4 ways to increase your chances for startup success

del blog Startup Spark de ShannonCherry, espero que les sea útil.

When starting a business, there’s no guarantee of success, even when you have unique skills, experience, knowledge and talents.

But you can increase your chances in any given opportunity:

1. Never stop learning. By continuing your ‘education’, you’ll build a habit that will serve as a guarantee against “being left behind or missing the boat”. Always be reading e-books, articles and news related to your efforts. Hang out in forums and blogs, ask questions, and stay tuned to what’s happening your community. I know a self-proclaimed web designer who doesn’t know a thing about creating forms, design themes for blogs, or creating an SEO-friendly website, etc. She’s just so behind the times - but thinks she can still get business.
2. Don’t put your eggs in just one basket. You can choose one opportunity, but build a structure around that opportunity that will support the change of seasons. Market your product, service or website using several different methods to secure your long term objectives. For instance, don’t only focus on Search Engines Optimization (SEO) or Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising. A true marketing plan uses a variety of ways to attract a targeted market. One entrpreneur I know thought just having a website would bring customers to his door. Ummm….no.
3. Organize your time and activities. Focus on the things that are going to make you money. Too many people get caught up in the details. Instead of goofing around and fine tuning your site endlessly, do the things that will ultimately generate income. You want to be spending a good amount of time marketing your product or services. Build a system and stick to it. Don’t get caught in the trap of hanging out in some forum. It may be a way to generate some income, but you can get so rapped up you stop doing other things that will make you more money in the long run. How many of you got sucked into Facebook, and soon forgot why you got there in the first place? (I admit, I did this for a day and snapped back to reality as soon as I realized I was losing time!)
4. When something goes wrong, embrace it! This is how we learn. Everyone goes through this learning curve. There are a lot of things that are going to happen before you are going to succeed.