by Shannon McKenzie
Starting a new business is kind of like having a baby. Is it ever the perfect time?
Like with starting a family, timing is only one of the many considerations when opening a company. After all, well over half of the companies on the Fortune 500 list in 2009 began during a recession or a bear market, according to a study by the nonprofit Kauffman Foundation.
But even if the economy is booming and all the stars are in alignment, new businesses might be doomed to fail without a plan, motivation, and follow-through.
When Jillian and I decided to launch IdeaLearning Group, we decided early on to carefully construct our business from the ground up. Here's our list of essentials from our experience in starting a thriving business:
Create a strong business partnership
Jillian and I are like two sides of the same entrepreneurial brain. Jillian wanted to start a company since childhood. She even wrote a business plan as a high school student. Both of us have worked at several start-ups, most of which didn't survive beyond the dot-com boom (and subsequent bust). We bring everything to the table that we learned from the failures of our past experiences, along with our complementary strengths and weaknesses. We regularly brainstorm together and ultimately improve upon our ideas as a result. Although we sometimes split our duties, we're both versatile enough so that we know everything about our business from the inside out. We know our success is mutually dependent, and it really works for us.
Write a real business plan
This is where a lot of companies skimp, unfortunately. We wanted to be very deliberate and up front about our goals and plans, and the best way to articulate these was to write them down. We formally hashed out our plan, which included plenty of back-and-forth about wording and concepts. Our business plan is a living document. Twice a year we return to it, which includes our marketing strategy, and revise it as needed. Scheduling time to refine our plan allows us to stay relevant and to provide what the market needs at the right time.
Know what you believe in
We both came from organizations that had strong brands, and so we already understood the importance of articulating your beliefs and creating a strong brand statement. We knew early on what we believed in: learning is experience, and everything else is just information. Employee development is most effective through custom learning solutions. (We also knew what we didn't believe in: creating generic, off-the-shelf courses.)
Market your brand according to your beliefs
Our marketing consists of doing great work, doing what we promise to do, and providing real value. Our logo exemplifies our belief in growth and learning through igniting new ideas. The colors reflect energy and excitement, which we agreed were important key concepts early on. The stick in the middle could be interpreted as a matchstick igniting or even a brainstorm bubble.
Know what you want to provide
The elearning/blended learning space is enormous, and the industry growth is expected to continue. A strong brand allows us to compete against small and large companies that create custom learning experiences. We decided to offer our local, national, and international clients a sophisticated "small business" style of service. That means creative, hands-on problem-solving, strong attention to detail, and personalized solutions.
Leverage contacts
Jillian and I both formed a big network of learning professionals at our previous jobs. When layoffs occur and companies close, people tend to scatter in many directions. We've kept in touch with our network throughout the transitions. In fact, many of our client relationships are with people we already know, as well as from our network referrals.
If you're searching for more ideas on how to improve a business you've already started, check out Fast Company's "7 Steps to Scoring New Business in a Bad Economy."
