Article Contributed by Aloukik Rathore,
Before talking about how to succeed really, I need to speak a bit about failure and its outcomes. In the Business Industry, failure is often praised, especially when you fail fast. One thing that our elders have teaching for centuries is that you learn from your mistakes.
Amusingly, most of the pioneers in the Silicon Valley with their successful businesses had no real history in the market and very less or negligible experience. Indeed, the ignorance of the potential pitfalls seemed to be the catalyst and what enabled them towards success. As well all know that Success isn’t a good teacher, it’s the failure that makes you humble.
Keeping that mind, here are some of the best tips for my fellow hustlers and entrepreneurs that would help you towards the road of success.
- People are more prominent than strategy.
One simple way towards being successful is surrounding you with the people who are talented and like-minded. If you constantly are in the company of such people, chances are you’ll end up with great ideas together that will work for sure. If you are initiating with an idea and then try and find the required skills, chances are you’ll be putting a square peg in a round hole at the end.
- Be the Customer and know what he wants.
All the MBAs and Business schools preach about the importance of listening to customers. That’s great if you know what to look for. Most of the times, customers don’t know what they need but can easily describe what they want or what they hate. You can simply sell a product if the masses don’t demand it. Whatever business you are in, it is steered by the ability to know what people want and not what they say they want.
- Know about the size of your Market.
During my pitching and hustling times, most of the time when I was encountered by the VCs for investments, the first question that popped was to get the intel about the forecast of the potential market. Dominating a subtle market may take ten times the effort. Work out how big your opportunity is and what piece of that market you think you could own.
Most of the grooming and beauty startups initially target a particular kind of audience and knowing their potential growth, they expand, even to the different niche products as well. Remarkably, it works most of the time because of the investment in the market research.
- It’s all about the Timing.
You can never sell an umbrella on a bright shiny day. One of the most crucial reasons businesses succeeds or fail decided by their timing. Entering the market at the right place and at the right time matters a lot. All of which leads to my first point about not fearing the failure in life because you don’t always know until you try. Before there was a Facebook, there were numerous other social media platforms. Anyone remember Orkut? It was quite big in its time. Then Facebook came, and the rest is history. Facebook didn’t create a dramatically better a social media as it was all the same, but Mark did create it at the right time.
- Growth should be your Power.
We have all wondered that what we’ll do if we win any lottery. When initiating your idea into a startup or business, you need to think about what happens if it rises exponentially. How will you ascend? Who would you hire? Would you franchise the business in other cities as well? There’s a saying that if you are trying to build the plane while flying it, don’t be astounded if you crash.
All in All, never stop innovating. If you’re nourishing in the right culture and you are hiring amazing people, and consistently putting yourself in your customer’s shoes, then as an entrepreneur you’ve built a company that should endure. I am raising this last point because I believe as a company, you have two choices: either you innovate, or you die. It’s that much simple.
Author – Aloukik Rathore, Content Marketer and a Hustler
Email – aloukik.r@gmail.com