Entrepreneurship lessons from my one-year-old son
Love and lessons of life are two things that come to us in the most unexpected ways.
As I got promoted to my new designation of being a mother last year, expectedly I bid a farewell to my voracious reading habit and a socially active life of business networking. However, my learning lessons that I could implement to my startup never stopped. And my new mentor was my one-year-old son. Sharing a few of my learnings:
Advantages of agglomeration
I used to dread the thought of five little crawlers planning a group destruction in my living room. However, I was wrong. Clapping and appreciating the good deeds of one, made all the others follow. Experiences from accompanying mommies were a bonus.
It is so un-expected for startups in similar businesses to share anything except for sarcastic tweets on Twitter.
Collaborating with Frenemies (similar businesses having the same target audience) not only divided Recode’s marketing costs, it also gave us a bigger muscle of manpower, thought-power, and a 10X reach. Our associations with a Second Books library & Online De-cluttering App displayed metrics that we were proud of.
Guerrilla marketing by my little guerrilla
Babies are attention seekers. Crying and yelling is passé. They will always have newer mischief under their sleeves, which will add to their cuteness quotient and help them attain undivided attention.
As businesses, yes we can be creative. We do not need to bleed and spend on ads and discounts. Some love and a unique way to approach is all the customers ask of to love our brand back. In a business like ours trust is holy-grail that consumers seek. The only thing that we had to do to gain that upward stooping sales arrow was being present through all the possible channels for customers to look, feel, believe and leave us with emptied shelves.
Hola Holacracy
Being a Mompreneur, juggling gets tougher than the toughest trigonometry problems. There were times when poor Dad was force fed and the little fellow left alone for a shower.
The solution adapted was a proven startup management style of Holacracy, wherein each member of the house was assigned specific tasks instead of Mommy Dictates it All. The result was everyone were happy.
Do not focus on the wrong metrics
Do not fret over pre-defined societal milestones. The one thing common between your child and your business is that they are both unique. Cherish each experience and learn from it. Experiences from others help us make fewer mistakes, but design your own rule book. Remember business’s success anchors on parameters like focusing on your tribe, profitability, ‘bought through’, and not on overrated front page adverts in news dailies, gross margins, click through an ad.
A thought to end this here:
Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre. – Warren Buffett