The Entrepreneur’s Seven Priorities for a Successful First Year

This is a guest post from Robert Tuchman from Young Business Executives.  Check out Robert’s latest book titled Young Guns: The Fearless Entrepreneur’s Guide to Chasing Your Dreams and Breaking Out on Your Own.

To become the kind of person that makes things happen by launching a company, you must make a big personal investment. I’m not talking about money (yet). I’m talking about time.

During that first year, you are going to be doing a lot of breathing, eating, and dreaming about your company. Setting priorities is essential to making your company succeed in its first year.

An Entrepreneur Must Set Priorities to Succeed

Here are seven priorities that you will want to set for yourself in the first year:

1.  Build a Culture of Action and Enthusiasm

You want to build a company that rewards taking action, a company that is perceived as being youthful, vigorous, forward-thinking, and results-oriented. People expect action and energy from the young, and they are likely to search out young and hungry companies.

You will find that clients are willing to pay for your energy and dynamism, and they will even take a bit of a risk in order to get young, energetic minds on their side. Enthusiasm and energy will take your business further than any other factor.

2.  Take Daily Action on Your Business Plan

What separates successful entrepreneurs from floundering entrepreneurs? Daily commitment to fulfilling the benchmarks you have set for yourself and your company in both your short-and long term business plans.

Every day you have to be willing to put your time in and do what you know needs to be done. For some people this daily commitment means picking up the phone and making ten sales calls a day, no matter what. For others, it means creating ideas for new products, new systems or new marketing initiatives, and then carefully testing the results.

3.  Get Your Web Site Up and Running

Your website has to say, “This is who we are,” to the outside world and it has to be compelling. Expect to update your Web site regularly and to improve it constantly over time. A Web site that is over dated, with irrelevant or months-old information is a real deal killer.

During your first year in the business, do the very best you can on your website with as much as you have now and be ready to update and improve it on a regular basis.

4.  Talk to Absolutely Everyone About What You Do

Who says opportunity stops at five o’clock? You need to always be talking about your business, as well as thinking about it constantly. Remember, you are building a brand for your company.

It should become second nature for you to talk to people about your business at parties, at family gatherings, and at outings like sporting events. You never know who the people you meet might know or might be speaking to next.

5.  Try to Fund It Yourself, or Mostly Yourself

Lots of entrepreneurs ask me, “What type of funding will I need to get my business off the ground?” I always advise would-be business owners to go after the least amount of funding that is necessary.

The reason I recommend self-financing for people who are just starting out is that fixating on some outside source of capital is a great way to make launching the business someone else’s responsibility. You don’t want to do that. If you spend the entire first year talking about presentations so that someone else can take action or make decisions, your mind-set is wrong.

6.  Get Connected, No Matter What

During your first year of operation, it’s extremely important to develop new relationships and meet people in your industry. I was fortunate enough early on to meet Alex English, former Denver Nuggets Hall of Famer. Alex gave me a shot at having my first office when he asked me if I wanted to share an office with him near Madison Square Garden.

When I was starting, I would make over 100 cold calls a day to potential clients. I had the same pitch that I would recite over and over again. Soon enough Alex would recite the pitch over and over to me verbatim. Getting connected was all about living and breathing the business.

7.  Stay Balanced

During the first year, and all the years after, you will have to find a way to achieve balance. You need an outlet of some kind, a hobby or exercise activity that helps you stay sane.

Many nights I left the office at 10 p.m. and went to the gym to hit the heavy bag until I had alleviated all my stress. If you are working hard, and putting all of your energy into work, you are going to need a release.

Last year, Tuchman Sports Enterprises earned over $70 million dollars in sales as the Corporate Events division of Premiere Global Sports. Robert Tuchman now serves as President of that division, still guiding his company in its new form. 

Robert is no stranger to entrepreneurship.  He has also launched other successful ventures including RentACarNow.com.

Photo by gcoldironjr2003

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