This is a written version from the Episode 3 of The Suite Room Podcast. You can listen to the Podcast here
Listen to the full audio here
The most difficult part in whatever you do is to START. It is almost impossible for you to get your business running without even starting to do something for it. What I realize from my experience in building the business whether it is small or it is in expansion, it is still terrifying. Especially when you do not have a full knowledge or a full capability to start it on your own.
It does need courage- and time - and effort - and it all comes down to making you have a sleepless night, anxiety, and even imposter syndrome.
Imposter syndrome is a psychological pattern in which a person doubts his/her accomplishments and has a fear of being exposed as a "fraud". Sadly, many people suffer from this syndrome before they even start something. It creates a low self-esteem and a fear of failure. They experience a constant internal struggle between achieving success and avoiding being “found out.” So, how should we prepare ourselves before we start our business?
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Listen to the full audio here
Let’s assume you already have a clear goal, you have your prototype, you have enough resources, you know what you need to do - that still is not a business. A business will start when you take out your products/services to the market, and test it and review it, and sell it, and start making money out of it. That is very difficult to do if you have a low-self confidence in the very first beginning. You are afraid to get the products out because you think it's imperfect, or you are afraid of what people will say about you and your products.
So what you need to have is a COURAGE. Nothing is perfect at the beginning. You created your first products/services for an early adopter. So just get it out and do not be afraid to take feedback from your first few customers or clients. Just like my last Instagram post about a Business Development Process, you can always innovate and that process will never end. So don’t worry you can always improve if you want to listen to your customer needs.
Then, INVESTING in the right platform that will help you to get better at your business. Whether it is investing in your self-development or investing in the system and technology. There are some questions to ask yourself before deciding on which investment you need to make aside from your capital expenditure or operating expenses. The first one is HOW IS THAT INVESTMENT COULD POTENTIALLY LEAD YOU TO MONETIZE YOUR BUSINESS.
Let me give you an example. If you are wanting to pay for a course to get a certain certification, would that certificate really help you to get your business more credible and increase your sales? If your answer is uncertain, then you should probably not do it. But if you are certain that the certification will help you for your career or your business, then you should take it. Some of the industries do need a certain certification such as cosmetics, engineering, technology services, or health/wellness. However, many courses also did not provide a certification - so if you want to take it, then you’d better be sure that the money that you put for that course will help you to monetize your business even better.
Another thing that you need to consider is THE EFFICIENCY and PRODUCTIVITY. Will the investment that you put in is saving you more cost in the future and will make you spend lesser time consuming for a higher performance? If your answer is yes, then go ahead. At the end of the day when your business gets bigger, you definitely need to automate your system. This kind of investment on automation will help you save a lot of time and resources just to ensure your business keeps running without you doing too much micro intervention in it. It will also help you to ensure your data storing and tracking your team performance.
In spite of that, you still need to know WHEN TO INVEST ON IT. Be wise to get your money spent at the right time. My suggestion is to start investing in automation when you start getting a pile of work in your hand and when you get your revenue coming in.
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You might also want to consider whether your investment WILL LEAD YOU TO THE RIGHT CIRCLE OF PEOPLE that will help you with your business. Meaning that, is your investment bringing you the right network or not. You definitely don't want to spend money to build the network that you won’t need. Such as, you paid for the membership of a drinking club when you just started your clothing store. Trust me, if you want to become successful then you need to surround yourself with people that have the positive attitude and a social circle that could be a target market or even putting investment for your business.
It is very important for you to UTILIZE YOUR TIME PROPERLY in whatever investment you need to make. Time is something that you can't get it back. In preparation for your business, time is an essential matter. You do not want to miss the right moment, but you also don't want to be too late. Make sure you know when to start, when to take a step back, when to put the money, and when to stop. How long you are going to invest your time in your personal development, or a course, or a meeting, or a hangout session, is also going to determine the end result of your growth or your business growth.
One more thing that many people forget is OVERCOME YOUR EGO. You cannot do everything alone. No matter how smart you are, or how educated you are, it is OKAY to ask for help. There are a lot of things in this world that we can learn from others. If only we want to open ourselves and accept with an open heart, we might find many beautiful and inspirational insights that we can use to maximize our business and even ourselves. It is OKAY to learn from others. It is OKAY to empty your glass sometime. It is OKAY to let people give their hand to help you.. And it is OKAY to accept that we can be wrong sometime.