15 Things You Should Know When Starting a Business

let's just get this out of the way right off the Hop starting a business is not for everyone some people possess a particular set of traits that just fit better with the entrepreneurial template you can be happy and successful by working for someone else it all depends on who you are as a person if you believe you're destined to be an entrepreneur and looking to start a business this video will help you figure out both a game plan and double check your existing beliefs when people talk about the stuff they usually avoid the hard to

swallow truths right so we structured this so that it's perfect for everyone who's in the beginning stages of their company but we're not giving you any false hope here with that said here are 15 things you should know when starting a business welcome to alux the place where future billionaires come to get inspired number one talk is cheap nobody cares about what you're planning to do until you do it we get hundreds of emails from people who say they plan on launching a company but how many do you think actually did anything about it actually

we can answer that one in 60 for every 60 people that say they're planning on starting a business only one actually does it the rest just talk about something they never end up doing most people will find excuses saying it's not the right time for whatever reason they find but the result is always the same the world doesn't care about what you plan on doing the world doesn't run on wishful thinking talk is cheap okay let your work speak for you number two an idea isn't worth anything before it yields results an idea is worth

$1 million only after it makes $1 million new Flash Elixir ideas are free everyone has ideas tons of them actually and they're not very special talk to anyone around you and they'll immediately bring up five ideas or businesses or projects but as we've mentioned in the previous Point since everyone has multiple ideas there's an abundance of them most of them are actually pretty good ideas but that doesn't mean that they're worth anything ideas are worthless unless they're paired with the right execution let me just put it this way a good idea with poor execution not

only will not yield any positive results it'll end up consuming resources and time meanwhile a mediocre idea with a great execution will become a viable business it's very rare that good ideas and great execution meet and they almost never happen you start off with a simple idea which overtime could evolve into a good one but execution is everything just because an idea sounds great to you doesn't mean the world will think so as well we recommend that you find unbiased opinions don't listen to your friends and family because they care about you and they'll sing

your Praises if you want real feedback on your ideas ask people to front you the money you'll find out everybody says that an idea is good until they have to put their money where their mouth is don't be protective of your idea it's not that special it all depends on your ability to execute also you don't need a revolutionary idea to get rich either you don't have to reinvent sliced bread to have a successful Bakery Facebook wasn't the first social network and delivering food is not revolutionary you just need to execute it better than your

competitors number three nobody cares about your business more than you do and they never will you might inspire people to join your cause but nobody will ever want this business to succeed as much as you do this is something really important to consider in the very early stages especially if the business has multiple Founders if you partner with other people every single one of these members needs to want it as badly as you do many times we see best friends teaming up in order to start a business only to realize 6 months later that one

of them isn't really that passionate about the idea and wants to move on to something else Partners can be a great thing especially if they can fill up the skill set but with every person you bring in you're slicing up the pie as well rarely do you see businesses started by a single Founder The Upside is you get to keep all the rewards the downside is it's going to be a lot more exhausting than you think no matter which way you're moving forward think of your team as a chess set you want as many of

them to be around you when you win but don't refrain from sacrificing some of them if otherwise you'll end up losing the game altogether number four you don't need money to start a business not even people who actually have a lot of money use their own money to start a business they use credit that's a story for another time but it is worth talking about you are the business in the beginning this is one of those things that stops people from starting out they all think you need a ton of money to get started and

this is because most people look at the final stage of the company the part where you have a ton of employees marketing team multiple products raw materials and registered intellectual property but that's not how businesses are started okay they start with one person you hustling your butt off and growing as the journey progresses you can start a business with under a hundred bucks what you need to understand is that in the beginning you have a lot of time and that is your main resource if you can't convert your time into money through your business then

having an influx of capital is only going to sink that boat more quickly number five be ready to make sacrifices something most people don't realize when starting a business is the amount of work and sacrifice that is needed to turn this into a success most people start a business because they don't want to work for a boss they want to be the boss they despise having to work the N9 to5 so they do something about it but it doesn't take long to realize that instead of working 8 hours a day you're now working 16 hours

