I Believe In Starting Small (Startup Strategies)

The easiest way up is down. To get to the top you must start from the scratch. To stand out in life you must be willing to start with what you have from where you are right now!

Only grave diggers start from the top. Many awesome ideas, creative ingenuity and strategies have died prematurely because some people wants to start from the top.

Some people spend more time celebrating their creative ingenuity and forget to turn it into a product or service. Having a wonderful idea is fantastic but turning it into a product or service is better.

I know some people who can spend hours telling you how fantastic their ideas and inventions are. Unfortunately, they don’t understand that whatever they created is useless until people can walk into a shop and purchase it or order for the service.

I also know some people who have been waiting for investors for ages. They said they want to start in a big way; therefore, they need millions of naira or dollars before they can start. The problem with that approach is while you are waiting for billions of dollars, your idea is becoming obsolete. In fact, when you finally decide to start small, you may discover that another person has created exactly what you thought was exclusive idea.

Those Who wants to Start from the Top Should Pay Attention to the Following:

(1). Investors are More Interested in Entrepreneurs with Pedigree. 

Any venture capitalist firm Elon Musk visits today will count itself very lucky because Elon has fantastic entrepreneurial history.

He establish PayPal with his partners. Few years after, he went ahead to established Tesla that is generating uncommon revenue and profit, and also established SpaceX which is already doing great exploits. He has results that can easily convince anyone to invest in any new idea he generates.

You that wants to start from the top what have you achieved in life? What can you tell investors to convince them to invest in your idea? You don’t have the experience and result that can convince investors. So, stop looking for millions of dollars and start from your bedroom.

For example, eBay was started in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar, a young man with experience in software development and online commerce. Omidyar set up his business on a free website provided by his internet service. His only business assets at the time were a filing cabinet, an old school desk, and a laptop computer.

Omidyar’s hobby-business grew quickly, and that forced him to buy his own server, hire someone to handle billings and the cheques that came in the mail, and eventually move the operation from his apartment to a small office. Omidyar and his business partner, Jeff Skoll, soon began paying themselves annual salaries of $25,000.

This early period of growth was essentially self-financed. The cash coming in the mail form transaction fees was sufficient to cover the business’s expenses and investments. But a period of hyper-growth was right around the corner. By the end of December 2000, this little online company had grown from serving a handful of auction devotees to dealing with the transactions of twenty-two million registered users.

By then it offered more than eight thousand product categories; on any given day, the company listed more than six million items for sale in an auction-style format, and another eight million in a fixed-price format.

An infrastructure of office space, customer support, proprietary software, information systems, and equipment was required to host a business with this volume and keep it churning. eBay developed systems to operate its auction service and to process transactions, including billing and collections. Those systems had to be continually improved and expanded as the pace of transactions on the site increased.

To keep the wheels of growth turning, the company spent literally on new site features and categories. It was at this point that Pierre Omidyar met investors. At that point, investors were jostling to invest in the young company. He generated uncommon result and did not go about begging for funding. That is how to establish your idea.

(2). Potential Investors will See You as an Unserious Person.

How can a multimillionaire invest in what he cannot see? If you established the idea with the little you have, you can easily convince potential investors by showing them the results you have generated.

It doesn’t make sense asking me to invest in what I cannot see. What if you squander my money? What if you are a swindler looking for ways to swindle me? That is how investors see entrepreneurs that doesn’t have results to back up their funding request.

Anytime someone shows me his great idea and ask me to connect him or her to investors I usually tell them that no investor will invest in nothing. Start with what you have from where you are and generate results that will convince investors. But to carry business plan around will only lead to heartbreak.

(3). Wealthy People will See You as a Parasite.

I have quite a number of wealthy friends. One thing I discovered from them is that they hate parasites. If a wealthy man stops picking your phone call it means he sees something. You didn’t position yourself properly.

Don’t ever show a wealthy person an idea in a raw form. They won’t take you serious. They may laugh with you when you are around and tell their friends to be wary of you because you are a parasite.

I am not saying you should not ask wealthy people for financial assistance, but don’t make it a habit. One day, they will not allow you to set foot into their office or house. The easiest way to convince wealthy people is to show them the result you have generated and what they will benefit if they invest in your business.

Wealthy people will take you serious if you pitch a deal to them rather than demanding for free money. 

Establish the idea, hustle for some months or years, make mistakes, make profits and leverage on that while seeking for investors.

Start with What You Have from Where You are Right Now!

Every big organization started small. Most mega churches started from one room apartment. David Oyedepo said that he established the church with three and half people on a tennis court. The fourth person was unstable, that was why he said they were three and half members. See how massive the church has become. If he waited until he starts from a stadium the church won’t be here today.

All the companies we established was from the scratch. Up till today we have not asked anyone for funding. We are using the bootstrapping method to run the organizations. Bootstrapping is using the little funds you have and your profit to fund the growth of the company. I explained how to use the bootstrapping method in detail in my book, 360 Degrees Business Management.

Let’s assume you want to establish a school and need the sum of $50,000. The question is, how much do you have right now? What space can that amount pay for? Find that kind of space and start from there and grow gradually.

I am sure you want to know how to establish a business or idea with what you have right now. Right? There is a way out. Sign up for our Startup Strategies Coaching right now. It doesn’t cost much. Chat with me right now on WhatsApp or Telegram via 08064143363.

What did you learn today? Share your thoughts with others at the comment section below.

See you at the top!

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