Surviving the Start-up Grind
Craig Eason
I admit I have a vested interest in encouraging entrepreneurs to go down a professional coaching route, but I also am writing this article for the benefit of other coaches too, because they can make a huge difference to SME businesses if you engage them properly. There is also an opportunity at the end of the blog for both entrepreneurs and coaches to benefit through the Startup4ten® sponsored coaching initiate and if this interests you as an entrepreneur or coach, then read on.
In the UK, we promote our start-up culture well, with the number of new starts healthy. However, the statistic you don’t often hear about, is that 56% of new ventures will fail within 5 years and that is a sobering thought for any ambitious entrepreneur to digest. These are not my numbers, but they come from the Office of National Statistics and while I am all for embracing the entrepreneurial spirit, these stats show that more needs to be done in the areas of SME business support.
With the number of new starts being one of the main measurements of success in certain quarters, these realities can be glossed over, with the consequence that young entrepreneurs often end up under prepared for the road ahead.
I know there is a range of public sector support for start-ups across different regions and Accelerator Programmes are also available, provided you qualify, but they do not suit everyone nor provide all the solutions.
Creating the big picture is one thing but being able to deliver on it, is about implementation and solving problems in real time. A business is vulnerable, until it has a working formula which allows it to grow profitably and safely, but it takes a lot of application and implementation, to achieve. This is the start-up grind I refer too and there are few short cuts through it. However, one of the benefits of working with a good coach, on an on-going basis, is they can help you through this period to deliver on your objectives.
The price of failure is high in financial and emotional terms, if you go down the path of an entrepreneur and do not make it, so the emphasis on staying in the game, with a support mechanism that can help you make good decisions is vital. Learning through the school of hard knocks is one way to achieve success but it is not the only way to do it.
Our education system does not really prepare us for the jump into self-employment either and while we can go to university to study business, most entrepreneurs in the SME world are relying more on instinct and common sense. The 56% mortality statistic is evidence that this is not enough and therefore businesses need to make a choice. Do they try and do it all by themselves, perhaps trust in the free public sector support available, or do they look at business coaching, seeing it as an investment in themselves and the business, rather than an avoidable cost!
In my experience no matter the subject we need to learn, a good coach will help you get the most out of what you have. Just look at the sporting world and how coaching shapes the success of individuals and teams and this is no different to business. A good coach will help you make better decisions, see opportunities you miss, will dig deeper and challenge your assumptions more than you will, as well as being a mental support through the challenges you face.
The mental attrition is high as an entrepreneur and having someone who understands the pain can be hugely beneficial. If they have walked the path you are now on, with years of business experience you can draw on, it can only help you get where you want to go faster and with less risk. It is not about spending days every month with a coach on academic learning but having someone you can discuss the big picture and objectives with, alongside the current and real issues you face.
My tips for working with a professional coach are:
- Be honest with yourself about your level of business experience and where your strengths and weaknesses lie
- Understand where you want to go with your business and be able to articulate this. It needs to be realistic, but not everyone wants to run a huge business. True wealth, in my view, is having enough money to be able to use your time, as you want and running your own successful business aides this.
- Discuss your objectives with the coach to find out how they can support you. Agree a contact frequency and costs and put it in your financial projections.
- Use technology to your advantage to keep costs down by using Skype or Zoom as much as possible.
- You can cover a lot of ground in a few hours and short but regular discussions will achieve more than long and intense sessions.
- Act on what you agree to do
- Create a win log that records the useful insights, decisions and outcomes that come out of the coaching process, so you can measure the value of the relationship against the cost.
- Understand that all businesses zig zag as they try and work out what they need to do to be successful. Even with a coach you won’t get everything right, but it is adapting to what you learn that creates the business improvements.
- Work with the coach to create a business process that helps you to implement on your ideas. Business plans are good to have, but it is very difficult to run a business off them. This is what we use our Business Basics™ model for, so that clients have a way of understanding their business, to create a road map they can follow.
- Agree the priorities because you cannot do everything at once.
Sponsored Coaching
This brings me to the second part of the article, because when you have never experienced the benefits of coaching, then it is hard for businesses to make the jump to paying for it. This is where sponsored coaching can come into play, giving entrepreneurs access to quality coaching support by working with companies who will provide business support as added value for their clients.
This is what we have been working on at Startup4ten®, creating relationships with key suppliers who will provide sponsored business support to customers who sign up through the programme. It is an investment by these partners in their customers, providing practical assistance to run alongside the clients’ hard work and entrepreneurial drive.
All our business partners have a strong track record in working with new ventures and SME businesses, the services currently available include, business insurance, business finance and intellectual property through Hiscox Insurance or James Hallam, Alternative Business Funding and Creation IP.
Hiscox Insurance have won numerous industry awards for their service and have a wide portfolio of products available for SME businesses. Our broker partner is James Hallam who are one of the UK’s leading insurance brokers with dedicated SME teams. Access to finance comes through Alternative Business Funding which is a technology platform that can help you access the most suitable lender for your circumstances and our Intellectual Property partner is Creation IP who are one of the fastest growing patent and trademark attorneys in the UK.
If you are interested in trying business coaching, or you know someone who may benefit from it, then review our website and look at what is available. There are different sponsorship packages depending on the income earned, but every package includes Business Basics™. It is a simple but effective tool, designed to keep you focused and if you learn to apply these skills, you will have a solid foundation to build from.
Opportunities for the business coaching community through Startup4ten®
As well as providing a mechanism for SME businesses to get quality coaching, there is also an opportunity for the business coaching community to get involved. Startup4ten® is a UK wide initiative and we are interested in adding high calibre coaches to our network, who can promote and deliver the sponsored coaching. If you are interested in this opportunity, then use the contact form on the Startup4ten® website to get in touch.
In the meantime, good luck to us all.
Craig Eason
Startup4ten®