We live in a time of the entrepreneur spirit. The United States has always been the land of opportunity but in present day, many paths have been paved and examples shown to us of possibilities. What once was business opportunity for maybe the only financial fortunate, now we see people from all walks of life pursuing business adventure. A good example is myself.
When I first came up with the bold idea to start my first business, CC’s Granola, I was a science teacher with heavy student debt, barely making enough money to survive on my own in Los Angeles, and no formal education or experience in the business world. I only was passionate about making a truly healthy granola that was a staple to my fitness performance as I trained and competed Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I was confident it was the best granola and I knew it positively contributed to my athletic diet.
CC’s Granola was my first business; three subsequent successful businesses followed that I built from the ground up. With each one, I took experience and knowledge from the previous to build an even stronger next business. I did my due diligence with each, especially the first, in studying business education, reading books from experts, and taking on mentorships wherever I could. So much of the knowledge you gain is from the actual process, as is many things in life.
So when it comes to you or someone you know who is adventuring into the entrepreneur world, I want to share these three things I wish I knew when I started my first business.
- Don’t wait for perfection, just make the best decision with what you know at the time.
Designing a label. Coming up with a tagline. Using the right colors, the placement, the packaging. There are endless decisions to be made with starting a business from the ground up. Even though I would consult many people and gather as much information as I could, I knew in my core what I liked best or what I thought worked well. The more you do research and consult others, the more feedback you get. Although it is important to gather the data, there is such thing as ‘information overload’ and that can cause you not to know what to do that is best because some information conflicts other information.
Do your research of course, but do not wait for the perfect result before you share your content or product with the public. You can always redo it later if you find a change can do better. But do not wait for it to be perfect being sharing it! Perfection is a lifelong process.
2. Be confident in expressing your true self.
Following the previous point made, confidence in expressing your true self is part of making the best decision with what you know at the time. As stated before, being a successful entrepreneur requires gathering information and consulting experienced persons in your field. This is part of doing your due diligence and needs to be done. However, you will find yourself hearing advice or reading information that conflicts with your purpose or what is true to your product. This is where you need to know what you are not willing to compromise.
For example, part of my first two health food businesses was supporting the local community as much as possible for environmental, health, and conscious living reasons. Yes, it cost more money to buy local but it meant that I was living true to myself in my beliefs. Some advice I received from mentors was it didn’t matter if I bought local to my customers and that my profit margin would be much greater if I just bought from Chinese suppliers for some goods. I listened respectfully but I knew I could not compromise this belief.
Be confident in your values and what you know is important to your mission and do not compromise with these.
3. Don’t be afraid to invest in opportunities.
With my first business, I was extremely tight on investment money. I had no outside investors, only my savings from a school teacher salary. Sigh. Needless to say, I had very little start up funding. On top of that, I was living in Los Angeles on my own, burdened with heavy student debt, and paying to train as a full-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athlete and competitor. It was not cheap.
I had to be careful with what to invest in. I needed a website, supplies, living costs as I left my job and was receiving no paychecks. Frugal living was being done at its best. I slept on the floor because I sold all my furniture, lived in a studio apartment, and joined the rest of the homeless people outside of the YMCA to access their free wifi. Not kidding. I needed to survive and pay my bills and get this business going.
I was so careful however that I missed opportunities because I was afraid to invest in on something if I was not guaranteed or highly promised some sort of profit. There were events I could have sponsored athletes, marketing promotions I could have donated product to, and marketing campaigns I could have joined with cost. This is not to say I did not donate or sponsor, I only did at a minimal.
Being an entrepreneur is a risk and that means you have to play the risk at times. Not all the time or not in heavy doses, but just investing in on an opportunity here and there is an important part of growth and new possibilities.