Startup Solutions – How to Ease Into First-Time Entrepreneurship

Starting a business or backing your idea can be a scary prospect. Taking an idea from its embryonic stage through to implementation can be a long and tough road. But making that jump into entrepreneurship is also a very exciting time as well. Taking your time to be considered and measured can help set you up for success in the long run. If you are looking for ways to ease into first-time entrepreneurship then consider these simple tips.

Focus on the areas that matter

As a first-time entrepreneur, you are probably going to be pulled from pillar to post setting up your business. Making sure you are spending time on the things that matter will be crucial. Don’t waste your time with manual tracking, filing or trying to keep hold of all those invoices. Instead, make sure to implement some Australian payroll software. Invoicing and payroll software makes it easy to track incoming and outgoing transactions for your business. It is important to know where you stand with any start-up capital or seed money. This type of software solution is the perfect way to make sure you keep a close eye on the bottom line, without wasting countless hours sifting through paper.

MVP

Don’t be fooled into thinking you need to find your most valuable person, because hopefully, that is you. Instead, make sure you focus on a minimum viable product. As a first-time entrepreneur, it is easy to think your idea is un-fallible or bulletproof. A common mistake though is building what you perceive to be a perfect solution, only to launch and realise the market doesn’t respond. Instead, design a minimum viable product of your idea, take it to market and test it with your target audience. Often we think we know what the customer wants, but only when you see them interact with or using your product or service can you see what they are really trying to do. By opting for the MVP approach, you can gather real data and make improvements that you know the customer is looking for. The MVP method allows you to build cheap, test fast and learn a lot more.

Don’t reinvent the wheel

Instead of creating something from scratch or spending weeks, months or even years perfecting your idea, look for opportunities to use what already exists. This doesn’t mean grabbing another companies product and simply reskinning it. It means looking for opportunities to gather existing infrastructure and adapt it to suit your needs. For example, if you need an app for customer bookings or to educate customers, don’t create one, look for existing applications that you can purchase and redesign to meet your needs. Having the bones of something and simply making slight tweaks is a great way to ease into your idea and save some money on development costs.

Be agile

Being an entrepreneur is about being adaptable and agile. Gone are the days of writing 500-page business cases or plans. Sticking to the wrong path because it is what you detailed in your business plan, isn’t good business. Being agile doesn’t mean making fundamental changes all the time. It means being able to recognise those moments when you need to pivot. The best way to achieve this is to bring customers or clients in regularly during your early stages. Let them advise on how they would use your product or service, or more importantly how they wouldn’t. If this information is at odds with your plan, then be agile and pivot in the direction your audience is telling you.

Being a first-time entrepreneur can be a wild ride. If you haven’t run a business before or aren’t sure whether your idea is completely fleshed out then it can be even harder. Instead of diving in head first and falling back out again, use these simple tips to ease yourself in.