Entrepreneurship has long been heralded as a rewarding yet risky experience that for many people just carries to much risk and uncertainty.

With the rise of our current economic recession and massive layoff’s across most industries we are seeing a different bread of entrepreneurial thought. Rather than setting sail as a profiteer looking to take advantage of rising market trends and make some wonderful profits along the way, we are seeing the hungry entrepreneur taking flight out of necessity and a will to create a lifestyle that they are in control of.

With no job or a job that could be on its way out, an industry in shambles and this entrepreneur is in survival mode. Feed up with not being in control of ones own destiny and in search of a lifestyle not bourgeoning profits the entrepreneur sets out.

In recent months here at Zella Design we have seen a rapidly increasing amount of entrepreneurs who are taking the reigns and striving to launch new and interesting businesses.

“there comes a point when you say oh why not, I have nothing to loss its not like I have a job any more” declares a recent corporate world expat.

When entrepreneurship calls here is a basic guide to being a Spartan Entrepreneur cast off on the road against insurmountable odds but internally driven to hold your last bastion of the American dream.

Live humble:

Times are tight, capital resources are few and fleeting and start up capital is shallow. Being under capitalized can be a huge encumbrance on a start up business but they call it “bootstrapping” for a reason. In order to pull your self up from your bootstrap you need to live humble.

Avoid credit card debit – Debit is a sure fire way to sink your ship. If you must incur credit card debit as a form of start up capital keep it too a minimum and layout an aggressive payback plan. If you can slip by with just reinvesting profits from services render you will be much better off.

Limit your bills – you need to be able to take risk and be flexible, a heavy bill burden can hurt you. Know your expenditures and when you do your business plan decide what you can eliminate. The more freedom your cash has the better you will be situated to survive.

Keep your life simple – cars and houses are liabilities, in simplifying your life focus on assets that help your company move forward. If your capital is tied up in your mortgage, rent or car payment you will be severely limiting your ability to invest back into your company’s sustained growth.

If you are turning a profit – don’t race into expenditures, a little capital savings can be a vital assets during lean times, and these days there appears to be a lot of lean times.

Stay Nimble:

A young company needs to keep on their toes, you need to be able to pivot left and sprint when moments early you thought you where going right. Many successful start-ups stumbled upon their business model be taking an unexpected opportunity and driving towards it.

Be Adept at change - You wrote a business plan but a plan changes and you need to be able to adapt to change. Be solutions focused steer clear of over rationalizing and dwelling on problems. Focus on what is working and base your decisions on “bright spots”

Don’t get frustrated - You are performing research while you work, you don’t have time to research every possibility and analyze all factors. Many entrepreneurs perform their market research as they go along adapting their pitch, product, and service as they receive feedback from customers.

This was a very helpful tool for Zella design when we where starting out, it allowed us to trial test our product on consumers and get real feedback that helped us rapidly evolve our services to match the needs of our market.

Act Quickly! Have the ability to act quickly, in the corporate world there are layers and voids to be crossed in decision-making, but when you strike out on your own or with a small group decision-making can happen rapidly.

Don’t be afraid – to test new market trends or chase your passion. Larger companies will often wait to watch new markets develop that attempt to move into them once they show promise. If you can identify growth markets or developing markets and act quickly to capitalize on them you can position your company for success.

Lead don’t follow - Many small companies always look to copy and mimic what larger competitors are doing but the thing about being small, mobile and flexible is that you can take risk and act with a speed that will allow you to out flank larger competitors. Make the larger company chase you around, not the other way.

Discount your services - A great way to get your company going is to offer substantial discounts or even give a few products or services away. By doing this you entice customers to try you out and you also gain a portfolio. Consider it paid market research. If you satisfy your test run clients there will be more orders or referrals in your future.

Be hungry - Be willing to make tough decisions and gut out some down times while staying positive is a sure way to achieve success. Many soloperneurs and small start-ups fail because they lacked the guts to survive. You are at the bottom and you need to be willing to do what your competitors are not doing to survive.

Big established businesses become complacent and arrogant resulting in their diminished relevancy at the ground level. Stay hungry and you can stave off these problems.

As the founder you are the key to success, and you need to be willing to do what ever it takes. If you are willing to do what others are afraid to do you will drive your company forward. Make that extra phone call, follow up on every client, pound the pavement and scream the gospel of your product or service. Do not expect your employees to dig in the trenches for you if you are not right their side beside them.

As my professor Steve Abbott always said as a young entrepreneur you need to live a Spartan life; Live Humble, Stay Nimble

Tags: entrepreneur, Survival.