The Business Artisan » startup

Business start-up survival skills

Roger — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:37:34 +0000

A person can survive for three weeks without food and three days without water, so says John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman in his book The SAS Survival handbook.

Start-up entrepreneurs might ask themselves: ‘how long can my business survive?’

We know cash-flow is key for business survival, how much money do I need? and where it should be spent? are altogether different questions.

Before doing anything, a plan, outlining what you want to achieve, by when and what it will take to achieve the plan. Be aware this plan is likely to change and probably dramatically, over time.

At the outset of your business, beg, borrow, call in favours and even barter or negotiate ‘contras.’ Contra means ‘swap or exchange’ typically it applies to something which comes easily to you and is valued by someone else, whose skill or service you need. A word of caution here though, HM Revenue and Customs might take a dim view of contra transactions; as ever, if in doubt ask.

Spending money wisely is a skill which takes time to perfect; if you discover a way to avoid making costly mistakes please let me know!

Lessons not failures

Roger — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:53:24 +0000

Failure, I dislike the word intensely.

The word failure delivers a sucker punch to hope, optimism and self-belief.

As an alternative, I propose the word ‘lesson.’

Lesson conveys: an experience, one which we can evaluate, reflect and make our own minds up about. A natural outcome to any lesson is: we feel either positive or negative about the experience.

If you are starting a business, lessons will come thick and fast; learn from these lessons and fingers crossed, you might avoid repeating them in the future. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how!

Computers can be re-started by pressing the keys: control-alt-delete at the same time; if only we humans could do the same.

Tortoise or Hare

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:04:22 +0000

The tortoise and the hare; we know how it ends, it’s a story designed to convey the message that steady beats fast. How then does this fable apply to the start-up entrepreneur?

While the tortoise researches, plans, anticipates the what ifs and proceeds steadily the hare can’t wait to make progress and speed off seemingly unconcerned about the consequences.

Would be entrepreneurs know, spotting an opportunity is only half the story; acting upon it: defining, refining and tailoring the offering until people start to pay for it is what business and enterprise is all about.

So, maybe it’s not a case of ‘tortoise or the hare’ rather ‘tortoise and hare.’