Aditya drives the company’s vision, strategy, and growth. He enjoys creating workspaces that have energy, soul, and momentum. Workspaces that make “working” an enjoyable experience. He wants The Office Pass (TOP) to become a platform, for individuals and companies, to find high-quality, yet affordable office spaces nearby.
Prior to founding The Office Pass, Aditya was the Co-founder & CEO of Makaan.com (one of India’s leading real estate websites) which was acquired by PropTiger (a NewsCorp investee company) in April 2015. This was among the few successful exits in the Indian online real estate space. He also held leadership roles at Monster.com and Rediff.com.
Given the number of successful entrepreneurs out there, finding inspiration to quit your job and work on your passion project isn’t hard. But, turning an idea into a successful business isn’t as easy as it looks. As an entrepreneur, you must be prepared to face hurdle after hurdle. To succeed, you need not only the perfect product but also the right attitude.
Here are 7 business tips that apply to entrepreneurs in all fields.
- Make Flexible Plans
A lot has been said about making goals and persevering towards attaining them. Goals are important, as is the route you take to reach them. Every good business needs long-term and short-term goals. Make a well-researched business plan that outlines your goals, your skills, and how you plan to find success.
Now make another one. Your plans do not have to be extremely detailed. Plans are blueprints and when it comes to finding success as an entrepreneur, they must be flexible. Look at plans as an outline and a way to hold yourself accountable.
2. Control Your Finances
Funding is always a challenge for entrepreneurs. One of the top reasons start-ups fail is because they cannot raise enough capital and run out of funds. Raising funds and managing them is equally important.
Even well-funded entrepreneurs must be able to channel their funds correctly. This is where it becomes important to be able to prioritize expenses. One of the simplest ways to control your budget is to choose a coworking space for entrepreneurs rather than an independent office. Coworking spaces lower your monthly rental outgoing and minimize overhead costs for running an office.
3. Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help
As an entrepreneur, your team expects you to have all the answers. But, when you need to, you should be able to ask for help. Apart from the cost savings, one of the many benefits of coworking for entrepreneurs is the opportunity to meet and engage with other professionals without going out of your way. Find successful professionals who can mentor you. Look for other business owners you can collaborate with. The potential is limitless.
Shared office spaces for entrepreneurs also often organize networking and brainstorming events. Attend as many of these as you can. If you’re faced with a challenge, don’t hesitate to talk about it and get input from other people.
4. Put Together A Strong Team
A company is also as strong as its people. Sure, your funds may limit your candidate pool but still, make sure the people you have on your team are skilled and experienced. A paycheck is not the only thing that matters to potential employees.
Flexibility is one of the top priorities for employees today. By choosing the option of coworking for entrepreneurs, you can give your team a professional space to work out that is close to their place of residence (without expecting them to make long commutes). This will help you attract more talented people to your team.
Along with skill and experience, also make sure that your team believes in your product. They must share their vision and be able to talk about the company confidently.
5. Market Your Business At Every Opportunity
It’s a myth that you need a big budget to make an impression on your audience. As an emerging business, you must be open to innovative marketing ideas. At the very basic level, leverage your social media accounts and post content regularly. Once you’ve got a website, submit the URL to search engines and work on making it SEO friendly.
Be open to trying anything. This is a marketing strategy that has worked not only for entrepreneurs but for established big brands as well. Take Ikea for example – when they opened their first store in Hyderabad, they built awareness about it by placing empty cartons with a simple message on luggage conveyor belts in the airport.
6. Focus On Building Long-Term Relationships
One of the most important success tips for entrepreneurs is to always look at the bigger picture. Whether it’s a customer, vendor, or business partner, look at building long-term relationships. Getting a new customer is 6 times more expensive than retaining an existing customer.
Not only that, customers who have a long-term relationship with the brand are more likely to try new products and spend more. Hence, focus on giving them the best experience possible at every point of interaction.
7. Maintain A Balance
Lastly, while you do need to persevere and push yourself towards realizing your goals, you also need to have balance in your life. It’s one of the reasons why working from home isn’t such a good idea for entrepreneurs – you never know when the work day ends and your family life begins. You need to be able to switch your mind off from work so that you can tackle issues with fresh ideas.
Your team to needs to have a good work-life balance. This will lower your employee attrition rate and build a stronger company culture. Remember, if you fall ill, no matter how great your ideas and product are, you won’t be able to do much about them.
In Conclusion
With all the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, owning a business can feel like you’re on a roller coaster. The good news is that you don’t have to be alone on this ride. If you join a coworking office, you’ll find yourself working with many other entrepreneurs and business owners. Learn from them, listen to their stories, get inspired, and work with them to find your way to success.
