Conquering Challenges in Start ups

      Managing Hurdles Faced by Young Entrepreneurs

     Hey warriors, i assume you all had a fabulous 2013, my best of wishes for 2014, may your startups grow more, you employee more , buy lowest, sell highest, and spend well.

     Well, this blog post is about the challenges young entrepreneurs face, atleast i did during my startup phase, even now, as i am 23 year old, running your own business is exciting and pain as well, pain not because handling the pressure becomes difficult, pain because at times there are certain situations where you hope you were more grown up. Thus in this post, i have jotted down few points which i hope will be useful to you all and you can relate to these issues.

1. Startup Funds: My basic advice to anyone starting up would be to get into a business that require low investment. this may sound vague, but consider this, like in my case, if you have seen an innovative product somewhere in a trade fair, instead of starting to manufacture the product, get into trading first. the cuts may be low, but you will understand the market properly, you will understand the money flow, the hurdles, make a solid customer base and gain good capital. However, if you have a plan that required solid money, first pitch it to your nearest ones, parents, wealthy uncles, even if they don't take out the money from their own pockets, they may sign up for you to get loans from banks which otherwise would not be possible as young people don't really have properties in their name to lease out as mortgages. 
2. Maximize Credit Period: If you have a cool moolah fixed in your companies bank account, this isn't for you, but, like most of us who weren't lucky at this, make sure you have a good Credit Period with suppliers. Trading requires less capital, but make sure you get maximum payment period from your supplier and arrange to get money ASAP from your buyers, this may seem like a cakewalk but its a big challenge. Even the best of companies delay payments to upto 3 months, so get your credit period fixed accordingly. As this in later stages will be a big issue and you will have to run around to take small loans.
3. Being taken seriously: As a young entrepreneur, you have to work hard to establish yourself in the market and be taken seriously, this will happen only if you take your work seriously. Your first order you will get on your face value, your second order will be based on your delivery value. It is normal to make mistakes, but you have to handle them gracefully, learn from them and move on. Customers always ask me if this is registered firm or is this place mine and how many orders have i supplied. In short they seem confused if you can handle their orders well. So behave maturely, polish your shoes, cut your hairs, wear formals and visit clients, they don't wanna take orders from a junkie, aspiring to be Mark or Jobs is one, dressing like them isn't the same. This ain't USA. Don't treat the business community that way. Respect the system, and it will respect you.
4. Spend wisely: New money is always appealing, you fulfil the order, get the payments, pay your suppliers and u have a bag full of cash, and you thinking of buying the new iPhone, seems like a cool idea, but learn the ratio well, I call this saveup in startup ratio 6:2:2.  Out of every 10 rupees you make. Save 6 for business expansion, 2 for misc expenses  and 2 for yourself. this may seem like a deal breaker, but that's how it is, these figures may seem low now, but later on, if this ratio is followed, you will have a pot full of cash and you wont know what to do with it.
5. Act of Balance: With this i mean balancing your social and work life. You may have to miss out on the Diwali get together to go greet a client, you may be late on a date as you are sitting with a client. Client is the boss, because client has the orders. However, don't forget to miss out on being young, go out frequently, take small vacations, these are the beauty of being an entrepreneur, you are not answerable to anyone, there is not key card or attendance register , but make sure your mobile phone is always on, as clients don't like if you switch off, their immediate reaction would be "young chad not mature enough"

Well, these were some of the basic tips i though would help u all. Apart from these there are many tips you can get, buy a book for that, these were the basic ones which i personally have dealt with. So sit back, relax, jot down the next step, and get on with your work.

Cheers,

Akash Poddar

akashpoddar@live.com