a day every day including the weekends and you can barely sleep at night because you worry so much about the future yes okay creating a successful company leads to a way better life than you would have had otherwise but those rewards do not come for free the moment you start a business it needs to become priority number one if you want to have a shot at success your Social Circle is gone your family will see you less it'll take a toll on your health physical and mental and that is just the beginning number six build

smart from the start if the foundation of a company is fractured it doesn't matter how high you plan on going it is bound to fail this is something you should definitely consider when starting out A smart business will check off at least some of the following boxes one it doesn't have a demand ceiling which means that as you grow you will always have customers if you're the only one selling Blue Hats to a small town well at one point you would reach a certain ceiling where sales cannot be increased anymore people only need one blue

hat and at some point in your T and at some point in time you will sell one to every person in that small town so no more growth two every part of your business is replaceable which means the business can survive if one of your future employees or one of your suppliers decides to leave three your business can scale you have a clear plan on how you can increase production as the demand increases and four there's a clear direction for the business both you and your employees understand what you're working toward number seven people should

free up your time so you can focus on your strengths don't be an employee in your own business now one of the most common mistakes that people make is they trade their job for another one this time within their own company when you're starting out you are the first employee you need to get your hands dirty so you understand optimize and perfect the system at the previous point we talked about building a smart business which means once you have your entire process figured out break it into smaller interconnected systems then find people onto which you

can unload that specific part of the chain your employees are here to make sure where the engine is running while you're holding on to the steering wheel getting everyone to the promised land the founder should be in charge of innovation and business growth your job as a Founder is to figure out ways that this business can grow so everyone who works for you gets paid that is your job their job is to make sure that they can take the day today so you can focus on your job in the early stages you'll feel the need

to micromanage everything but this keeps you away from the most important task you have which is growth every individual who moves into entrepreneurship has some traits they can use to their advantage these are your strengths identify them and put them to work use them to get the biggest return on your time number eight fail fast and adapt quickly be ready for things to not go according to plan you are a novice at this so keep in mind there are are many things you have yet to learn there are going to be plenty of bumps in

the road but if you're serious about this being your life you need to keep on going you need to rethink the way you look at failure and what failure actually is for us because failure is not achieving your dream life everything else is just a part of the game think about your journey as Gathering data so you can make a more educated decision on the future eight out of 10 businesses fail in the first 18 months this is because one they hit a bump so big they decide to call it quits and two they failed

to adapt to their Newfound reality a great example of this is Nokia for those of you who don't know the history of the brand they used to be a rubber manufacturer before moving into technology their rubber factories were struggling so they adapted to a new found opportunity but a few years later they failed to adapt to the changing environment with the smartphone and almost bankrupted the company this giant that once dominated the space is now fighting for breadcrumbs left by those willing to fail faster and adapt quicker this right here is how failing to adapt

looks like in real time number nine long-term success depends on your ability to manage your resources life is a lot like a strategy game you've got several resources at your disposal your time your willpower your ability to work and maybe some money and some people you know this is the hand you've been dealt it's time to make the most of it don't complain about not having enough to begin with okay yes there are other players who've been dealt a better hand but you have your own story line you have your own journey and your challenge

is to make the most with the resources you have many people undervalue time time is a resource we've all been dealt at equally the best players are those who are strategic with the way they make use of everything they have at their disposal number 10 the right Mentor is worth 10 years of struggles they've walked the road that you're on right now they know where the potholes are they know what's up ahead and you'd be a fool to not leverage their knowledge on your journey you need people who inspire you that have done the things

that you're about to do analyze them study them Alex or see what nuggets of gold you can extract from their experiences if you're lucky enough serious enough prove that you're worthy enough one of them might become your Mentor think of mentors like powerups things get so much easier when you've got one but you know we also recognize how challenging it can be to find the right Mentor depending on where you live or what your budget looks like and that's exactly why we designed the ax app we wanted to level the playing field and give everyone

access to the same top quality mentorship the ultra wealthy are getting but at a price that you can actually afford so many industry experts charge thousands of dollars for just an hour or two of their time so we paid them on your behalf to produce valuable and actionable courses that are available to you with a subscription to the app on top of this we use large scale academic studies and Real World experience to craft daily coaching in sessions for you the perfect way to Kickstart your morning and compound wisdom every single day and when it

