Introduction: Think big like a Roman emperor and start with small steps towards your own empire. The reason for a great vision is to have clarity of purpose. The reason for taking small steps is to get results quickly. The sooner you can get ‘refunds’, the better. Returns can come in the form of feedback as well as income or expenses saved. There is no business that goes according to the (business) plan. If you take those initial steps without having the big picture, you will soon be lost.
plan for the horizon: Be very concerned about what’s on the horizon, that’s where you’re headed, but worry about what’s on the agenda: that’s what will get you there. Live your future now; if you don’t, it will soon be your past. The returns will be higher if your plan is written big. While planning is vital, allow yourself to catch the unexpected; don’t avoid opportunities that arise simply because they weren’t in the plan.
sell your prototype: If that’s all you have ready, sell it, maybe at a deep discount. Or even give it away (protecting your invention, of course). Getting feedback on prototypes early on ensures that you get feedback from others later and will ensure that you can improve on the ‘Mark II’. That’s the idea behind software developers releasing Beta versions for free. It is the closest thing to being your own client.
Work with primary users: You can collaborate with the main users, offering them special offers in exchange for being available as a reference once your final product is on the market. When I started in business, I was very pleased to work from day one with a company that others always asked for advice. I offered more in use value than I paid for, but the ‘return’ was generated over a long period.
Offer service before products: There may be a way to sell a service before your product is ready. There are many services that you can perform if you have the expertise to produce products. Your knowledge will allow you to offer your time for sale more quickly than to perfect something that you have to manufacture. The fee you earn generates the income that you can apply to the production process. the return may be less, but it is sooner.
Stick to a simple range at first: You may have come up with a great plan for your product range, but you shouldn’t wait until everything is ready to start selling. Selling a few items will get the revenue flowing, and more importantly, you’ll start getting customer feedback before you fully commit. You can even go out and sell a spec you meet once you have a signed order. This way, you avoid unnecessarily scrapping things that haven’t worked or were unacceptable to large-scale customers.
Test Drive Procedures: If you plan to open a restaurant to offer all-day dining, start by opening just for one meal, say in the evening. Then you can use the time in the day to do all the things you need to do before the full launch, like visiting vendors. Your cooking procedures that have let you down at night can be perfected in the closing hours of the next day, without interfering with food preparation when you have customers waiting.
sell close to home: Small customers close to home may not seem exciting and may not have great potential, but they will be easier to sell and the costs of sale will be lower. Getting paid is likely to be easier. If there is a delay, you can visit the customer personally. Chasing payment long distance is always more of a problem and you’ll need all the cash flow you can get to cover your operating costs. Your margins will be better in the short term if you can keep your selling costs low.
Go for the ripe fruit: You should plan for the big or complex sales that will eventually give you the best margin, but taking advantage of the easy-to-reach sales, the ripe fruit, that is close at hand, will help you on your way, while the bigger ones ripen. The great benefit of these quick sales is that the feedback and product modification process can be speeded up. Small incremental improvements will be added soon.
Have staff on duty: Of course you want to hire the people you think you’ll need to run your business, but if you put staff on the payroll, you need to make sure you can pay them on an ongoing and regular basis. Maybe you should think of creative ways to exceed that level of commitment. You can hire guard staff. What work can be outsourced? Can you pay per hour worked or is it possible to work part-time? Only do work that is absolutely essential. The benefit you’ll get from delaying recruiting is to keep cash in the business at the early, high-risk stage.
Don’t go for broke: There are some startups, like high-tech ones, where you may need to commit large sums of money up front before you can sell anything. But most startups do best if you work with as little money as possible. If you’re hungry, you’ll find ways to get that vital income instead of capital. There are many entrepreneurs who have wasted vital time doing investor rounds when they could have been down the road selling assets. In any case, you will be better at attracting funds if you have a track record to back up your claims.
