#1: The Way of Community
People always love to be part of something big. Being part of a community makes people feel special and included. Furthermore, a community can also become a great business model. You can also include your community in the business model. Check out these entrepreneurs who built their business based on the “community principle”. “MyBlogU was created to help those who start as well as bring the established bloggers together. Our slogan is ‘You are not alone’. All our tools are built on that principle: Collaboration for mutual benefit.” – Ann Smarty, founder of MyBlogU. Ann has done great things to support the international community of bloggers. “It’s always been about the people, but now with Collections we can see the next wave of the platform emerging, with really solid engagement. I know myself and the PlusYourBusiness crew have a lot of cool, fun and interesting things planned, so I hope people can be part of it all, too.” – Martin Shervington, founder of PlusYourBusiness. Martin built a vivid community called PYB on Google+. “Community [… is] a product that you have to build, test, adapt and evolve over time. [It] has to provide value, and ultimately, you have to find community-market fit.” – David Spinks, founder of CMX. CMX Hub is a Facebook group dedicated to community managers worldwide to support and connect with each other. “To get an idea, we are a surety bond agency (details available here), a small subset of the property and casualty insurance industry. While our business didn’t rise from a community itself, we do incorporate the sense of community in our company. We have an annual scholarship for young entrepreneurs. We also do several charity events each year to get our business community involved and have fun while doing so. We do everything from bowling events for Big Brothers Big Sisters to local 5K runs for fallen soldiers.” – JD Weisbrot, President of JW Surety Bonds.
#2. The Way of the Wheel
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Let the wheel reinvent you. You don’t necessarily need to bring something completely new to the table. There are ways to make it in business even in “over-saturated” industries. Startups do not just develop products, they can also be highly profitable and sustainable with delivering excellent services. The best advice Steve Wynn (a US Investor) gives to young entrepreneurs is: “Other people’s successes are good news – for them and for you. Good for you because they show you a way to go.” To be on the same page, check out these inspiring stories from owners who launched their businesses in very competitive markets: “The most important ingredient for a successful startup, in my opinion, is a great team. With a great team, there is nothing that cannot be achieved. We knew this from day one and recruited only the very best talents into our team.” – Subash Atreya, founder of InvestFly. “I was frustrated that my co-founder at the time did not share my own search optimization vision or the user experience I wanted our customers to have. So I started my own company and became the CEO of RankSecure.ca. This way, I can do things my way. I focus my vision on thrilling my clients.” – Baruch Labunski, founder and CEO of RankSecure.
#3: The Way of Common Mission & Vision
Simply put, don’t be afraid to research and interview people with disabilities or those who have a certain medical condition. Listen and understand what could make their lives easier. These young entrepreneurs are doing it right: “I think entrepreneurs are finding there are so many problems to solve in this world, why not solve something that can produce good? I think it comes down to building products that empower people. It feels so damn rewarding. There is nothing like that feeling. We just started a new company called Islands, where our mission is to connect the disconnected, giving them a space to connect and express themselves. The good that can come out of these groups is remarkable.” – Greg Isenberg, founder of Islands. To give a bit of extra info, Greg sold his company 5by to StumbleUpon in 2015. He got inspired to create Islands after meeting Steph, a 23year old diagnosed with lung cancer. She found support in an email list she built with 50 people sharing the same medical condition. Read the entire story if you’re curious and want more inspiration. Also, pre-register if you are based in the US or Canada. “We are working on ‘a lift’ for wheelchair users which lifts them at 12 inches above ground. They will be able to hold a face to face conversation, reach out to top shelves, get their umbrella, and other things they had difficulty doing before. We picked the name Levaté, inspired by the Portuguese word ‘levantado’ (translated in English as ‘lifted’ or ‘raised’).” – Dillon Carroll, co-founder Levaté. This might just be one of the coolest startup ideas ever, actually providing a simple solution to such a complex condition. Word of advice: combine all of these ways for an effective startup launch. If that isn’t possible, include at least one of them in your company mission and vision. If the stories above haven’t convinced you yet, check out this infographic from HireaHelper. It’s a trip down memory lane of some very famous entrepreneurs, and will give you extra motivation and an inspiration boost.
