13 Tips For Entrepreneurs To Survive At Startup!

A startup concern is like an infant, demanding all your time, attention and devotion. Once you start your own business, it’s not 9 to 5 anymore. You’ve got to give it all you got, and some more. Many entrepreneurs give up over the sheer effort it takes. Here’s what you need to help your startup survive.

Set Up At The Right Location

Start your company at a place where the rents and taxes are low. Live close to people who conserve money than spend it. This will give you more ramp-up time to obtain funding, while keeping spend on check. In fact, if you’re savvy, you can start a company on very little funds too.

Keep Some Quality Time Aside For Family

Do not neglect your family due to your entrepreneunal pursuits. Stresses due to a discontent family can wear down the best of us. Carve some time out to spend with family and close friends, and maintain a work-life balance as best as you can.

Join Hands With The Right Partner

If you are a solo entrepreneur, you’ll have to do everything by yourself, and risk everything falling apart if you fall. Look for a partner who can also be a good friend, someone who is sympathetic to your cause – someone who’s willing to participate wholly and support you in every way possible.

Have A Go-To Support System

Whether it is your family, a close friend, an elderly relative or a college professor who taught you – having a support system is very essential. You’ll need someone to vent with, someone who can inspire and motivate you to forge ahead and not quit.

Simplify Your Life

Cut back on the evenings you spend with friends, and all non-essential personal obligations. When you start a new company, you won’t be able to spare much time for personal commitments. Delegate tasks that you don’t have to do personally, such as grocery shopping, paying the bills and so on.

Stay Fit

Eat healthy, exercise and sleep well. Watch out for disturbances in your daily food and fitness routines. If you don’t take care of these three vital aspects, your work will suffer, and so will your entrepreneunal vision.

Give Your Mind A Break

It’s good to have a hobby or two to indulge in over the weekends, when you have some time. This gives your mind a break, and helps you connect with your subconscious mind, your needs and you, as a person. Don’t grudge this ‘me-time’ – it can keep you steady in the long run.

Don’t Be An Absolute Stickler For Routine

It’s necessary to form some kind of routine and stick to it, but don’t let your routine rule your life, if it means you have to tick-off your son’s basketball game to stick to your routine. Each day is unique, and presents us with different opportunities. Keep your mind open to experiencing them.

Watch Your Spending

Take a close look at your personal expenses and see what cut-backs you can make. All startups need some financial injection, and it’s not easy getting funding. You’ll have to put in some funds on your own, so streamline your personal spending to the bare minimum.

Don’t Presume You’ll Get Funding

Funding will be scarce initially, until you complete a year. You’ll have to meet many investors, and try to please them. Don’t show that you’re desperate – this will only make investors nervous and think you can’t run the company. Don’t start a company thinking investors will line up. Gather as much personal funding as you can, and explore all your lines of credit. Don’t shackle yourself up – start small, and then borrow more if needed.

Be Resource-savvy

Estimate how much money you’ll need to survive till funding stage. You’ll have to spend that money only on the things you absolutely need. As for the rest, leverage your existing resources – family, friends, and neighborhood community service and so on for office space, furniture, tools and so on. Visit garage sales to pick up things cheap. Use free storage to avoid buying expensive computers. Use contractors and part-time employees till you can afford to hire people.

Don’t Leave Your Job Too Early

If you’re working somewhere, it’s not advisable to quit your job until your business starts seeing revenue. Survive the startup valley of death by devoting only your weekends and holidays to your business at first. This approach will take you longer to reach success, but will take you to a firmer success if you manage it diligently.

Be Technology-savvy

Use free stuff as much as possible – open source software tools for your business operation, free communication tools such as Skype and so on. For every paid app, there’s a free app you can use.You can tick off investments in this area and save money for other essentials.

Author Bio: Sajan Matthews is a die-hard fan of using innovative conversion rate optimization techniques to increase online conversion rates. He’s always coming up with new ideas, and loves to blog about them to help other businesses.