Managing a Startup: Gaining Confidence

Starting a new business can be both an exciting and stressful time for entrepreneurs. While the road to turning a “million-dollar idea” into something real is challenging, it’s well worth it.

At some point in time, every business-minded individual has thought about starting their own venture. The entrepreneurial spirit is just too hard to resist. However, few people actually act upon their “million-dollar idea.” But for those that do, they discover a long and arduous road filled with both challenges and opportunity. Yet success doesn’t come easy. The confidence required to dive-in head first takes some time to build, but once you have it, you’ll be unstoppable.

As someone who has first-hand experience with the feelings of doubt and insecurity that come along with starting their own business, I can empathize with the stress of this journey. But over the course of several years, there are several strategies for gathering the confidence necessary to compete in today’s marketplace I’ve learned. They aren’t complicated and they don’t require any extra investment… just time, energy, and effort. Here are a few things you should know about managing a startup and gathering the confidence you need to succeed in 2021:

We’ve all heard this saying. “Fake it until you make it.” But what does this mean? In short, it means act like you know what you are doing until you stumble upon success. While this may seem like a ridiculous idea, it’s something that occurs very often in the modern business world. Sometimes with disastrous consequences.

However, when it comes to starting a new business, the old adage “fake it until you make it” comes into play frequently. Let me explain…

If you’re a new company in town that offers similar products or services to an already established business, people will be somewhat skeptical. But not just the general public, other business owners in the area. They will want to know who you are and what kind of experience you bring to the table. Essentially, are you a worthy competitor?

Establishing yourself as a worthy competitor won’t come easy if you aren’t industry savvy and don’t have an understanding of the latest trends and developments. For instance, if you own a startup photography company, it’s likely someone has already been serving the area for quite some time. As a result, anyone who might be considering switching to your services must see you as an expert and reliable source of information. They should be able to call you on the phone, email you, or walk into your store and immediately be greeted with a first-class experience and expertise. But what if you don’t have that much experience? Fake it until you make it.

Every idle moment should be spent learning something new about your chosen industry. The Internet literally contains trillions of resources for you to access and grow your skill-set. For every hour that passes by you’ll learn something new. It’s possible that a new customer could walk through your front door to ask you about the benefits of an ND filter and you JUST SO HAPPENED to be reading about them or watching a video on YouTube. While the knowledge may not be “old,” if you discuss the topic with confidence, you’ll convey the expertise that they so desperately need.

It’s also important to admit what you know and what you don’t know. You are far better off not answering a question than blindly stumbling through a response. It’s just common sense. But what does that mean if you are a  new business owner? Won’t you lose customers if you don’t know the answer to every single one of their questions? Nothing could be further from the truth as long as you are genuine about it. If you don’t know, tell them you don’t know, but make sure that they understand that you are willing to go out of your way to find out. You will come across much more confident when you show a bit of humility and express an interest in something other than making a quick dollar.

Organization is also another key element of managing startup success with confidence. But not the type of “organization” you are used to. Starting a business, regardless of legal structure, requires an ability to multitask like you never have before. You’ll be in the middle of sending off for certified copies of your articles of organization while trying to open a business checking account, but in the middle of doing so you’ll come to find out that you can’t without those certified copies. Simultaneously, you are trying to set up a payment and booking system on your website for customers and grinding away on SEO. It’s a lot of responsibility, and if you aren’t organized, you could lose customers and possibly every dime of your investment.

That is why it’s important to stay organized from day one if you are going to have any confidence at all about running a startup. From the moment you choose a logo and send off to have it copyrighted, you should be ready to export those files as a PDF and save them for quick and easy access later. When the day comes you file taxes for an LLC and you have all of your personal and business expenses intermingled, you’ll be glad you have a dated copy of the receipt for the purchase in question. You’ll be able to confidently file your taxes and move on with your life.

The list of these types of scenarios for any startup goes on and on. But the important thing to remember is that they all come down to one key element: confidence. Managing a startup is both challenging and rewarding. But achieving the latter takes a bit of time.

If you would like to learn more about how our team can help you navigate today’s competitive business world; whether it be through organizational strategy, management training, employee workshops, and so on, we are standing by. Visit our website to learn more and connect with us today!