Financial Prudence and Networking in Business
Don't overextend yourself financially. Be frugal and build slowly. Avoid the lure of credit card financing. Figure out creative ways to build your business. Find people who are willing to invest in you. The greatest gift I had was a vendor who believed in me and purchased my first computer and allowed me to pay it off monthly through commissions I earned sending him business. Network with other people that will need your services or products. Friends refer to friends. So, establishing those connections are important.
Jenny Hale Woldt, Founder, Splash Box Marketing LLC
Building a Supportive Advisory Network
My advice to any new CEO/Founder/Entrepreneur is to surround yourself with a community of trusted advisors to help guide you through the rough patches of growing a business. Understand compliance and HR law in every state you conduct business. Finally, know your weaknesses and blind spots and surround yourself with people who can compliment those areas that you are weakest.
Wendy McIntosh, Founder, Emerald Talent, LLC
Building Confidence Through Calculated Risks
Take bite size risks to build confidence, use SCORE and other resources for support, don't be afraid to promote your wins and products!
Sarah A. Scala ,Founder, Sarah A. Scala Consulting
Starting Small and Growing Steadily
Of course - my advice would be to start small, and slow and steady wins the race. A lot of founders believe that if they don't have a 6-figure business within 15-18 months that they're a failure, and that's just absolutely not true. The first 3 years of the business is about finding product market fit and testing and validating all of the major assumptions of the business. I would tell her to test as much as possible at the beginning and not never be afraid to make hard left turns when the business calls for it. You're walking through the forest with a blindfold on, it's critical to trust your intuition and work collaboratively with your customers to iterate and grow.
Jessica Korthuis, Founder, jessica@herbrandandco.com
Embracing Failure and Innovative Thinking
Everyone is going to tell you that it cant be done, it wont work and that you will fail. You need to be ok and accept that failure is only the first response to the first attempt. It is absolutely ok to fail - at least you tried and learnt and will make the next round even better. Never listen to the people who think they know about business or your idea when they have never done it themselves. Equally those that have been in business for years will most likely have an outdated way of thinking. There is no norm any more - NOW is the time for real change, real ideas, crazy out of the box thoughts that could change and reshape the planet and society.
Kelly Barret ,Founder, Underwear for Humanity
Choosing the Right Co-Founder and Planning for Wellness
Be super careful who you co-found and partner with. Have the hard conversations upfront and put agreements in place that allow for unplanned life events. Only build a venture with someone you would be prepared to go to war with and fight on the front lines with because partnering with someone to build a Startup Venture is hard and is very much like a marriage. Your relationship will require an alignment of the same values and qualities to weather the many highs and lows and everything in-between. You are going to feel like you are drinking from a firehose in the early days and feel like a jack of all trades master of none. This is OK for a short period of time, but you need to plan for this to not become the norm. Consciously develop a strategy to avoid burnout and mental health issues for not only yourself but your team.
Sarah Pashos Spiteri ,Founder, LB5100 Inc
Reality and Stamina in Entrepreneurship
My advice is twofold: firstly, I think it is important that those of us in leadership positions use our voice to share the reality of entrepreneurship as it is a hard and lonely road for many, and especially for women. I encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to do their research, both when it comes to market research and the mathematics ‘is there a viable model?’. We sometimes glorify entrepreneurship without properly explaining about the sacrifices. Entrepreneurs should have support systems (friends & family) and mentors for balance and better odds. Once an entrepreneur is prepped and ready to go for their dreams, my advice is to stay in shape mentally and physically! Stamina is key! This is a marathon, not a race. Let’s go!!
Natalie Batlle ,Founder, Juno House
Early Product Testing and Market Response
Start to sell your product right away! Later you will find which strategy works or not, what you need to change in marketing, sales or product itself.
Olga Gomez ,Founder, Your Move
The Importance of Starting and Networking
START! You have to start somewhere. And you can't do it alone. Reach out to your network, create new contacts, learn from EVERYONE. You can only do so much, so some of what you learn will be important down the road. That's OK. Be inspired and reach out to others when times get hard. You can do this. The difference between folks that achieve great things vs. those that don't are the level of effort you're willing to put in. You either do it or you don't.
Vanessa Jupe, Founder, Leva
Key Factors for Business Growth: Knowledge, Competence, Faith, and Luck
4 factors are fundamental for the growth of a business: Knowledge, Competence, Faith and Luck. Knowledge opens your eyes. Competence makes you great. Faith helps you deal with adversity and luck opens paths. So my advice is: never stop studying. And that doesn't mean you need to go to a university bench. Study and Learn. Learn about everything, even what is not related to your market, so you can extract as much knowledge as possible and apply it. Did you acquire knowledge? Always look for competition. Always be one step ahead and do everything with absolute quality. Have faith to understand the process when everything seems difficult and you won't make it and finally, seek luck. Many times you have the previous three qualities, but you need to know someone influential, or be somewhere at the right time. But this will only happen if you facilitate paths. If you stay at home or in the office waiting for the phone to ring, or receive a message, it may not happen. In summary: seek to combine Knowledge, Competence, Faith and Luck that the probability of success happening is very high
Kelly Couto, Founder, Capital Economic Magazine