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Published by Programme B
With Canada’s economy becoming increasingly connected with the rest of the world, the opportunities for those looking to get in the business world are more numerous than ever before. At the same time, the business landscape is changing faster than ever. As such, anyone who is in business needs to be constantly on their feet. Fortunately, there are some general guidelines that anyone can use.
1. A Good Startup Fund
Before getting a business off the ground, there will always be a certain amount of financing involved. Fortunately, the internet and technological developments, in general, have greatly lowered this barrier to starting a business, but it still very much exists. Unless you have a tidy sum of money saved up specifically for your startup, you will probably need to get a business loan of some sort.
It is important that you explore your options and look at the different terms and interest rates of loans in Canada because they may vary greatly depending on the financial institution you are patronizing.
2. Invest in Yourself
Before starting any efforts specific to your business startup, it is important that you have a good personal base beforehand. If your personal character is not properly shored up before starting your business, there is a greater risk that you will not be able to sustain your business efforts simply because you lack the moral fiber to keep the positive momentum going.
As such, it is essential that you make sure you instill the discipline and other requisite values into you that are necessary to run a business in a way that gives it the highest chance of long-term success.
3. Pursue Your Passion
This might sound a little cliché, but pursuing a business idea that is close to your heart and occupies a personal niche will provide a significant boost in how well your business does. It is certainly true that it makes economic sense to enter an industry that has a good amount of arbitrage between supply and demand that you can take advantage of.
Having said that, if you do not have the internal fire of your passions focused squarely on the said industry, you will probably not be able to give it your all no matter how logically advantageous the choice might be.
4. Have a Moonshot Goal
When running a business for long-term success, it is very beneficial to have a large goal to aim for. For example, a startup designing mining equipment could have a moonshot goal of one day mapping out an asteroid as part of a space mining operation.
Goals as ambitious as that will give you as well as your partners and employees something to work towards and will give everyone involved a sense of purpose. In fact, studies have shown this to be the primary motivator of millennial and post-millennial employees.
5. Look into Getting an MBA
While not universally applicable, there are some situations where it might make sense for you to go back to school to pursue an advanced degree. The main rationale for this is that getting an advanced degree will imbue you with a greater depth of knowledge which will in turn feedback into better business operations.
Now, this will not apply to everyone, so it is important that you perform a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis before making a decision on the subject. Only after weighing all the pros and cons and still coming up with a net benefit should you consider the possibility of going back to school.
6. Be Prepared for Adversity
When running any business, you must always be mentally prepared for the many ups and downs your business will undoubtedly have to go through. The path to success is never a straight and properly paved road, and anyone looking to throw their hat into the ring needs to always have that at the back of their head so that when adversity visits, they are not caught off guard.
7. Hone Your People Skills
As important as what you know is, even more, important is who you know. Despite technological developments making interactions ever more impersonal, the human touch is still something that very much matters. Making good and long-lasting connections with potential partners, suppliers, and investors will only serve to better your business as well as improve its social profile in the eyes of the community.
Set aside a certain amount of time in your weekly schedule for the specific purpose of cultivating these relationships. This could be anything from going out for a game of golf or even attending someone’s son’s birthday party. What this does is the show to people that you are sincere about being a contributor to the community through your business as well as personal life and that can never hurt.
8. Don’t Get Stuck in Theory
One danger intelligent people have to deal with is getting too caught up in the theoretical aspect of things to the point where nothing gets done in the real world. Overthinking and subsequent action paralysis is a real risk that many people have and need to avoid.
If you are one of those who has this problem, one of the most important things to remember is that nothing will ever be perfect. No matter how long you take to think something through, you will never get to the point where nothing will ever go wrong. The best thing to do is to give it adequate thought and just go for it and deal with whatever issues arise as you go.
Photo by Startup Stock Photos from Pexels