comes to how well our app is helping our community reach their goals faster you don't have to take my word for it thousands of people are using the alux app to incrementally improve their lives and we want you to see the very same kind of improvement so if you go to alux.com slapp and download it now then come back here and scan this QR code on screen you'll get 25% off the yearly subscription the next year is going to pass you by either way if you want to actually have something to show for it well

you know what to do alux.com apppp we'll see you on the inside number 11 there are no shortcuts to any place worth going don't try to cheat the game because it's hard okay we are fascinated by people who jump from business to business from shiny thing to shiny thing because they're looking to get rich quick even if they settle on a business is they never put in the work instead they spend most of their time looking for shortcuts for loopholes but real value comes from building a solid foundation and laying brick next to Brick until

you put your dream life together and you can easily see this stuff on social media right there are so many Instagram profiles with millions of followers which only get a few hundred likes and several comments per post people want the cake but they're not willing to learn the recipe and how to bake one when others offer them a cardboard cut out of a cake they will take it because they don't understand what a real cake even is if you're trying to cheat the game you're just cheating yourself okay never forget that number 12 keeping your

head down and grinding is what will make or break you the only thing you're in complete control over is yourself it's easy to see some initial results and let it go to your head there's a difference between when WI a battle and winning the war you should be playing the long game my friend sure celebrate your wins when they happen but the next day it's back in the trenches day in day out until you've achieved the life you started we can't stress this enough just how important self-discipline is especially when you're building a life success

is the sum of small actions repeated every day for extended periods of time that's what you need to keep on grinding for keep learning stay humble and keep your eyes on that goal number 13 sales solve all of your problems sales are the gas to your Machinery without it you're just left with a pile of scrap metal as a new entrepreneur it's easy to get sidetracked into marketing branding and social media Glam but it doesn't matter how pretty your logo is if you ain't selling your job is to bring money from the marketplace into your

company and and use it to grow money makes the world go around okay without it your business isn't going anywhere it's shocking to us how many people leave the sales part out of their business for later they've got no idea how they're going to make money or if people are actually willing to pay you need better equipment get more sales you need better marketing get more sales you need a better accountant get more sales so you can afford one there are very few problems sales cannot solve in a business and that is why getting paid

should be your number one priority number 14 raise capital from investors only when you can't do it by yourself Mark Cuban has a great saying and it goes something like this the first time you raise money that's the first time you lose because you were unable to do it organically we've got a lot of acquaintances in the technology space and they all celebrate their funding rounds like they've won but what did you win okay you just gave away 40% of your company in exchange for a little bit of cash which you would waste in less

than 12 months now don't get us wrong okay having access to Capital is amazing but it's not something that should be your main focus we know entrepreneurs who spend more time trying to raise money than actually working on their product or business there are strategic Moments When a business can no longer grow or survive without external capital but this should not be something a new company is dealing with do it yourself figure it out bootstrap and get creative okay it'll teach you a lot more about business than anything else will number 15 a business without

an end game is headed nowhere why are you building this when do you know that you've made it what is the goal of the company what are your personal goals related to this company will this company be sold at some point these are all questions you need to be able to answer even at day one of your business because it puts everything else into perspective all of your actions you'll take from this point forward should align with this goal you need a game plan without it you're just going to be shooting in the dark a

business is where the founder knows what the end game is not only to have a better shot at success but to evolve quicker it'll take you less time to get to wherever it is you're going because you know what to measure for and focus all of your energy on checking off those boxes all right so these are just some of the things that most aged entrepreneurs would have wanted to know when they were starting out but at this point alexir we're curious to know are you planning on starting a business or do you already have

one please share some details in the comment section we would love to hear from you and as a reward for sticking around all the way to the end you know you've earned a bonus Point number 16 don't worry about the legal part in the beginning because you'll figure it out as you grow legal and finance are both important in the long run absolutely but to be honest you don't really need to worry about any of that in the beginning think of your early days like a trial period where you get to experience what a business

might look like without all of the add-ons your number one priority is simply getting that first dollar you'll know when the business is ready for a complete package and you'll quickly understand why it's better to form a certain type of company versus another he luxer we hope you found this video valuable and we're so glad you spent some time with us today we'll see you back here next time my friend until then take care