As an entrepreneur, you face new challenges every day and all you can think about is the taste of your first success. Everyone has a different recipe for success and Guy Kawasaki shared his insights at the latest event of the Women In Consulting (WIC), proudly sponsored by ThinkResults Marketing.
Guy discussed his latest book The Art of the Start 2.0 at the event. In case you missed it, here are the highlights of Guy’s ten steps to being a successful entrepreneur and creating a great business:
- Ask Simple Questions
Every entrepreneur needs to ask very simple questions such as “Isn’t that interesting?” (especially when something fails, e.g., the discovery of Post-It Notes from the failed attempt to create a strong glue), or “Is there a better way of doing things?” and so on. These simple questions can lead to great insights and new innovations.
- Weave a MATT
Translated, this means: Establish Milestones, State the Assumptions, Test the Assumptions and Perform Tasks in order to achieve your milestones.
- Make a MVVVP
We have always heard MVP or Minimum Viable Product but Guy adds two more Vs making the definition a Minimum Viable, Valuable and Validating Product.
- Get Going
Probably the most important thing one can ever learn and do – just get going. Define a success mantra for the business rather than focusing on the mission statement.
- Define a Business Model
The best way to define a model for the business is to be specific, keep it simple and always ask women what they think of the business idea. He promised this was in every talk and not pandering to the audience – women are less likely to think “killing” a competitor is a good basis for a business.
- Tell your Story
It’s very important for people to understand who you are and why are you doing what you are doing. Share your side of story, your ideas with the world so that others can see your vision too.
- Hire Infected People
Probably the best thing that can happen to a company; hire people who are passionate about your idea. If you hire people who know more than you, they will visualize success along with you. A players hire A+ players, as Guy says. 😉
- Socialize
As it is repeatedly said everywhere, networking is the strongest pursuit of a business. Meet new people and work together to create a future for both.
- Seed the Clouds
Put your product or service offering out in the market to test it with the audience. The best way to know if the idea works is to test drive with sales. Also he suggested that every entrepreneur should let 100 flowers bloom – plant a lot of seeds, you never know which one will bloom beautifully.
- Don’t let clowns grind you down
There will always be people sharing their pessimism and pulling you down. It’s only up to you how you move keep going.
As Guy likes to say, “Being an entrepreneur is a state of mind, not a job title.
His talk was a full of great ideas and great advice, wrapped in a funny and irreverent package. A very enjoyable evening!
Cheers,
Jenn and Shikha