Julianne Mercer, Negosentro.com | Starting your own business and building your own status is hard with a ton of competition tracking your every move. Differentiating yourself from the herd is challenging and you have to levitate between a wish to become successful quickly and a desire to do everything right. Finding a balance seems impossible, but there’s something you can do – borrow ideas and inspiration from businesses that are already successful! Examining their paths and investigating their history might be the way to go.
Focus on marketing
Everyone understands how crucial a proper marketing campaign is for placing your products before the eyes of potential customers. However, how can you make your ad stand out in the world where there are literally millions of witty and appealing ads already surrounding every potential customer? Easy – just pick the ones you love the most and borrow ideas from them.
Of course, all of these ads are protected by law, so don’t go overboard because you might get into trouble, but being inspired by someone’s work is no crime. What you can do is turn to highly effective social media campaigns, or, alternatively, localize someone else’s approach to marketing products by adapting a global idea into your area. This way, you’ll not only attract customers from your neighborhood, but also make sure you have a memorable campaign.
Get inspired locally
Speaking of local businesses, why don’t you explore some of the best success stories from your immediate area? There are surely lots of prosperous new businesses and young entrepreneurs who have managed to find a unique approach to the world of business and will surely be willing to share their stories. Don’t go too big but stick to a handful of local businesses – get acquainted with their owners and find out how they fill the void in your local offer.
Another great idea would be talking to your future competition, a.k.a. the people who run a business in the same niche as the one you’re thinking about opening soon. This might seem contradictory at first, but it can help you a lot. You’ll be able to discover the needs of the people in your area, learn how to approach them, find out what’s been missing from the offer and how to assess the supply/demand ratio. Ultimately, you’ll know how to approach new customers and differentiate yourself from the already established businesses.
Inspiration from ordinary people
When starting your own company, keep in mind how some of the most famous CEO’s got to where they are today – nobody made them famous overnight and they had to put years and even decades of hard work into their company. Therefore, they began as regular people and your Average Joes – in other words, just like you. That’s why you need to look up to ordinary people and their success stories instead of wishing to become the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates.
Luckily, the Internet is full of testimonials and inspiring stories made by these people who are ready to share with you how they started, what they managed to accomplish and in what ways their experiences can help you become a better entrepreneur. The range these people cover is quite wide – from organic farmers and graphic designers to custom car builders and restaurant owners – so you can learn a thing or two whatever you do. Naturally, not everyone can get inspired by watching TED talks given by CEO’s of famous IT companies, for example, because they’re not interested in the IT industry per se, so finding someone who does the similar thing as you do is much more beneficial.
Headquarters and office space inspiration
Every business needs proper headquarters that can accommodate all the employees and the equipment they use on a daily basis. Nevertheless, when you’re running a new business, you might not be aware of this nor can you instinctively know how to set up a proper office space. And this is where you can learn the most from people who’re already running successful companies and know how to organize offices.
Think about the number of employees you’ll have to accommodate and how big your building needs to be. However, before choosing location for your headquarters, be sure to consult reliable geotechnical engineering experts who’ll inspect the area, assess the soil quality and tell you whether that particular spot will be able to withstand construction or not. And as soon as you build your own headquarters, you’ll be on the road towards becoming a successful CEO.
Everything starts with inspiration
Many people object to borrowing someone else’s ideas and adopting their concepts to their own business. However, if you’re lacking inspiration and don’t know how to start, looking up to a successful business is easy and helpful, so start exploring and looking for inspiration as soon as possible!
