A few lessons on starting up from my personal experience of the last ten years –
1/18 When you start up, say yes to everything that comes your way. Opening your doors means the world will come to you. Over time, you will get to choose which door you enter. Contd...
When I started in 2011, I said yes to writing stuff that I did not like and paid peanuts. But that helped me run my house partly, while I was building something I could be proud of.
2/18 Try as much NOT to have a Plan B that you can go to if Plan A fails. With no Plan B to fall back upon, I had just one path to walk upon, and I am still walking on that very path.
3/18 Once you have taken the plunge, DO NOT give up. Things get scary at times but persist for the time you’ve pre-decided upon. And it should not be a few weeks or months. I gave myself two years’ time to see the fruits of my work show up.
4/18 Believe in the J-Curve. Good things take time. But if you keep working on things that you believe in, and what many people will pay you for, keep at it. It took me more than 15 months to move up from the bottom of the curve, with it was worth the wait.
5/18 Even when you have decided to persist, set a timeline to accept that things may not work out the way you expected. Try multiple ideas, learn from what did not work for you and what did. Kill what didn’t work, and get better and what did. Contd...
Writing for others didn’t keep me happy for long. Writing for myself did. And that’s what I worked on, and on, and on.
6/18 Start small. People try to build their new business into a massive launch, but this is a mistake. Start as small as possible, giving a minimum viable product to a few friends, and let them test it out. Then a few more people.
7/18 Aim for be truly loved by a few you serve than be liked by thousands. True love is rare, so even if you can find just people 100 people who love your work so they will talk about it with their friends, you’ve hit the ball out of the park. Contd...
Safal Niveshak had very few readers by the end of six months. But I wrote almost daily. And they loved what I wrote. And so I tried to write more and better for them.
8/18 Don’t spend on SEO / social media marketing. Those don’t add any value for your customers. Let your work – your blog, product, service - speak for you and bring in people. I’ve done basic SEO work on my site, and on my own, and that has worked well so far for 10 years.
9/18 Do your best work, and forget about numbers, especially targets like page views, subscribers, revenues, etc. Those are meaningless, especially when you are starting out. Instead, worry about how much you’re helping people. You can’t put numbers on those things.
10/18 Get ready to be alone and lose friends. While family and close friends will always be supportive, most others may not understand the work it takes to build something from scratch. I lived such a life after starting up. Looking back, I do not regret any moment of it.
11/18 Practice lean living at least a year before you start out. Instant compromises are heart breaking! Save money to use as initial capital, and keep expenses low. Bootstrap as much as possible. Don’t borrow money till you aren’t generating cash. Try not to borrow at all.
12/18 Don’t believe people who tell you – “How I started up on my own, doubled my income and cut my hours in half”…or something like this. They will not help you if you reach a point of no return. Learn from others, but believe in just yourself and your work.
13/18 Build your work around the life you want to have. Make time for your family, for leisure, and for self-care. It’s easy to get caught up in the challenges of starting up. But it’s also easy to fall into the habit of making it your only priority.
14/18 Learn to sell, positively. If you can build but cannot sell, you won’t get much done. Your work should be your best salesperson. All I have done over the past 10 years is work. No advertising, no networking, nothing. Just plain simple work. And it seems to have paid fine.
15/18 Celebrate little wins. I clapped for myself every time someone subscribed to my free newsletter in those early days. And mostly one person subscribed on most days. Initially, the wins are slow and infrequent. But celebrating in your own little ways will keep you charged up.
16/18 Never compromise on what you set out to do, and the way you set out to do it. Never walk the path that may lead you to regrets. Hold tight on integrity. Avoid short cuts. Say no to what would not let you sleep peacefully at night, even if that seems lucrative financially.
17/18 Learn to be okay with NOT knowing. You will not know what will happen with your business. World is changing. Your business will change. You will change. You don’t know anything, really, and that’s fine. Just keep working on what keeps you happy when you wake up everyday.
18/18 Enjoy the journey, with all its speed breakers and potholes. Avoid getting caught up in the black and white of success and failure. Don't forget to enjoy what you are doing. Forget about success and failure. They are just two imposters. Stay the course. Enjoy the scenery.
