Establishing a business is easy but running it successfully is tough. It comes together with a set of challenges, problems, difficulties or even awkward situations that requires you to face them and eventually solve them before you can reap the fruit. Some entrepreneurs I know lost their houses, cars were repossessed, spouses left them and worst the family ditched them during the rough part of the journey before they tasted success. Theoretically, it is a tough journey.
That being said, understand this early. Entrepreneurship is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. While everybody wants to be part of the outcome, not many people, however, are keen to be part of the process. If you think you are weakhearted, I would recommend you forget this route in your search for success. Did you know that even great brands took 20 years, in general, to be where they are today? Starbucks, McDonald’s, Nike, and Apple you name it. If you do not believe me, simply go to Google and check the fact directly. That is pretty much a standard haul for a brand to be truly successful. When your brand reaches this kind of stage, you as an entrepreneur and owner of the brand will succeed too.
My journey
A little bit of my own personal journey. I became an entrepreneur at the age of 38. Yeah, a late-bloomer. That’s what I am. While many of my entrepreneur friends are enjoying the fruits of their hard work early, I was still attempting to make it happen. It’s okay. FYI, I am the first generation in my family who’s an entrepreneur. My mother and father were primary school teachers. They’re respectably great at teaching and had no intention whatsoever of venturing into business. As a matter of fact, they were comfortable with the lifestyle. Me, no. I can sense at that time that my life was inclining pretty much toward entrepreneurship rather than others.
In December 2017, I pivoted my business direction big time. I realised that the marketing agency model wasn’t sustainable. I, then, pivoted it completely into a content platform. Rather than helping others with marketing, I made a decision to market my own platform instead. I named the platform, Marketing In Asia. After running it for 4 years, in 2021, I sold it to Kuber Ventures for US$250,000. It took me four years to make it fundable. I did not just make it fundable, I made them come knocking on my door rather than the opposite.
After more than 10 years as an entrepreneur, here I am sharing with you my personal experience, my reading and my observation with you about running a business. Like I said before, this sort of adventure is not for weakhearted individuals. But if you think you are a strong-will ‘marathoner’, then this journey could be for you. It offers great perks once you’ve made it past the nasty hurdle stage.
Here’s how I would do it if I were to start all over again
Here’s the safer approach you may use to embark on the journey without creating a big hole in your pocket or making your other significant half worry too much.
First, understand the why. Understand the reason behind your decision to become an entrepreneur. This is crucial. You see, the entrepreneurship journey is similar to a blank sheet of paper. You need to understand what are you going to draw or write on it or do with the paper. The journey truly depends on how you interpret the business you’re about to build versus what you really want out of it. Here are some examples you may choose from.
- Do you want to slow your life’s pace down and use this business as a retirement vehicle?
- Or, do you just want to generate a side income out of it to supplement your insufficient main income?
- Or, do you want to replace your current main income as you believe employment is too stressful and you believe it would be less stressful if you just run your own company?
- Or, you want to start a business because this idea of yours is huge and it could solve something and change the world entirely for the better?
- Perhaps the above isn’t the reason at all and you have your own reason for it.
Ideation
Once you’re done with the business objective and sure of it, now you are entering the ideation stage. At this stage, your visualisation strength is key. Here, you need to really visualise and take note of each thing that comes to mind that relates to the business. Have everything written down on a note on how you want the company to be run. Spill out everything you have in your head, the ideas and all and populate those ideas. Once you’re done with the ideas, organise them into a business plan. From daily operations, marketing, sales, organisation chart, deliverables, products management, everything. Put all of the information into each section. I just call this a business plan, plain and simple, to ease you although some people out there are calling it a Business Canvas and some others would call it a Lean Canvas. Whatever.
You know, having a detailed business plan is similar to having a strong structural foundation for a skyscraper. The taller the building is, the stronger its foundation got to be. Otherwise, the building might collapse. If you aren’t sure of the format, well there’s no specific one actually. But, the best format, in my opinion, is to spill out every single detail about the business and not leave anything behind. Yes, everything. You may start with this default format here and expand it further if needed.
- Introduction. Here, you need to share a summary of what your business is all about.
- Purpose. Talk about how you can make your business relevant to your customer’s life.
- Why? Talk about your value proposition here. Why is the business different from others and why people must buy from you?
- Problem. Share about the current problem you’re solving.
- Solution. Write about the solutions you are going to offer, the how, the why, the what, the where and the when.
- Business Model. Explain your business model here
- Product. Describe your products, your services or both, here.
- Traction. Keep track of the milestone you’re at right now and the future stages
- Market Size. Who’d be your target market and what would be the overall market size that you think could be your potential customers?
- Revenue. Prepare a simple revenue projection for the next three years.
- Competition. List down a comparison matrix, you versus a few competitors. Tick those boxes why you are far superior to them.
- Funding Needed For. Highlight the funding amount you require. Just have this section handy as you do not know what’s going to happen in the future. Somebody might be keen to fund your adventure if they see it viable.
- Team. If any, mention also about your team members, their backgrounds and present roles.
Remember, the business plan that you’re about to create is not fixed. It is not rigid or static. It is dynamic. In other words, you must evolve it as you go along. It is because, there will be new ideas triggered based on your reading, your observation, your own thinking and conversations. New ideas might also be coming from the movies you’re watching, the articles you read on the internet, the conversation you’re having with friends and the scenes you’re seeing in the shopping malls. Who knows, it might be a valuable and good input for your business plan.
Stay dynamic and do keep this business plan of yours open for the new feed of inputs. While at this, do not rush yourself into the execution mode just yet. I would recommend you to hang on for a few months until you feel that the ideas are all settled down, every single detail is there and overall seems more or less firmed up. If I were you, I would stay in the planning mode for at least 3 months. You will be surprised by the final outcome as the longer you wait, there will be more awesome ideas coming your way. Once you are convinced, then only you make the next move.
For me personally, it’s okay to take a longer time to plan. I believe the more precise the plan is, the better and safer. Even Ocean Eleven took months to plan before taking down three casinos. A longer time to plan means you won’t make expensive mistakes later on. Mistakes done during the execution stage are not going to be pretty. Most mistakes done during the execution stage will cost you money for sure. My advice to you is to think thoroughly and put everything that comes to your mind in the business plan before you go to the next stage; De-risking the business.
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