My Stickar Business Blog: April 2017

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Here Are 4 Things I Would Have Done Differently as a Founder

Birthdays are a great time for reflection. The startup that I co-founded in 2012 turns 4 this month, and I've decided to look back on the past four years and ask myself: If I could do it all again, what would I do differently?

What decisions would I make? What would I spend my time focusing on? After mulling over some of the big decisions, here's my list of do-overs.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

4 Ways to Make Sure You Aren't Hiring the Wrong People for Your Startup

For new companies, building a team of all-stars is just as important as building a group of loyal customers. As a startup grows, entrepreneurs need to find new team members who share the same vision and passion. While hiring structures are in place for larger institutions, startups require a different approach.

After starting and building two companies from scratch, I’ve developed a few helpful ways to identify and work with new employees who will become an integral part of the company.

Business Experts Share Best Business Advice And Tips For Success

Austin Belcak."My best piece of advice is to focus on taking small steps and being consistent. It's going to take time and it's going to take work, you can't start a successful side hustle overnight. With that in mind, you should start by doing three things. "First, come up with a tangible, overarching goal. This could be something like landing 5 clients at an average of $1,000/month per client in the next 6 months or building an email list of 1,000 subscribers, launching a course and selling at least 50 copies in the next 8 months."
Josh Kraus."The most painful mistake I see new freelancers make is taking jobs at content mills, or other jobs with content mill prices, and get stuck doing those jobs long after they should have left.""It's okay to take a job writing blog posts for 1 cent a word in order to build a portfolio, but once you've got a few good pieces from it, for the love of god get out! Use them to help you further your career, don't let them use you." Learning how to write a kick-ass freelance proposal will teach you a lot about positioning your value, highlighting your strengths and selling yourself as a premium service-provider to your clients.
Chris Winfield."The biggest mistake first-time entrepreneurs tend to make is not asking for help OR not asking for the right help from the right people.""And a close second is not following up and nurturing those relationships when they do ask for help. There's something that Tony Robbins always says about the importance of 'standing on the shoulders of other giants' and I think this is such an important thing for people to keep in mind." "Pretty much anything you are going to go through, someone else has already gone through. Pretty much any feeling you are going to have, someone else has already had. Any obstacle, any roadblock, ANYTHING! Someone has come up against them and figured out a way to get around them. Tap into that. Whether it's reading a book, reaching out or shadowing someone, get help and then do it better."
Bill Reichert. "When investors tell you why they don't like your pitch, they're almost always lying. They'll usually tell you that you're too early, or you need more traction, or you need too much money, or you need too little money." "But if they really thought you had something brilliant, they wouldn't let you out of their sight. They're simply offering an excuse for not liking your company. Don't walk away thinking that the problem is that you just aren't a fit. You need to find out what's really wrong with your story. Don't count on investors to tell you. Get a few good, savvy mentors or advisors to tell you the truth."
Oleg Shchegolev. "Every company is unique and has an entirely different DNA. A particular strategy may not work for your company, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t work for mine and vice versa. My piece of advice is that you should always ask yourself: Why didn’t that strategy didn’t work for them, and will it work for me?" "What is the difference between our companies? Why did that strategy bring them difference results when it will never deliver the same for us? What is the difference in our DNA? "