Travel light when starting up

When beginning your entrepreneurial journey, travel light. Start your business with just you and maybe one other person. Don’t assemble a team.

Visit with potential customers yourself so you can learn the market. At the beginning, taking care of employees is a distraction from your exploration into what’s possible.

This is the time to hone your Strategic Plan. How are you going to get from Point A to Point B? Documenting where the business is going and how it’s going to get there dramatically increases the chances of achieving your goals.

Build Your Reputation

Once your plan is in place, it’s time to focus on establishing your reputation. In this stage, the entrepreneur should build a name as an expert by acquiring credentials, testimonials, case studies and awards.

By creating a clear superiority in one area, you can compete on quality and reputation instead of price.

Ask Others to Join You

Now it is time to add more suitcases and people to carry them. While you may have started solo, in this stage you know your strengths and weaknesses, and can add people whose skills complement yours.

You might want to add:

• a brilliant strategist,
• an outsourced bookkeeping partner,
• an HR expert,
• an experienced operations manager and/or
• a sales and marketing genius.

Once you have a solid plan based on experience, and have reached a level of stable sales, call for others to join you on the next leg of your quest.