Secrets to start-up business
THE idea of starting a business is romantic. But like all romances stories, they abruptly end if they are not properly nurtured and cultivated. You cannot claim you have a relationship if you do not follow through with the initial contact you made (hustle) and you most certainly say you know your partner inside out if you didn’t ask questions (curiousity). Relationships are like that. And so are businesses. Graduating from the stage of conceiving the idea is hustling. That extra mile you go is what hustling means, in this context.
Aaron Schwartz, the Founder and CEO at Modify Industries, Inc., which designs interchangeable custom watches known as Modify Watches, once said he estimated that five per cent of his time was dedicated to strategy, five per cent on sales calls and the other 90 per cent was focused on everything else. Like what? Packing boxes for 14,000 watches his company had sold; exchanging over 200 emails per day with customers; working with his team on re-designing their watch not once, but twice; sending watches to non-profits to help with fundraising; “remembering to eat while working! With rare exception every day at a start-up requires “fighting fires” – handling issues that have immediate deadlines. To us, “Hustle” does not just mean working really hard (though that is critical). “Hustling” means being industrious and figuring out clever ways to solve problems so that we make our customers happy and improve how we work.”
Next step is to follow through. In some ways, following through is the life partner to hustle. Prince Kayode Adeshola, CEO of Remmy Kay Travel Services in Abuja said follow-through means going the extra mile even when “you’re busy, stressed and even too tired to make sure that you never lose the sight of the company’s big projects and the company goals.” He said with his company, he follow through with phone calls, emails and by keeping tabs on his employees and the customers, being in their consciousness, at all times.
Curiousity means you want to know. You want to learn and as such, you have to wide extensively. You have to ask questions. Ask questions because you want to know and ask the important ones. Travel a lot to discover what the world offers, ask your customers about your service delivery and seek ways to improve on them.
Here is the good news, these skills can be learned. Thankfully, they are not all entirely in-born. Schwartz said practice does make perfect – but also that you can still deliver good results while you are improving. And here is how he said that could be achieved. First, set yourself up for success by choosing a company and team you care about. That way you will show up to work energized each day; happiness can make even the most mundane tasks exciting.
Second, think of your customers as family and friends. It sounds silly, but when you believe that folks you care about rely on your product or service, you will work harder to make sure they are treated well.
Third, make lists. Finish each day by creating a list of the 5 small tasks that you need to accomplish the next day. Then do them the next day. Each weekend write out the one or two big projects that you want to focus on for the next week. Both of these steps will help with the follow-through, which is one part organisation and one part effort.
Fourth, while I cannot tell you to “be more curious”, I can let you know that great start-ups have a forgiving environment. Learning from mistakes is the key to success. Knowing that you will make mistakes will take away some of the stress of trying new things, which will allow your natural curiosity to shine!
Fifth and finally, ask your teammates to hold you accountable for even the smallest things. You will start to deliver everything that is expected and you will also improve team communication, which is always critical.
A start-up is scary because every day is uncertain. But it is also a great place to learn, to meet new people and to try new things. Whether you are starting a venture or joining a team, simply working hard, completing your tasks and being open to new ideas will set you on a path to success.
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