A decade ago, starting a business was not an easy thing to do, and certainly not as easy as today. Your family must have already been in business or you must have had cash stashed in your bank account. Plus, you needed owned place that can be converted into an office at least sufficient money to rent a place.
Fast forward to 2018, things have changed for the good. Literally anyone, by anyone we even those under the age of 25 can now start a business and reach their goals of becoming millionaires.
The Internet has made it possible. It has become a springboard of sorts for everyone who want to launch their own idea into a viable business model and earn revenue out of it.
If you have been smitten by the ‘i-want-to-launch-an-online-business’ bug, this post is for you. We have rounded up some solid business startup ideas from legends who have turned pioneers in their respective domains.
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Steve Jobs, Apple
Passion trumps everything else. When Steve Jobs is hiring a person into Apple, there is one key trait he looks for. Does that person care about Apple? In Steve’s words, “the real issue for me is, are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because, if they fall in love with Apple; everything else will take care of itself.”
A passionate person who cares for the product or service that he works on is going to take care of everything else. So, hiring the right person is going to make or break your business. Most importantly, for startups, the early momentum is brought in by the first few hires. So make sure you are hiring people who are full of passion to take your business to great heights.
Elon Musk, Tesla
The Tesla Founder is the millennial entrepreneur generation’s poster child. And he feels collecting feedback from as many people as you can about whatever idea you have is critical to business success.
For an online business this is easily done. You can always set up star ratings and user review systems that help hear the voice of customers straight away. From Kiasu Print it is recommended using envelopes of the old fashion, in order to reign in reviews. Listening to customers help you tweak your products and services the right way. Even the pricing can be made flexible to meet customer demands directly. Also, it is not necessary that you have to follow all opinions. But, collecting feedback does give an opportunity to collect feedback from people who are paying money for your product or service.
Bill Gates, Microsoft
Bill Gates who has won the title of the World’s Wealthiest Man many times is an open book on Entrepreneurship. Bill Gates has always put Microsoft ahead of competition and also as a company that delivered futuristic tech solutions.
‘Think Ahead’ is the business mantra that helped Bill Gates build Microsoft into a mega-billion business enterprise. If your business is doing what every other online business is doing, or offering a slightly varying version of existing options, your scope of growth is limited. You always have to think one step ahead in order to become a successful business, be it on the Internet, or otherwise.
Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary Vaynerchuk turned his father’s $3 Million wine business into a $60 Million enterprise in a span of 5 years. He is recognized as a true-blue entrepreneur who has harnessed the power of social media and visual marketing to the most.
And, he has a word of advice on the best marketing strategy ever: CARE. Gary opines that businesses that care for its customers truly are bound to grow quickly than those which focus more on profits. In other words, if you take care of the people who pay you, profits would improve on their own.
For instance, you need to make your customers feel safe while dealing with your website, you will have to configure a cheap SSL certificate. Or a live chat support that gives customers real-time information about their package delivery status and so on. Whatever you do, make sure your customers feel safe and acknowledged for.
Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett started investing at the age of 11 (CNBC). Yet, he feels that he was late. The champion investor credits consistent performance review and admitting to mistakes as his critical traits in business success.
Entrepreneurs often have the tendency to overlook the flaws in their business model. They pour money into resources with heavy optimism, which sometimes does not yield returns. To avoid such backfires, you need to constantly review your performance against competition and industry benchmarks. When you spot a shortcoming, be quick to admit the mistake and take steps to rectify it.
Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos – the guy who went from being bookseller to world’s richest billionaire advices entrepreneurs to be missionaries than mercenaries. Bezos is a classic example of an “exponential entrepreneur” who sees what customers wants and plans for it in the long-term.
He says that a missionary is a person who loves the customers and builds a product or a service that makes things easy for them. Everybody else wants to flip the business and make money, which is not a foolproof plan for the long-term.
Final Words of Wisdom
Starting an online business has become fairly easy. However, running it successfully business is still a challenge. Mistakes are bound to creep in any form. These pioneers have learnt from mistakes and have shown the world how a business can be built from scratch.
If you are in the process of building a future, their words of startup wisdom might help you. To sum it up, pay attention to the product or service that your business provides. Hire the right kind of people and give first priority to people over profits.
That said, your online business should become successful like any offline business. What will differentiate you from an offline business is the pace and ease with which you will be able to capture the market.
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