🎙 Inventive Journey | Real Stories From the Startup Survival Club

In addition to knowing what it is you want to do, look at how other people, either in your field or adjacent, do it. You can learn as much from the good that they do as you can from the things that you disagree with. It's really useful to be able to thread your own path that's a little bit different from what everybody is doing but getting the benefit of what they have learned.

Get really good at hiring. Your team is going to determine whether or not you are going to be successful. All your business problems are people problems in disguise. You can tail everything back to your people. There are some of us who are entrepreneurs who people are drawn to, and they want to work with us for whatever reason. That's great, but if you don't have those skills or that muscle that's something you really need to build upon. You need to do it from the standpoint of who you are as you build your business. what are the values of the organization? People who align with the organizational values are going to make a greater impact, and going to be a better hire.

As soon as you think you've done enough research, you are only halfway there. You need to do more. You need to act as if you are currently running a business and find out where those holes are. If you could be where I was a year into my business when you first start, which I think entrepreneurs can be if they just know more. It's a great system. I would also ask to speak with other start-ups in similar industries. Not someone who would be a direct competitor because that would be strained. But if someone is willing to say well with me and CBD and someone is launching a different type of nutritional supplement. Approach someone like me who is obviously willing to share but learn where these holes are. I can listen to as much expert advice but, if I can't really see where other people have made mistakes it's very hard. That's why I think it's such a great question. It's very hard to then know what your potential mistakes are going to be. So as soon as you think you're done, you are only halfway there when it comes to preparing to launch or actually make it happen.

Be open to advice from others. Listen to people. Learn from people. Find people that have done something similar and try to learn from their experience. I can't emphasize enough how much it has helped me. Not just having a mentor but having people around me. Being able to learn from people, for example: with fundraising. The first time I went out and did that I got a tremendous amount of input from a good friend of mine that has done it before or multiple friends that have done it before. With scaling operations, It's always great to get input from people who have done that before. Hiring if you don't have experience, it's tremendously difficult to find the right people to work with when you get to that stage.

So, I've learned that you prepare for growth and have the compacity. Then once you have the compacity, you start the marketing piece and the sales piece. You start looking for new business. When the new business comes in, you can handle it. Then your customers won't be dissatisfied and your new customers won't be dissatisfied, because you are able to meet their quota. That's the most important thing that I have learned. I really encourage any start-up that; don't rush to get more business. Build the compacity and infrastructure. Then once your infrastructure is built, you have the ability to meet the needs of your clients.

Bootstrap. It's incredible what you can think of and come up with limited resources. Giving away equity and bringing in a partner soon. I find that these create more problems than they solve. Getting outside funding. Borrowing heavily to launch a business, I think, is a mistake. Scaling it down to the point that you control it, you don't owe anyone anything makes you very resourceful and creative. I think ultimately you will grow the business faster and bigger that way. So, running lean. Keep all expenses variable. Use contractors, not employees. And delay in-fact avoid partners if you can.

If someone is starting, I would say, get a mentor right from the bat. Get someone who has helped build a business from the ground up. Don't just try it yourself cause it will take you four years where it could have taken you a couple of months to figure out exactly what you are doing? Who you are doing it for? What's a mission and vision is and how do they differ? And how having that strategy set up from the start will help you exponentially in a year.

Tell them to be cautiously fearless. I would tell them that there is nothing stopping them. They have as much right and as much ability to do this as anyone else. I've met some people that maybe their IQ isn't the highest or maybe their family does not have the most money. But they would just come and, they did it. People will help you if you ask for help. Don't be afraid to get advice. Don't be afraid to listen to good advice. Sometimes you have to go in your own corner and plan. Other times you have to just listen and ask. Where there is a will, there is a way.

You need to know enough about finance to be able to speak the language. I relate it to communication. If I am going to go to a foreign country if I know how to speak the language, I am going to have a much better trip than if I have no idea how to speak the language. That does not mean that I have to be a professional speaker or that I have to be a literary genius in that language. But, I have to have a basic level of literacy.

Someone has already taken that journey before you. So finding some that's started something similar or in the same industry that you can become a mentee of that, you can learn from and not have to recreate some of these experiences that someone has already walked that path so, there is no reason to make the same mistakes.