By Contributing Author
Starting a business can be daunting but also hugely rewarding. Start-ups are more popular than ever as budding entrepreneurs everywhere look to turn their dream into a reality.
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However, there are number of stumbling blocks. Luckily, there are valuable lessons to be learned from existing start-ups that have gone on to be very successful.
Go with what you know
The strength of the founding idea is crucial for a business’s success but it is in no way the determining factor. The ever-growing digital remittance service, TransferGo, started their business with the goal of disrupting the international money transfer industry.
The founders used their past experiences of issues surrounding international transfers to drive their business forward so no-one else had to encounter the problems they did, i.e. being charged up to 15 times their current rate to transfer a sum.
In short – to stand the best chance of success, enter a field you already have experience in.
Failure to prepare…
Planning is quintessential to any business and even more so, a start-up. It must involve more than your founding idea. You need to work out daily, monthly, quarterly, yearly and 5 year goals and targets. HR and the future all must be considered, the greater the plan, the greater your chance of success so research at this point is pivotal.
Invest your profits wisely
When your business starts to grow, you’ll start to reap the rewards of your hard work and enjoy healthy profits each month. What you do with these profits will determine how successful your business is over the medium to long term.
You can stick the profit in the bank and earn next to nothing in interest, or you can reinvest in the company, growing teams and divisions such as Research and Development.
Alternatively, you can look to invest in commodities and foreign currencies such as Gold, Bitcoin and the USD to protect yourself from incoming supply side shocks that could potentially destroy your company.
Further, with the way money is constantly evolving, with digital currencies set to become more and more mainstream, investing in alternative payment methods is a very smart move all round.
Teamwork is the key – Being small is no excuse
Your team is crucial to the success of your start-up and one big mistake that is often made is a lack of communication between workers and supervisors. Just because you’re a start-up and are quite small does not mean that everyone is in the know, concise communication is a must.
Ensure that each meeting you hold has a goal and you input as much information as possible into the meeting, reiterating what the meeting is about so your employees understand what they must do.
If you’re on the search for staff, don’t make the mistake of interviewing every candidate who applies, make sure that they possess the necessary qualifications and have the right mind-set to fit in with your own business culture.
Consider the roles and responsibilities for each position and take time to draft job descriptions. Produce an employee manual and put together your daily principles and expectations and ask for feedback, this will prove to be a hugely beneficial HR tool.
