People try new things every day.
They try a new relationship, business idea, healthy habit, hobby, self-help technique, meditation, exercise, time management, waking up early, fitness and what not.
We all start new projects every now and then, only to end them within few weeks before it actually leads somewhere.
But why do we do this at all? Are we all some kind of masochistic beings who enjoy hurting our own self by failures or are we trying to punish someone else for failing.
I don’t know much about the objectives we do this, but I can assure you I do know about the reason why most of our projects fail and how they could have been avoided.
There are many reasons why our projects shut down, but before we look into those reasons, let’s understand how exactly we begin them in the first place.
Whenever we start a new project, we always have three options
- To start minimal;
- To start with all we have got;
- Put all we have got along with external resources into our projects.
Let me explain these scenarios by an example.
Suppose you need to start a new business of sweet candies.
How would these 3 options look like to you?
You can start the project super small along-with your siblings and spouse, in your garage with no external employees. Here you focus solely on making and selling candy to friends, or relatives and then take it from there wherever it may lead.
OR
You can invest all you have in the project, rent a place and involve your friends and family as a support system. Here you target B2B customers and create a supply chain targeted towards departmental stores and other retailers.
OR
You can take every possible loan from everywhere, start massive and hire few employees to support the project. Here you start manufacturing the perfect candy and then have to create a market for your own brand. You also have to start making profit right from start to make your business sustainable.
How do we choose?
So what do you think you should do? Start with the first option? Because that’s the only one that makes sense here. Or maybe the second one because the first wouldn’t give you back a decent revenue to keep you interested.
But what if I tell you that in my experience, somehow people don’t prefer the first option at all, I don’t know why but that one option seems demeaning to most of the people. To start something on a shoe-string budget is not what people like doing.
People don’t’ feel passionate towards their business unless they have invested a couple of grands into their project, and hence never prefer to star their project with the smallest budget. They think that it lacks commitment and is non-scalable until they have invested handsome money in it.
My Observations
Most people I come across go with the second option, while some people choose the third options, and rarely, very rarely, I come across people who go with the first one – and even the ones who do, they kill the business within the first year due to lack of growth, result or passion.
My Advice
Yet, the one single advice I give to all my client’s and friends for every new project is to start small. Minimum. Discreetly. Below the radar.
I will elaborate why I consistently suggest all my clients and friends go minuscule with their ideas and expand only as the project demands.
Now this rule applies everywhere, doesn’t matter if you are starting to exercise, picking up a new hobby, starting a new business, trying out a relationship or a kicking off any new random project – Remember one advice here – Always start small.
Here are the reasons:-
- Starting small always gives you time, flexibility, and energy, you are not constantly overwhelmed and always have time to focus on other important areas of your life
- Starting small assures that you are engaged with the project on a regular basis whenever you desire to.
- Starting small gives you your own space and time to make mistakes.
- Starting small always and I really mean this – always leads to a bigger result.
- Starting small requires nothing – doesn’t matter if it is about getting fit or starting a new business – small projects usually don’t need much equipment and resources.
- Starting small gives you space to alter your plan – always remember that the idea that seems so perfect to you before you have started out, in reality, is kinda shit, but would it stay that way forever, no. It will evolve into something great only if you don’t fail in the first instance and improve from your mistakes.
- Starting small allows you to alter the decisions immediately without affecting much. If you are catering to one client and have a single staff company – all the decisions can be made by you on an immediate basis without calling a board of director meeting.
- You will learn the rules of the game before you hire someone and that will give you better control of your project and business in the coming future.
- If you start out big and fail – you will lose your only opportunity, most of the time people won’t invest in our ever again; but when you start small – you always have another shot at the new project.
- Starting small is easy, and simple. You don’t need much to start a simple project. Just get up and do it for people you love and evolve according to the feedback’s you get
- Losses are small and manageable. Always start your project without taking a loan, get feedback from friends and family. Then re-launch it big over the years after you are experienced.
Remember to always start early and start small.
I hope this helps you start up something beautiful and sustain it, see you on the other side.
Drop in your ideas and feedback. I would love to respond to them.
Until Next Time.
-Sumeet Soni