How is starting your own business like preparing for a marathon?
On your mark! By the time you hear these words, your hand is jotting down ideas in the midnight hour, the business plan is finally taking shape, coffee mornings have taken their toll; but like a marathon runner you press on. You know you have to prepare or the road will swallow you up whole.
Get ready! Get the capital and funding in order. Tighten the belt. Even when your body tells you it wants to sleep, you command your psyche to read one more business-coaching page. You stretch your body to it’s limits to make it function with military precision because like a marathon runner, you know you have to train hard to gain stamina; which is definitely something you need in business.
Go! Run like never before into an unknown future with the aim to win the prize. Like a marathon runner ready to take on the elements of nature; you face volatile markets. As you run, your knees get weak, but you cling on to your community to strengthen them, support you and motivate you to do better.
If anything at all can be learnt from this starting a business and marathon analogy, it is that you can’t do it alone. You need the help of like-minded people to help you, especially when the road gets hard.
The power of first touch
So much is learnt and perfected along the way when launching a new business. Sometimes, the market may not be ready for your ‘out of the box’ ideas or what you are offering and you may need to quickly adapt, secure a niche or suffer the disheartening yet learning curve of going under.
There are often no second chances to make a solid first impression. One can therefore not dare to underpin the importance of first touch. Do it right the first time round and if you don’t have the experience to do it yourself, outsource it.
Captivate is a verb in our world
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel if it is working for you. You can however sharpen the saw. Refine your skills, narrow in on your target and learn to be accurate in your marketing. Speak to none other than the soul of your intended audience.
Words, when created by a master writer, can kill or resuscitate. Harnessing the professionalism, talents and effective communication of an outsourced service can not only help you prepare better, but actually give you the edge in telling your story and why the world has need of your business.
