Every entrepreneur starting a new business hopes the success will come very fast, hopefully overnight, but that's not the case. Although there's no single rule that help you succeed, some idea might help you go through turbulent and nervous times of starting period.
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When starting a new company, we all hope the success will follow our efforts fast, that the market will recognize our wonderful idea and that "Next year this time we'll be millionaires". However, if you take a look at big companies - choose whichever you want - you will see that can be just a dream, reality is something else. No matter the field of business, you must be prepared to work for years until the first secure position and steady income.
So, the big question here is how to survive those years. The first and the most important advice is to have a long-term goal on mind all the time. There will be bad times, problems with financing, years with loss, nervous breakdowns, all kinds of problems - and you can overcome all that only if you have your final goal in mind, no matter what it may be.
Then, cooperate with the people that share your vision. There is no place for "take money and run" strategies and for hired guns that doesn't care about your global vision. Your employees, and your business partners for that matter, should share your vision and have enough patience to grow together with you.
Be flexible. Remember that you exist because of your customers so if they bury your idea - change it and find another one. It really doesn't matter what do you think, we bet you think your idea is the best the universe ever saw, you must change it if your customers have a different opinion. Otherwise, your chances are equal to zero. But the good side is that when you're small you can act fast and that's your advantage over big companies.
Connect with big as you are big. Remember that it really doesn't matter if there are you and your partner at one side of the table, and 20+ team of a multinational company on the other side. What really matters is your product or just an idea you have. Think about all famous "two-people" start-ups, from HP to Cisco to Apple, and you'll see that the strength is not in numbers.
Follow those simple advice and never forget your goal and you will be on the right path to success. And it will come. ■