Two Things You Need To Know Before Starting A Business
With the extended time in quarantine, many businesses have come alive as an escape from boredom (trust me severe boredom) or from having enough time to sit down and finally put things together. People are taking the first step to do something new for the first time — they start. But, like with anything new to you, there are some shaky moments throughout the startup process. And believe me, the shakiness stays with you for a while — you just learn how to cope with it better (can’t be looking like a shaky warrior out here).
But ultimately there was one question that ran through my mind when looking at what I wanted to do with my business — who is going to care about what I have to say? After all, starting a brand during a pandemic isn’t the ideal way you would draw it up, but sometimes the best things in life come from the most unexpected moments. Go figure.
In all honesty, if you want to see any progress you have to banish the mindset of thinking who will care about what you have to say. Remember it’s not about the people who don’t care. It’s about what you value and how you wish to express it to the masses. The right people will gravitate towards you, you’ll pull them eventually (the wordplay here is crazy).
Now to avoid a 15-minute read on what it’s like having a business and all things you should be looking out for, two points have to be discussed to ensure you didn’t waste your time reading this article. I will explain both in-depth though, so you feel the words and not just read them. Yes, I said to feel the words. We move to the elaborated reading.
Compete With Yourself
There is competition wherever you go. Whether you are facing an opponent in a sport, competing with others to secure a job interview, or fighting against someone to prove Android is better than Apple (Android wins, don’t even try to @ me on this one), competition can be seen on a day-to-day basis. But there is good in competition, especially when you are competing with yourself before you think about others. Hear me out.
When you compete to become the best version of yourself, your focus is solely on how to become better at what you do. Apply this to how you run your business. When you take time to plant good roots for your business, you enable it to survive the ups and downs that come with growth. And believe me, there will be setbacks, and some will leave you right on your ass with almost nowhere to go. But this is part of competing with yourself, not letting the challenge hold you back, but allowing it to push you past your comfort zone so that you come out of it stronger and better prepared.
At the beginning of a business, you are already behind if you are comparing yourself to others in your market. They have had more experience, time, and exposure to the place you have just entered into. But this shouldn’t tempt you to give up and not compete with the best of the best.
If you love the game, love the hustle, your mind is in the right place. Loving what you do and having the mindset to compete for what you want by any means necessary gives you the edge you need to keep up with your brand. When it is clear to you that you are trying to create the best thing you can, the process becomes less daunting. And trust me, we all like less daunting in the business world (and in general wherever you go).
Compete with yourself to produce the best of what your business requires. Not every move will be the greatest, but believe the best is yet to come.
Understand Your “Why”
Why do you drink water every day? Why do you change your garbage when it’s full? Why do you drink almond milk over any other milk in the world? You do all of these things because you understand what you get out of it. Drinking water every day boosts your energy levels and maximizes your physical performance. Changing your garbage when it’s full relieves the unpleasant odour from your kitchen. And drinking almond milk, you already know your life is automatically better once that beverage is in your system (periodddt).
But the “why” in the business world bears heavy importance for what you are trying to represent. Understanding why you made your business and what it stands for is one of the essential building blocks of your brand.
Once you understand why you have a brand and how to articulate what it stands for, this gives people context on who you are and what you bring to the table. Are you just another brand that sells stuff or do your products also bring value to the people who buy them?
Something I recommend you spend time searching for is the values that are associated with your brand. Figure out what you want your brand to symbolize. And once you have your values set, work on how to project them in a positive way that describes your organization. And remember, with your brand, you are playing the long-term game. Not everything will work out straight away but if you know what your brand is all about, it will come to fruition over time.
When you have determined what your business represents, it allows you to achieve what you set out to do clearly, work towards what you want to do, and communicate with others your plan of action (also have a business model, it holds you accountable!).
Keep Building
There are other important parts of a business that I didn’t cover in this article. But the two I did mention I believe you will rely on regardless of any business you are involved in.
Feel free to leave any comments on what you thought of this article. If you are a business owner, don’t hold back in sharing any tips you have benefited from in your journey. I am sure it could help someone start their own company and build a networking community that we can all benefit from. Thanks for reading, share with a friend, and leave an answer to the question below!
What is one tip that you would give someone who wants to start a business?
My business — https://satoriapparel.ca/
