To under 30s, the road to Bizdom

Here’s how you could manage…

With students of class 10 at Neerja Modi school in Jaipur grabbing a fund worth Rs 3 crore in January 2017 for their flavoured water startup, the entrepreneur in you must be wondering how to give shape to your vivid dreams. However, starting a venture of your own is no easy task. While there are plenty of stories of businesses with young leaders making it big in the market, news like firing of over 600 employees from a leading ecommerce giant do make you want to test the water first. Take a look at the five most important things that you should be prepared with before starting your business:

Networking: Up, Down and Horizontally

You will never know everything and it is very likely that you may not have the required expertise in the field. It is always good to have a mentor or a guide to point you in the right direction. Horizontal networking is through peers- you learn from their experiences, both their successes and mistakes. Networking downwards in the hierarchy could be with entrepreneurs who are newer to the domain- they bring with them fresh ideas and perspectives.

Failures are a part of the deal

While starting a new venture it is important to not get carried away by sudden successes or failures. As long as you are quick in accepting blunders and learning from them, set-backs will not take away the best from your business. As the saying goes, the average makes mistakes and learn from them, but the smart learn from mistakes made by others. Gain knowledge from your competitors and other businesses in your domain and analyze how you should move forward.

Planning is important and so is change

Often during motivational speeches people say that they took one step at a time and each day as it came. It always does have a back story- they planned the road ahead and then countered every problem as it came. Prepare a plan A and give your best efforts. If it fails, have a plan B in place- fully strategized and give as much energy as you gave the last time. When Nokia was taken over by Microsoft, it was attributed that the reason a company so established failed was that they did not learn and change at the right time but their competitors did. Be open to new ideas, second chances and learning on the go!

It is not the idea that makes money, it is the marketing

Everyone knows the famous story behind Facebook- the Winklevoss twins may have had the ConnectU idea but it was Mark Zuckerburg who made Facebook what it is. You may have an exceptional idea, but it is very likely that something similar has already been established. It is how you do things differently that matters. Make sure to market your product well over social media and other advertising mediums to help your business reach its true potential.

The road ahead is bumpy

There is no guarantee for success. Nor there is a set timeline. A much anticipated round of funding may not bear fruit and some of your best employees might quit. Being a first time entrepreneur, it might take a lot of trips to several banks to get a loan. The key is to not stop and just keep moving- never forget the reason why you started the business in the first place. Do not let go of the ideals that you began with and everything will turn out great!