Some people are born with it, others need a little nudge to get them going. Either way, you are choosing to start clearing your own path to start a business, now, against all odds. Regardless of what it may look or feel like, you can stack the deck so that the cards are in your favor, so you can succeed with your new startup business against the odds.
7 Steps to Success Against the Odds
1. Have a Clear Vision
Start with a plan, and using your imagination, see your business at the height of success, of you were able to launch your business, and everything went your way, what would your business look like in five years? In ten years?
In the beginning, also have the end in mind. Will you sell your business and retire, start another one, pass it onto your heirs, or will you keep it to add to your growing portfolio of businesses?
Feel into the vision of the life of your business before you open for business, and document you’re doing so.
2. Know Your Why
This is the reason you are starting your business and why you are doing it now, and it has to be more than for money. Income is not enough of a why to get you through the tough times, and your why will be different than anyone else’s. What drives you to start a business against the odds?
Is it to provide for your family? To build a fortune to leave to your heirs? To help others who you feel compassionate towards? To break you and your family out of the trap of poverty? To make a stand against “the man” and to break free from wage-earning prison? To be an inspiration to others who doubt that breaking free is not possible for themselves?
Why? Make your why as powerful and you can, because the strength of your why will help empower you to push-though when the going gets rough. When you are face-to-face with what seems to be insurmountable circumstances, remember your why. This is how you succeed against the odds.
3. Personal Mission Statement
Once you know your why, you can craft your personal mission statement. Before you start creating your business mission statement and plan, start with you, your personal mission statement. Incorporate your vision, your why, and your core values. This defines you and helps you to make decisions based on what serves you and your highest and best. Let this define the kind of business owner you are and the kind of businessperson you want to be in the future.
4. Consider Failure
Understand that failure is a necessary component of success, therefore it is important not to look at failures in your business as failures but as invaluable information gathering data. Throughout your business journey, you will try things, like promotional campaigns, some will fail, so you examine them to find out what went wrong.
Do not look at failure as if it is were a single devastating final blow. If you get kicked off the horse, get back on quickly as possible, even if your business ends up not working out as you had planned, do the same thing. Look at every detail, extract the learning, and try something else.
Also, keeping an eye on the failures of others can help you learn from their mistakes (which doesn’t cost you anything) and figure out a better way to connect to your market.
When you do fail (and you will) fail forward.
5. Create a Team
It is hard to start your business venture from scratch, but you can help to support yourself, your vision, and your business by creating a team to launch in concert with. By having co-founders, you can have a camaraderie of cohorts to support you and give constructive criticism along the way. This can help ease the pain of those moments when things look less than optimistic. “We are doing this together” is more comforting than “I am doing this all by myself.”
Plus, having different perspectives to draw upon is invaluable, and masterminding with a group of supportive individuals can help you to access knowledge and inspiration that would not be accessible any other way.
6. Network with Businesspeople
Keeping your ear to the ground, you can hear or feel challenges as they are headed your way. Some of the obstacles that your business will be facing will also be coming to other types of businesses, or maybe they’ve already leaped over the hurdle and can help to prepare you for what is coming.
Join a group of business owners and/or entrepreneurs and participate in the meetings. This would be a good reason to join a local chamber of commerce, to network with other business owners. Many businesspeople join a Chamber of Commerce to make more money: Not the right motivation (plus, this is not a very good method to accomplish making more money), but the networking, connecting with other businesspeople is priceless.
7. Your Contribution
Looking at and maintaining the contribution of your business to your community, the greater community, and the world, is empowerment realized by you, your clients, and supporters. How are you giving, giving back, and helping to make the world a better place through your business efforts?
Are you offering employment opportunities, enriching the lives of participants, clients, and the recipients of your products and services?
How are you and your business impacting the world and the planet for future generations?
This is your legacy.
