Venturing into the entrepreneurial waters is exciting and scary at the same time. While it’s thrilling to finally gather the courage to turn your business idea into reality, it’s also frightening to think about all that is ahead of you.
Starting a business is the easy part, and 20% of businesses that fail within their first year can confirm that. Surviving the first year takes a lot of time, planning, and hard work, so brace yourself. In this guide, we provide helpful tips on how to survive your first year as an entrepreneur.
Stay Focused on Your Goal
The most important thing that should lead you on your way to building a thriving business is your end goal. What is it that you want to achieve? Have you even defined your long-term and short-term goals?
This is crucial for the survival of your business because if you don’t know what you want to achieve, how will you succeed? Without a goal, you’ll quickly lose direction and find yourself confused. Set both long-term and short-term goals to guide you on the way. These can act as milestones on your way to surviving the first year in business.
Set Attainable Goals
Speaking of goals, it’s is of the utmost importance to evaluate your goals and ensure they’re attainable. If you focus on achieving the impossible (such as becoming a millionaire in your first year, for example), you’ll end up disappointed and may be tempted to give up.
Set achievable, realistic goals instead. Seek help from an experienced entrepreneur and discuss your goals with them if you’re not sure they’re realistic. Most importantly, do not easily give up on them. The road to success is rough but these challenges are an everyday occurrence for an entrepreneur.
Get a Financial Advisor
One of the most common reasons why businesses fail is that they run out of capital. They don’t know how to fix their cash flow problems because their money management skills are far from good and they failed to create a backup strategy.
Just because you’re an entrepreneur doesn’t mean that you also must be a great accountant. Accounting, bookkeeping, and taxes require expertise, and not everyone is great with numbers. That’s OK, as long as you’re aware of that and seek help from professional financial advisors such as those from SCK Group in Dublin, for example.
Revise Your Business Plan
Developing a good business plan should be the first step to starting a business. It guides you through the journey. However, developing a plan and then stubbornly sticking to it even when it becomes clear that you should change some parts is the wrong way to go.
Your business plan can’t remain unchanged because your business keeps changing and evolving. As an entrepreneur, you’ll encounter many obstacles and market changes so you’ll have to be ready to adapt to these changes. You need to be able to change your path when necessary in order to keep your business going.
Try to Maintain Your Healthy Habits
The moment you start a business, it’s all you can think about. As soon as you wake up, you start working tirelessly until the moment you go to sleep. If you can sleep at all, that is, given that you’re likely constantly consumed by your business.
While the first year is hectic and stressful for all entrepreneurs, you must not forget to take care of yourself in the process. Regardless of how busy your schedule is, finding some time to eat properly and get enough sleep is a must because your health is directly related to the success of your business.
If you exhaust yourself and forget to take a break from time to time, you’re bound to experience burnout sooner or later. If this happens, you’ve not only put your health at risk but your business as well. It’s simple: if you’re exhausted and unwell, you won’t be able to make clear-headed decisions that determine the faith of your business.
Believe in Your Team
Maybe you have a brilliant business idea, but your team is your greatest asset. They are the ones that will help you turn this idea into a successful business because without people, an idea is just that.
This is why it is essential that you surround yourself with quality people who share your vision. Show your appreciation for them, support and motivate them, and they will reciprocate by helping you achieve your goals. Most importantly, hire people you can trust so that you don’t spend time micromanaging them.
