Business

I haven’t been running businesses for very long, but it doesn’t take much time to learn and relearn some basic principles about starting a business. Here are a couple of things I keep learning every time I get involved with a new project.

1 Start Small
It’s very easy and inspiring to think big.  But when it comes to reaching your ideals and goals, you need to take as many small and manageable steps as possible.  It’s impossible to suddenly reach your vision even years from now.  It’s not practical, and usually it’s not helpful.  Once reality sets in, your ideas will change, improve, and redirect.  Having a strong idea and philosophy in mind is important, but you always need to start from the very beginning and take steps you know you can conquer and continue moving forward, usually in an unexpected direction.

2 Specialize
Small business owners usually need to have a variety of skills early on.  They need to be the doer, the thinker, the accountant, the manager, and everything else.  But the sooner you can work with people, delegate tasks, and get them working on things they love doing and do well, the faster your business will succeed.  I do design really well, but I’m not a good programmer, so I work with others who are good at programming and love doing it.  Your business needs to specialize and work in teams.  It’s more efficient, it’s more enjoyable, and it’ll be much more successful.