3 Ways to Prevent your Startup from Cratering

Having a successful startup has more to do with psychology than it does with being business savvy. Understanding yourself as well as how your target audience reacts to your product or service is key. Compromising between the two is quite challenging. This is why many startups fail. So, in order to set you up for success, I wanted to provide you with 3 ways to prevent your startup from cratering. The early days of your startup are critical for success in the future. Understanding how to nudge your team and your customers from the start will set you up for success. If you are looking for additional guidance before starting your business check out my other article 3 things every entrepreneur should know.

Have Realistic Goals

This is one of those things that you know you have to do but don’t. Just about everyone who starts a company wants it to be the next Apple or Tesla. Because of that, there are some huge unrealistic goals that are placed. One of the main keys to having a successful startup though is to put your ambition aside for a second and build out small realistic goals that you can accomplish quickly. For instance, the first few steps for my business are to have a rough plan, get a team, sign an operating agreement, get LLC, then execute the rough plan. After that, I would extend that to improve the plan.

For one of my new ventures, I’m am needing to get vendor agreements. So, the phased plan that I had was to get at least 10 vendor agreements before I did anything else. See, not a complicated or grand plan but it is something that is moving me forward. That is all you really need when starting your company.

Be Methodical about those Goals

Being patient and methodical is a key aspect of having a startup. After setting up those realistic goals you now have to be methodical and consistent about achieving those goals. I know I mentioned you have to be quick about hitting your goals. But don’t be too quick to where you just check the box for the goal but you don’t do it 100% correctly. Make sure you are getting everything out of each goal that you set. Once you finished that first goal correctly and didn’t cut any corners, move on to the next goal. Never try to accomplish multiple goals at the same time. Multi-tasking is not your friend here.

Have Set Timelines for when you will Hit those Goals

This is another one of those things that seems like it would be common sense but is often forgotten. Individuals that I see start a company don’t bother making timelines in the beginning and it bites them in the ass later. What ends up happening later is, that the timelines are created but they are too short. Doing that will make employees unmotivated to work for a company. Setting timelines from the start helps you practice setting proper timelines. It will provide you with plenty of reps on low-risk tasks. This is why it is important that you create timelines from the get-go. Practice makes perfect.

Takeaway

I’ve been wanting to write an article on the 3 ways to prevent your startup from cratering for a minute now. I’ve had the privilege of assisting a few of my friends start their own businesses and I see all of the things I mentioned here happen all the time. When companies make audacious goals they aren’t completed correctly or follow proper timelines. That is always what kills businesses. Because once you see your business not going anywhere that’s what will kill motivation super quick.

So, with all that said, create realistic goals, be methodical about them, and set timelines. Those three things will set you up for success. Keep learning, stay hungry, but most importantly have fun!

If you enjoyed this article check out our other productivity articles!