Quick tips for entrepreneurs

How to grow

Spend your profits on your business not on holidays or expensive presents for yourself.

Spend your profits, on profit or sales generating activities.

Find the right partnerships who can help your business grow.

Partner with your customers and your suppliers and ultimately (unless you can avoid it) with your financier.

Mistakes

Mistakes are how you learn, and you come out a lot stronger.

You always have to watch your own business regardless of who you employ to look after it for you.

You have to keep focussed on your business at all times.

Plan ahead, but don't use your plans as evangelions.

Funding

Finance means everything must have a margin.

Friends and family can be the best source of funding for startups.

Use multiple funding sources (crowdfunding, etc.)

As a rule of thumbs, you need to have the money for start-up (establishment), plus that of the first year of operation, plus that you need for living expenses for a year.

Business plans

Don’t need to be too detailed, but must be a credible road map for your business.

New markets

Best route is through connections and other people’s successes.

The sooner to the market, the better. You can refine later.

Knowledge & skills

Put your skills and special abilities to work. You run the show.

If you're not good at something, make sure you have someone beside you that is, as you grow.

Don't be afraid to share. Don't be reluctant to teach.

General headers

All in all … trust your instincts. If they are wrong, you can learn and try again. Instincts get better with time and accrued knowledge (others call it experience)

Say yes to what you want, and then go after it. Sometimes that will be against to either what you have been taught, or to what other people tink as "sane". Don't listen. If you are wrong, you can learn and try again.

Working on your passion has always been an advantage towards success.

Remember you only get one life to live, but you are granted unlimited attempts to success.

There will always be a surprise waiting for you at the corner. Check out Murphy's laws.