It is exciting to see your start-up move from the ideation stage to the execution stage. The easy part may involve establishing headquarters, assigning roles and making announcements but there is more. Once every process is sorted out, the hard work begins. This is where many entrepreneurs struggle to succeed.
If you are not motivated, you are likely to throw in the towel under undue pressure. This is why it is important to stay motivated. The following tips would help you do so:
1. Don’t be a slave to expectation
After telling your family and friends about your hopes and dreams for the venture, you need to be careful you don’t fall into unmet expectations. If you care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.
2. Set realistic goals
Take note of the size of the task you have set yourself and do it one step at a time. Often business goals are aligned with the needs of investors, but the market has its own timing. So set goals that allow for changing resources along with lost and new opportunities. If the plan doesn’t work out, that is not the end, bear in mind the lessons and restart.
3. Measure your progress
Take control of how you are investing your time. Allow time to wonder, ‘What if I did it differently?’ Don’t get stuck on the treadmill of working harder and harder. Give yourself the time – and permission – to think and track your progress.
4. Be patient
Start-ups involve long-term planning and hard work. It may be far from the glamorous life you envisaged when starting out but hang on. Somewhere along the road, you will realise you’re no longer toiling, but winning. Be patient and your hard work will produce success.
5. Know yourself and amplify your strength
Having diverse mix of skills and experience breeds innovation. Understand what your strengths then hire people whose skills complement your own. Starting a business is not a walk in the park, despite what glossy magazines would have us believe. Be courageous. Go in the knowledge that people have been embarking on similar journeys for thousands of years beginning with a single step at a time. The road is long, but your patience, tenacity and hard work would definitely pay off.