Startup Tips: Surviving Your First Year

The first year of entrepreneurship can be exciting—it can be a dream come true! Chances are, though, it’s also going to be a little intimidating. And you can bet that it will be hard. You’ll have to contend with all the uncertainties that come from launching a new business; you’ll be nervous, you’ll be tired, and you’ll wonder, more than once, if you’ve really got what it takes to launch your own company.

Here’s the good news: Usually, the first year of entrepreneurship is the hardest. Once you make it past that one-year milestone, you may find yourself gaining a bit of confidence, to say nothing of know-how.

Making Your First Year a Little Smoother

And here’s more good news: There are some tips you can use to make that first year a bit more manageable. Hopefully, these tips will provide you with some helpful and healthy perspective.

First, remember that you don’t have to do everything yourself. Nor should you try to! Trying to do it all, all on your own, is a sure recipe for burnout. Hire people to help you; outsource; delegate.  Focus your efforts on things that add value to the company. Simple, repeatable tasks, like bookkeeping, can be put on someone else’s plate.

Be protective of your time. Use a planner or Google Calendar to make appointments with yourself—blocks of time you set aside to be alone in your office and get work done. Also make appointments for physical fitness, family time, and “me time.”

Set short-term goals for yourself. Don’t just think in terms of your big-picture vision. Also make sure you have some smaller goals you can knock out in the course of a week or a month. Give yourself some small wins, and some momentum.

Find some encouragers. Make sure you have people in your life—friends or family members—who will offer you words of positivity and support, people you can talk to even on a bad day and know it will make you feel better. An emotional support structure is key.

Make decisions and move on. Don’t fall prey to analysis paralysis. Make decisions prudently, but also quickly—and then move forward. Don’t waste all your time agonizing over every single decision, or you’ll never get anything done.

Finally: Hang in there! Entrepreneurship always has ups and downs, but it’s worth it—and after your first year, you’ll be a much more seasoned and savvy business owner. To learn more, educate yourself with some of the action- and solutions-oriented courses we offer here at ACES!