How did you start your business? What allowed you to succeed?
The origin story is one of the most fun parts about business. Hearing about how an entrepreneur started their business, and what pushed them to succeed is something that never gets old.
You can take a listen to several inspiring origin stories on Phoenix Business Radio. But, to further explore the topic of starting a business, we turned to other entrepreneurs for their best tips for starting a business (and succeeding!).
Here are the best 11 tips for starting a business:
- Write a Book You Would Want to Read
- Establish a Well-Connected Ecosystem
- Use Family as a Driving Force
- Listen Hard, Change Fast
- Keep Refining Your Products for Your Customers
- Keep Your Main Commitment in Focus
- Make Your Customer Perspective the Core of Business Decisions
- Surround Yourself with Brilliant Minds
- Don’t Do it All Alone
- Hold Firm to Your Purpose
- Actively Learn Something New Everyday
Write a Book You Would Want to Read
I set out to solve a problem that I was experiencing in my other business. I couldn’t find anyone who could fix the issue for me. So, like the saying goes, “If you can’t find the book you want to read, write it yourself.” I’ve found my way to success by offering that solution to other business owners. Now I get to surround myself with people who are accomplishing great things in life/business and I soak up everything I can from them.
Karen Nowicki, Business Radio X
Establish a Well-Connected Ecosystem
The Arizona Technology Council (AZTC) was established with the merger of the Arizona High Tech Industry Cluster and Arizona Software & Industry Association as the driving force to make Arizona the fastest growing technology hub in the nation. The Foundation, now doing business as SciTech Institute, was formed to provide educational programs about available technology; provide scholarships and grants for students pursuing technology careers; create community computer centers; produce reports on technology advancements and uses; and bring together volunteers from the technology industry to better serve the community. Establishing a well connected STEM Learning Ecosystem became the mission of the Foundation to build a statewide science and technology festival. In January 2021, we will host the 10th season of the Arizona SciTech Festival!
Kelly Greene, SciTech Institute
Use Family as a Driving Force
I started my business on a shoestring budget and quite frankly ran out of reserves very early on and needed to run up some considerable credit card debt to just be able to survive the first couple years. I was able to succeed by not being willing to fail, doing the right thing for the clients and knowing that I had a young family that was counting on me to succeed. My family has been the driving force behind everything that I have ever done. I try to live by the saying by David O. McKay, “No success outside the home, can compensate for failure at home”. With that as my driving force, I am laser focused on efficiency and providing stellar client service.
Austin Peterson, Backbone Financial
Listen Hard, Change Fast
Mailchimp monikered one of my favorite small business sayings of all-time: “Listen hard and change fast.” For a small business to succeed, founders and employees alike need to prioritize listening to their customers. Then, after listening to insights, a company needs to change and fast to fulfill needs. Customers tell you what they want if you listen hard enough. The more a business is willing to listen (and fail) the more successful it will be.
Brett Farmiloe, Markitors
Keep Refining Your Products for Your Customers
We launched the Path to Promotion (P2P) in September 2019 after several years of hard work to develop and refine the content for our signature course – Success Accelerator. This involved surveying over 5,000 employees to determine what content they would want in a career development course, building, testing and filming a number of “test courses” to further refine the content then finally developing the end product. It was a lot of blood, sweat, tears and late nights. We are thrilled that in just under a year our business is now so successful, and has been featured internationally in publications like Forbes and the New York Post. It makes all the hard work worth it! Even better is that so many of our graduates have received pay rises or promotions, even in the pandemic!
Ineke McMahon, P2P Learning and Development
Keep Your Main Commitment in Focus
We opened our first European Denture Center in Caldwell, Idaho in early 2000 when we saw a growing need for dental appliances that were both comfortable to wear and were made using the latest dental technologies and materials. Since then, European Denture Center has expanded its service to include dentures, implant dentures, partial dentures, flexible partial dentures, night guards, and same-day reline and repair services. What allowed us to succeed? Keeping our main focus on excellence while committing to deliver comfortable appliances in underserved communities.
Henry Babichenko, DD, European Denture Center
Make Your Customer Perspective the Core of Business Decisions
Our business started with the belief that people should enjoy a sanitary environment within restrooms. We began offering well known corporations and small businesses automatic bathroom fixtures like touch-free flushers, faucets, and dispensers. Several decades later we have warehouse locations across the nation to fulfill orders quickly so that employers can completely update and vastly improve the sanitation of their restroom area. Our success can be attributed to a commitment to our mission, and always putting the customer perspective at the core of our business decisions.
Elliott Greenberg, TouchFree Concepts
Surround Yourself with Brilliant Minds
I started my business with a heart full of passion and an open mind full of questions that I had no fear in asking. I knew what my mission was, and is, and I did my best to ask people much smarter than me all of the business related questions I didn’t know the answers to. I continue to surround myself with brilliant minds who blow me away with their talents, and who allow me to focus on what I do best.
Jodi Low, U & Improved
Don’t Do it All Alone
We started MAC6 as a way to showcase all of the amazing work businesses in our community were doing. We have been successful through collaboration and developing partnerships that benefit both parties. Surrounding ourselves with a diverse group of people with a wide range of skill sets has been critical to our success. My best advice for a business owner is to find your people. Find the community that will support you, cheer for you and challenge you; don’t try to do it alone.
Jennifer Burwell, MAC6
Hold Firm to Your Purpose
Throughout our lives we run into moments where we are faced with making a difficult decision. We choose path A or B and then our lives are altered forever, or perhaps, they stay the same. This was my dilemma back in 2013 as Executive Director of the project management office for WellStar Health System in Atlanta, GA. I was unhappy at work and in a constant state of complaining about my circumstances. On March 3, 2013, my “empowerment date,” I made a decision to leave and start The PMO Squad, to end my unhappiness and start my entrepreneurial journey. I believe we’ve been successful over 7 years later because we are focused and committed to our purpose. Our purpose has remained constant, to empower people to deliver results. Through the ups and downs, trials and tribulations holding firm to our purpose has allowed us to empower employees, partners, and clients which have helped to make us successful.
Joe Pusz, The PMO Squad
Actively Learn Something New Everyday
I started my first business after I had my football injury, and couldn’t play the game I loved anymore. I wanted to work for myself and owning a business was the easiest way to do that! My first company didn’t go anywhere, but I learned so much about how a business is run and learned how to build a team. The connections I made and the skills I learned are what have helped me succeed. I take a lot of pride in learning something new every day and building a successful team I can rely on to take things to the endzone!
Loren Howard, Prime Plus Mortgages
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