10 Credit Crunch tips for first time Entrepreneurs

Here are a few tips I think can help start-up companies to be successful based on my own experiences I hope you find them useful.

1. Buy something for a £1 add some value sell for £2 just to start off with.
Trying to climb everest without the proper equipment is a sure route to failure. By starting a small business which buys goods and sells them you will learn to deal with customers and how to satisfy them. If they feel like are getting a good deal they should tell their friends about you and you will sell more. If they don't like your business they will either buy once and never again or they will tell you they are unhappy. Ask your customers what they think of your products they will tell you.

2. Focus on the value of everything not the price.
Good entrepreneurs pay the value of everything they buy not the advertised price, in this world everything is negotiable and you should learn very quickly there are lots of mispriced products and services around. Every single mispriced product presents an opportunity to save if you are buying it or to compete if you want to sell it.

3. Get some grey hair on your team early on.
There are lots of people who have run their own business and if you are just starting out the CEO of Tesco might not have time to help you out but successful local business people would probably be only be too happy to help you out, network with them ask them if they would like to be a non-executive director for your company for a very small shareholding and if they can help you with occasional advice and counsel. Maybe try and see if there is a service or a product you can offer them first to build a relationship with them.

4. Your customers are your best friends treat them like it.
One happy customer tells more than one person, lots of businesses have customers but not as many take the time to get to know them and ask them how they can better serve them. Make sure you are not one of those businesses. How about offering your customers a referral fee if they introduce their friends, I did this early on by giving £50 to all my previous customers if they helped me sell my next computer.

5. Don't believe the business haters.
The people closest to you, your best friends and family especially if they have not run a business may not be as supportive of your new venture as you first expect. This is probably because they care about you and don't want to see you fail or get hurt, for a lot of people starting a business is just too big a risk but if you have taken the plunge you are obviously not one of those people so stick it out.

6. Learn the importance of equity.
I like to talk about equity because that is what you are building the value in if you choose to start a business. When you first start the equity you have is worth the market value of what you are going to put in to the company. If you are trying to sell it for more than that to an investor you need to convince them why and probably how you are going to increase the value of the equity on offer. You should hold the equity very precious if you don't care about your company no one else will but remember those who seek equity must do equity so give it wisely to people who can help your company grow.

7. Put an A4 sheet on your wall with your short term target.
You won't always need to literally do this but it helps. Writing down targets you must hit reminds you of their importance and by putting the date you need to do it by applies pressure you will need to hit them.

8. Keep growing every day and keep a long term view.
Drive your company using an inner scorecard, there are plenty of pressures around in the world, other companies paying higher wages, spending more on marketing and seemingly doing much better don't focus on that at all it's irrelevant. Focus on what is important to you and make that focus providing a great long term viable company that people love working for and you enjoy growing. Envy is the enemy, think of your company as a mission.

9. Remember hard work counts for a lot more than an idea.
I like to say even if you have a crap idea and you work hard on it you can make it a success. When we started Fubra our first product was selling .it domain names to UK companies. As it turned out in 2000 our potential customers only just realised they wanted a .com/.co.uk and .it names were really not selling well but we worked very, very hard and managed to gain enough customers to pay our expenses. This gave us a platform to grow further in to more profitable areas. Our next idea was selling software and was better because it brought in millions in sales.

10. Network up, research, research, research, and innovate.
Always try and connect with people above you in business that way you will learn from them, research all your competition and companies in general in depth. Some of the best web entrepreneurs I know are plugged into the internet they know literally everything that is going on they use this information and their connections to validate their own plans. Finally innovate! Make sure your product is different and adds value to the market place but is close enough to a working idea to give you confidence you are in the right market. Leave brand new markets and ideas to the competition once they have validated the space innovate quickly behind them but make sure you ski your own tracks and add value.