Heading up any organization is a
thrilling privilege, especially when it’s your own. Young entrepreneurs today
have a wealth of opportunity at their fingertips, and with practices like
remote networking, borderless resourcing and even crowdsourcing, creating a
business and achieving success
in the marketplace is a real-world possibility. So what's the best way to build
a great business as a young person? Here are my tips.
1.) Surround yourself with
experts
As a leader, you should never
settle for “just anyone.” When it comes to building your leadership team
(and your greater business), seek out passionate and forward-thinking people
who are experts and leaders in their field.
Learn as much as you can from
them and gain their input and advice on every big decision you make – from
product to strategy to operations to finance, and so on. In the long run, these
people will help shape your company culture and direction and they’ll turn you
into a stronger leader.
2.) Stay on top of tech
Technology is becoming the
driving force in a growing number of new industries and is rapidly taking over
existing industries. As a leader, it’s imperative that you (and your team) keep
up with tech trends and stay on the frontline of new developments – anything
that crops up that can make your product better or deliver further innovation
should not be ignored.
In Australia, for instance, this
is particularly critical in the retail sector. Retailers, writes John Riccio
from professional services firm PwC, “need to innovate if they are to remain
relevant to the connected consumer.”
As a result, many retailers are
being pushed by consumers to offer more accessibility and better services via
various technological means, and the ones who don’t are likely to fall quickly
behind - and many already have.
3.) Only take calculated risks
Hamdi Ulukaya, who founded
Chobani and won Ernst & Young’s World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award last
year said, “If you’re afraid of losing money, you will not make it to
success.”
This is true for every start-up,
but young leaders need to recognize that risk doesn’t mean just making a wild
decision and then going for it.
Every risk you take, even the
smallest one, must be thoroughly calculated. If you don’t calculate, your
business will eventually fail. Projections (particularly financial), strategy
options and risk management plans must be in place before the first step is
actioned.
4.) Know when to delegate and
when not to delegate
There’s a big difference between
having to do everything yourself and wanting to do it yourself for the sake of
learning.
While there will be plenty of
things you can delegate early on, taking on business tasks and learning the
ropes (just like an employee) will give you a much more thorough and in-depth
understand of how your business runs and operates.
In turn, this will provide you
with insight into how you can improve your approaches and procedures and will
ultimately make your management, operations and leadership better.
5.) Keep innovating and evolving
your product - even if you think it’s perfect, there will always be better
Many start-ups have a fantastic
product/service when they first come to market. But once your product is out
there, it’s important that you continue to improve, expand and develop what
you’ve created. This is how you remain competitive.
This type of evolution is
essential if you want your start-up to be successful in five, 10 or 20 years.
Consider how Richard Branson’s
Virgin has moved from being a simple airline to an organization offering
“astronaut” flights into outer space via Virgin Galactic - Innovation!
It might seem like an extreme way
to “dream big”, but Branson realized there was much potential in the air/space
travel arena and his ability to innovate at this level means that Virgin will
continue to grow and innovate well into the future.
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