting customer feedback before you’re fully engaged. You can even go out and sell a specification that you meet once you have a signed order. This way you avoid unnecessarily throwing away things that have not worked or were unacceptable to customers on a large scale.
Driving test procedures: If you plan to open a restaurant to serve meals throughout the day, start by only opening for one meal, for example, in the evening. Then you can use the time of day to do all the things you need to do before the full launch, like visit vendors. Kitchen procedures that have disappointed you at night can be perfected into the closing hours of the next day, without interfering with food preparation when you have customers waiting.
Sell close to home: Small clients close to home may not seem exciting and may not have great potential, but they will be easier to sell and costs to sell will be lower. It is probably easier to get paid. If there is a delay, you can visit the client personally. Searching for long distance payments is always more of a hassle and you will need all the cash flow you can get to cover your operating costs. Your margins will be better in the short term if you can keep your cost of sales low.
Opt for low hanging fruit: You need to plan for large or complex sales that will eventually give you the best margin, but getting the sales easily accessible, ripe fruit, which is close by, will help you on your way, while the larger ones ripen. The big payback on these quick sales is that the product feedback and modification process can be sped up. Small incremental improvements will be added soon.
Have staff on dutyOf course, you want to hire the people you think you will need to run your business, but if you add people to your payroll, you need to make sure you can pay them on an ongoing and regular basis. Maybe you should think of creative ways to overcome that level of commitment. You can hire on-call personnel. What work can be hired? Can you pay for hours worked or is it possible to work part time? Only do work that is absolutely essential. The payoff you’ll get from delaying hiring is keeping the cash in business at the early, high-risk stage.
Don’t go break: There are some startups, such as high-tech ones, where you may have to commit large sums of money up front before you can sell something. But most startups work best if you work with the least amount of money possible. If you are hungry, you will find ways to earn that vital income instead of capital. There are many entrepreneurs who have wasted vital time making investor rounds when they could have been on the street selling products. In either case, you will be better at attracting funds if you have a track record to support your claims.