Starting Up: The Art of the Hustle

A few weeks ago, Chris Blanchard, founder and CEO of Longdrop Cider shared some lessons he learned since launching his cider manufacturing business 18 months ago.   Here are my takeaways from his lively and thought-provoking presentation:

1.  Be solutions focused.  When problems arise, don’t throw up your hands and panic.  Take a deep breath.  Calm down.  Think.  Then come up with solutions for fixing the problems.
2.  Solve one problem at a time and move on.  Too often when there are multiple metaphorical alligators snapping at our heels, we tend to run away screaming.  In business, these alligators don’t usually have teeth and won’t eat you for dinner.  So focus on one problem right now and find the solution.  Then move on to battle the next alligator.
3.  Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis.  For some, doing research and analysis is comforting.  And for others, analysis is painful.  However, you MUST do research about your product, your target market and your competitors.  The key is to test your assumptions once you’ve made them.  So get out of your chair and put yourself in front of potential customers.  Ask them to try your product.  Or if you don’t have a product yet, ask potential target customers your carefully crafted survey questions.  Your job is to find out what they like and don’t like about your particular offering.  The only way to know if you have a minimum viable product is to test it on real live humans.
4. Get the long processes going first.  You must work on several things simultaneously.  Some things take longer to accomplish.  So start those now and work on some other important tasks at the same time.  Think of it like this.  When you get up in the morning, start the coffee brewing while you feed the cats.  You really can do more than one thing at a time.  And when you start a business, there are many cats to feed.
5.  Go get help.  Realize there are things you don’t know and that’s okay.  There are several places around that offer low or no cost business consulting services.  They want to help you succeed.  That’s the type of people they are.  I know this from personal experience.  The Small Business Development Center, SCORE,  Small Business Administration and my friends at Zions Bank Business Resource Center offer workshops and one-on-one consulting usually free!  There’s no excuse for not getting help.
6.  Connect the ‘what’ and the ‘why’.  Your product solves a problem, makes people happy or tastes good.  That’s what it does.  Why your business exists is bigger and possibly existential.  Your company may decide to donate part of its profit to a worthy charity.  Or you may encourage your employees to spend time volunteering for community causes.  The important thing is to connect your product or service to a larger reason for being.  Yes, you started the business to make money…..and something else.  Make sure your customers and employees know the real ‘why’.
7. Do your SWOT analysis.  You must know your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.  This means you have to be honest with yourself about your business and about your competitors.  Yes, you have competitors.  Everyone does.  If you think you don’t, see #5 on this list.  After identifying your weaknesses, find ways to mitigate them as best you can.  Is there a way to turn a weakness into a strength?  Again, get help to find out.  Ask those who have been there so you can get an unbiased viewpoint.  You’ll be glad you did.
8. You will make mistakes.  You can’t avoid mistakes even with lots of analysis, testing and business coaching.  Realize that stuff happens.  The new word for mistake-adjusting is “pivot”.  Pivot your business when you find that things aren’t working.  Everyone who is successful has made mistakes and pivoted to a new way of doing things. 
9. You’ll always need more money.  You’ve invested your life savings and maybe convinced some friends and family to join you.  You prepared your budget.  You believe there is enough money to cover your operating costs while revenues grow.  Then the cost to purchase the new piece of equipment is more than you anticipated.   And suddenly your budget is blown.   So make sure you get as much cash as you can before you start.  It is very difficult to get money when you are desperate.  Investors and lenders tend to view financial management as one of the most important skills for a business owner.  Make sure you plan accordingly. 
10. Just start.  You have to begin somewhere.  So get going.  Make it happen.  Correct your mistakes.  Get help.  Talk to your customers.  Ask questions.  Make changes.  And keep going.  That’s what entrepreneurs do.

Have you started a business or thinking about it?  What challenges have you experienced?  What’s the best advice you’ve received?  What resources did you use?  Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.