One month back I was at my college HMSIT, Tumkur invited as a speaker at the inauguration of the Entrepreneurship Cell. Here are some of my quick points I made to the students. I hope you also will find it great to startup.

1) Misconception no 1: Company means 100 people and 1crore of money:

This is the most common misconception that doesn’t let people be an entrepreneur. Many people have great ideas but they think either we need a lot of money or we don’t have the people. Do you think so?

Really? Take a look at the most successful companies or companies that had made a significant impact. All of them started very small. Even smaller than your pocket money today. We started our company with zero money in our wallet. We just registered our firm with Rs. 1000.00 and with 3people (all of those are the partners). What made us this big today is we are determined of being a better service provider and we always new that we can say our clients to pay some advance. That’s what we did and we built our firm.

And of course the bigger the investment the bigger are the chances to fail. You can look around and see how many startups shut their door down who had made very big investments. They are thousands in number. Around 80 some percent of all those fail within first three years. I bet you. So don’t make that mistake. Because you don’t know if you can get customers or not.

2) Misconception no2: People will think I’m too small:

This doesn’t affect a lot in actual scenario. There is always those people who believes in you. You have to have enough faith on your ability to get things done. Showcase it and after a little hurdle you will find those people who blind trusts you. Then you try hard to make them satisfied. In our case it was Mr. Thirunavvukarassu, MD of Adityaa Call Centre Pvt. Ltd.

We still operate our business from home offices. Before our clients assume a lot we made it public by sharing our office photos, writing blogs and making some YouTube videos. Our clients don’t think much now. They are happier about the way we operate. So be passionate about just what you have.

A lot of our innovation in products came as a result of our less investments and negligible headcount. Now our competitor have no idea of how we beat their products with this. They had more money, so they threw it to their products and nearly included every feature. But we only built the things we desired and with less money (if possible no money at all.). That’s why our products have a great customer satisfaction.

3) Misconception number3: I need to know from ground up about the industry:

Even though you will be a market expert you can face a lot of challenge and learn a lot of new thing after starting a business of your own. That’s why the so called market experts are salaried employee in bigger corporate houses and not entrepreneurs. Just think about it.

So after learning a little bit about your industry and business (like is the industry growing and how will I start), please start right away. There is lot to learn and it will never end so don’t waste your time.

4) Misconception No.4: It’s easy to work for your own:

Even though every difficult work is a great fun in your own business, but it is very difficult to work for your own. When there is a boss, you obey his command even though you don’t want it. If you will not do the work you will not get salary or will be punished. You have that fear so you work. Also you have someone senior to guide you immediately. But then you work in your own business, where you are the BOSS. You can work or you can just sit and watch movies. And it’s easier to get addicted to amusement. You need to make decisions that affects your whole company including your own finance and there is no peer to advice you correctly. So be prepared for those surprises. Control yourself.

5) Misconception No.5: Work like hell:

Never you can do well in your business or in normal life if your health is bad. Your business depends on you, so you can’t go ill. So take enough rest. This will indeed make you more creative and innovative. I burn my midnight oil a lot. But I make sure to sleep well other times. And now I’m trying to take out times for movie, my bike projects and finding the special one. ha ha. It should be there. At last you are human. So don’t live like a machine.

A big suggestion: There is no correct time. Start right now. Always be open to learn from mistakes and stick to your business for at least five years even though it is not doing well. Invest just enough to let you start.

Be happy and prosper.

1. You need to tell yourself you want to work for your ideas.
2. Get some idea that’s great and shows you a projection of good revenue.
3. You are in a way to find your team and you found some to start with. They are your partners with different set of working behavior. But they are really great.
4. You think your ideas are great. That’s true. All most all agrees. But nobody wants to pay you for that.
5. You found you are not able to tell your client that your solution for them actually worth some money & hours of great labor. But your clients don’t think so. There are always one to tell them that you are really really bad.
6. After working for some more time on that concept, you really think it is not going to workout, you really need something more attractive.
7. Your partners are in doubt as you. You put and mixup all your ideas.
8. You really got bunch of ideas and work on each of them.
9. You meet a lot of other corporate biggies who really appreciate you and your work and express they want to help you, if you need any.
10. You really get some of the good VC funding option. But you feel it is not you cup of tea and you really do not need it.
11. But in spite all these good things, you realize that your actual business is going down. You are really frustrated.
12. Your and your partners’ family put a lot of pressure to actually get out of this and do some other job. you use immense energy to make them agree to your passion.
13. Some of you think you should do some part time job to at least have some steady income.
14. You suddenly get a lot of inquiries for your business.
15. But time and again it didn’t happen or was getting late, because your prospect has shut down his business or fell ill or got through an accident. You started blaming your luck.
16. But you always read a lot of inspirational stories of great leaders and entrepreneurs. You feel energetic. I can do. It’ll surely happen. All I need is push it a little bit harder.
17. Then suddenly you realize, you should provide just as much as your client asked you. Not more than that, just because you think it is going to help your client. You should suggest only a bit extra. If they agree, charge a minimal, don’t give it for free. Charges may be reduced, but do not give it free, because your time worth it.
18. Gradually you feel that you are a known face to all. People are talking about you. They are interested to take your services. They pay you money.
19. You really pushed your marketing effort harder. Your every process does marketing for yourselves. And you are amazed to see great talents are interested to work with you, at least on part-time basis.
20. Then you realized that you are now successful business because you stick to a single idea for almost two or more years. You learned a lot about how to run this business. People are really admiring you because they think you are successful and doing a business for almost 2 years.
21. Then suddenly you think about all those moments, you thought you should quit.

These are those few key experiences I’d been through my journey as an entrepreneur. A lot of these can match with your journey. All I’ve to say is any idea can be successful, despite of huge competition. Only you need to stick to your idea for that little more time and put efforts after efforts.

# I’ll love to hear your stories also. Please comment below.

** Image courtesy: Tech IT Easy