Entrepreneurship is hard. You would never hear a single person in the industry saying they had it easy. In fact, more than 50 percent of the small businesses fail in their first four years.
Surprisingly, lack of funds is not the major issue here. 75 percent of the venture-backed startups also fail to continue their operations after a certain point. So you can guess how challenging the life of an entrepreneur is.
Well, if you are willing to start your journey as an entrepreneur, the journey, especially the first year, is going to immensely challenging. The above-mentioned statistics do give that hint.
However, it is possible to survive the first year of entrepreneurship. All you need to do is identify the challenges and overcome them with confidence. The following tips may help you.
1. Set achievable goals
Most startups fail to continue for more than one year because of their unrealistic goals. Having ambitious objectives is one thing and overestimating your capabilities is another.
The young and enthusiastic entrepreneurs often set some goals in the initial stage that are even difficult for the seasoned entrepreneurs to achieve.
It is recommended that you set some achievable goals for your operations. As mentioned earlier, the first year of entrepreneurship is all about survival. So you cannot really go all out this time and burnout.
You must have a vision when you started this venture. Create short-term goals that allow you to pursue that vision in the long term.
2. Organize yourself
The first experience of entrepreneurship can be overwhelming at times. The young and inexperienced entrepreneurs have the tendency to create pandemonium in the workplace.
Without experience, it becomes difficult for any individual to carry out the massive responsibility of running a business. Everything seems chaotic unless one learns to organize.
The chances are you are also going to struggle in the first few months of your venture. However, there are several ways you can organize your work. Firstly, you need to learn about the organized system that people implement in their business.
And then you need to identify which one works best for your startup. You can always hire someone who can organize things better.
3. Surround yourself with people who support
The first year of the venture is going to be hard, no matter how many different tricks you try. There will be a time when giving up will seem easier than carrying on.
So it becomes important for you to surround yourself with a group of people who keep you motivated. As humans, we all need some support to survive in a critical situation. Being an entrepreneur, you will need it more. It’s a basic Psychology.
If you walk into your office every day and see a motivated group of people cheering for you, it not only increases your confidence but also inspires you to work even harder.
If you are on your own team, perhaps the support from friends and family can encourage you to survive the year-one of your entrepreneurship.
4. Hire a bunch of efficient people
Running a startup is not exactly a piece of cake, especially when you are running the business alone. No matter how self-sufficient you are, if you want to build a business from scratch, you will need extra pairs of hands to succeed.
So before the situation starts to slip out of your hands, recruit some energetic people who are good at what they do.
At some point in the journey, you will need to hire people for various needs. So it is always better to recruit some key personnel in the team who can help you keep your business afloat.
However, it takes a considerable number of days to hire the right person for a job. So if you are waiting for the right time to hire key personnel, you are making a big mistake.
5. Learn to make quick decisions
Your decision-making ability will determine how good an entrepreneur you are. As you may have noticed, one decision can either unlock your fortune or ruin it completely.
And when we are talking about the dynamic world of entrepreneurship, the decisions need to be quick ones.
Irrespective of how hard you try, all your decisions won’t offer you satisfying results. So it’s better to decide quickly. At least you will be saving some time.
As they say, “A dumb decision is better than indecision.” Usually, the quick decisions are the right ones. And as you start making quick and efficient decisions, it will allow you to reach your goals faster.
Indecision will only delay your operations. On the other hand, if you make a wrong decision, it will at least help you learn a lesson.
6. Don’t let critics discourage you
Not every individual you meet is going to be supportive of your new venture. In fact, you are going to find more criticism than support when your business will not provide with any positive result.
The people will try to demotivate you, not because they have some personal issue with you, but because it is in their nature to make other’s life miserable.
Just remember one thing. It does not matter what these people think. Simply ignore them as much as possible. If you listen to what the haters have to say, it will only distract you from your goal. Don’t let any kind of criticism affect you.
People will speak. If you start listening to each one of them, you will never be able to focus on the good things in life.
Challenges are the parts and parcels of our life. If you are doing something worthwhile, then challenges will follow you in every step.
Your objective should be to deal with each of the challenges with confidence and keep moving forward. At times, challenges are what made us stronger and help us grow. It also tells us that we are on the right path.
In the first year of your entrepreneurship, you are going to face more challenges than what you have faced in your entire life. Always remember why you started this venture in the first place.
With proper knowledge, skills, and execution, you can make this work. But until that happens, keep pushing yourself and use the tips mentioned above to survive the journey.
