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Blog posts tagged new business idea
Facing hard facts on the route to success
December 10, 2010
When you start a business, you need to be a raging optimist. That’s because, frankly, it’s hard and many people don’t succeed. So to stand a chance, you really need to have a sunny view of the future.
However, you also need to be a realist. A friend of mine was working in a new start up. He asked me if I was interested in investing, so I took home a sample of his product. In the meantime, he had managed to place it with a couple of major high street chains. I tried it with my wife and daughter who were in the target market. Neither of them liked it, so I declined to invest.
The business in the meantime continued. A while later they were back to the drawing board, because the product hadn’t sold through the retail channel at all and had been dropped by the retailers. Fortunately they have now completely changed the offering and are doing okay, albeit on a much smaller scale. My friend is no longer involved.
Another business planned to sell a website monitoring service to small companies. After a few months of selling, it was clear there wasn’t much of a market. The management team changed direction and started selling to big corporate sites instead. This was a raging success and several years later they still have a razor focus on the same market. I was happy and this time invested in the company when they changed direction.
What are the lessons from these stories? It’s about realism and facing the facts. The lesson isn’t to chop and change, as the second company had to stay their new course for several years. However, the quicker you face difficult facts the better, particularly when it comes to customers.
The most important thing any start-up can do is to get some happy, paying customers. If the prospects won’t buy or don’t like the product after they do, don’t try to tell them how they’re wrong. Instead, change direction and provide something that they want. Then press on. A dose of realism is worth a ton of investment. In fact, having the money to continue backing a losing strategy can be the biggest disaster.
Chris Barling is CEO of ecommerce software supplier Actinic
2020 Vision – Have you got it?
July 23, 2010
Got an idea for a business? Great! What are you going to achieve with it? Let’s fast forward to 2020. Now tell me what you see....
- Have you built a trusted brand?
- Do you have a national, or perhaps, a global business?
- ARE YOU A SUCCESS?
The vision of where you will be is all part of strategic planning. It’s something you must seriously consider before you take your business idea any further let alone launch it into the marketplace. BUT, what if you’re having trouble gazing into the future and planning your way? Where do you start?
Look at what you’ve done already. You should have carried out a little research, found a niche and run your idea by friends or family. Their enthusiastic reaction, combined with you ambition, will have turned it over and over in your mind, giving it an identity and inspiring you to create it.
So let’s now look at something that will give your wonderful idea a tangible form.
- Get a pen and notepaper and find somewhere to sit, relax and think. If you’re planning to set up in a partnership you must do this together, to make sure you share the same dream and want the same outcome.
- Scribble words, phrases, or short sentences that you feel sum up where you want your business to be and what success means to you.
STOP! I forgot to mention, be economical, it’s not a novel you’re writing but your vision statement and it must be wrapped up in no more than 50 words. It may only be one paragraph but it is so important and you must get it right. Within it you must encompass the essence of your business success, what you want to achieve and where you want to be in, let’s say, the year 2020. It should be exciting enough to motivate you and fire up others you want to involve in the venture.
I maintain that this single exercise – whether looking ahead for a year, five years or a decade – begins the planning you need to achieve success. This is something I believed when I set up Diva Cosmetics (as a new mother) back in 2000. I had a wealth of experience and expertise in the industry, I was focused on what I wanted, and knew exactly how I was going to get it. It was, in essence, written down in 45 words!
Running a business is challenging, decisions have to be taken and if you’re not absolutely certain where you’re heading it’s possible to stumble, lose your way and ultimately miss out on the success that should have been yours. I often referred back to Diva Cosmetics’ Vision Statement when confronted by difficult decision making. If opportunities led me away from my original strategy, I refused to be sidetracked. Establishing my goals was a priority at Diva Cosmetics. I knew from day one where I wanted the business to be and achieving £1m in the first 12 months was, of course, all part of the plan.
I made use of a planning system I call my Seven Business Disciplines to ensure I don’t deviate from the path towards success. Having sold the company, I now use this proven system to guide start-ups. Of course, there are many facets to my first discipline, strategic planning, but having a clear and considered vision statement is a very positive start.
Once finished, put it aside for a week or two. When you go back to it, review it, edit it and leave it again. Repeat this process until those 50 words mean what they say. Now you have your vision for success. Success doesn’t just happen it takes enormous effort and hard work. It also takes thorough planning, specifically strategic planning as a foundation to build everything else on, so now you see just how vital it is.
A lack of research and planning is often blames for business failure, so do make sure your business planning is watertight. If you’re daunted by that then consider getting advice from someone who’s already got what it is you want. Planning is crucial to your success, so take advice.
At this early stage in your business planning, make sure you set out your vision statement and be true to it. Focus on where you want to be with the clearest of 20:20 vision and then set off but never lose sight of it. Who knows where you’ll be in 2020? You do...because you’ll have planned it!
Emma Wimhurst is a motivational business speaker, mentor and author
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