What Being Broke Taught Me About Launching a Successful Business
By: Renée Kapuku
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Business, Startup, Self Improvement, Productivity

You need to want it — above all of your fears

My ideas were the only thing keeping me going.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie The Dark Knight Returns, but there’s a scene in which Batman/Bruce Wayne, after being thrown into an inescapable pit by his nemesis Bane, has to risk his life to free himself. Only one other person in history had made the jump, and in both cases, it was the adrenaline from the fear of death which got them from A to B.

Some of us are stuck in a pit, and we can’t get to where we want to be…because we aren’t utilising our fear. If you know you have everything to lose, you work fast. For me, I knew if I didn’t work, I wouldn’t eat.

Period.

Work as though you have everything to lose. Use the pressure around you and take the risk. Put in the hours you need to, in order to train and make the jump that requires that level of faith.

You must be resourceful before you scale

Don’t dream big if you can’t master the small.

If you’re crappy with the small things, increasing size and reach just makes your crappiness even worse. The premise is the same in business. When you launch a new product or service, you need to make sure that you make the most of what you have before you facilitate growth, or get more people involved.

In the early stages of my start-up venture, I was a one-man-band. I created all the online marketing materials, I manned communication and admin, I wrote all the partnership documents. I responded to emails in third person to maintain professionalism.

Within a week, my start-up gained traction from over 200 users on social media, and within two weeks of opening my first community event, we were almost sold out.

I’m not advocating overwork. I’m not saying to start a business right this moment. I’m not saying to acquire any of these skills you don’t have.

I’m saying to be resourceful. Max out before you add. I was forced to do this in the early days because I was broke. Make sure you’re in a relatively good place with your venture or side hustle before pursuing growth.

You’d be surprised what making use of what you have at your disposal can do for your business.

Your business goals must have clearly defined metrics

Stop being so vague, for goodness’ sake.

I know it’s comforting to aim for a multi-million-making business — but there’s no point if you don’t have a clear and logical way to get there. You can’t order a taxi to a certain destination without first inputting your location.

Being broke meant that I needed to be very strategic with my money management, both in a personal capacity and in a business space. These were my goals:

Clear my $1000 overdraft

Pay my $900 rent

Save at least $200 for launching my business.

I carefully saved 10% of all my erratic revenue-generating activities and used the rest to pay off my debt and buy groceries.

I still use this method now, although I save 30% of my income for business reinvestment. Although my aim was small, I had a clearly defined goal and a strategy on how to get there.

It’s the same strategy I’m using to make my first million. Watch this space.

Monetary incentives for team members isn’t enough

Did you read that correctly?

Money isn’t enough, and knowing that will save you a lot of aggravation when you start bringing people on board. It was easy for me to find out since I had no money. I was forced to find other ways to draw the kind of people I wanted to work with.

I found my CTO (Chief Technology Officer) when she came across my business online. She emailed me straightaway. I told her straight up:

“Look, I can’t offer you a salary right now. I’m going through a rough patch myself so if you want to get on board, I need to know that I can still count on you.”

She laughed, explaining that she wasn’t even considering the money. She loved the cause, the idea, the business model. She bought into the vision.

The same occurred when our team grew. More people started dedicating their time and skills, not for money, but a genuine passion.

If I possessed the capacity to pay a salary, it would’ve been the first way I would try to attract talented team members. But relying on passion and buy-in to the cause meant that I could weed out poor team members from the jump.

If you are looking for team members in your business venture, consider your value proposition.

If the only buy-in they express is money, I’d advise you to keep looking.

Changing behaviour is the key to success.

Your goal isn’t to make profit.

That’s right. You aren’t in business or entrepreneurship to make profit. Or sell a product or service, or fix a problem.

What you need to focus on is how you will change behaviour.

It’s no good fixing a problem if people won’t buy into your solution. How will you impact the behavioural patterns of your chosen audience? When I had no money for fancy products or detailed consultancy services, I had to really dig deep and figure out what I was trying to do with my business.

During the summer, I worked as a library assistant every so often to make ends meet. I processed hundreds of incoming and outgoing books. Students would sometimes ask me my thoughts on a particular book. “This one’s a keeper,” I might say, or “I wouldn’t bother.”

They’d listen, and either take home the book or lay it on the table. It was reflecting on this that I truly understood what it meant to have a monopoly in business.

The most successful business has the authority to change behaviour. They are socially validated. As a librarian’s assistant, I had the credentials and authority to provide a service and opinion, which changed the behaviour of the recipient.

Brands like Apple don’t need to do too much marketing beyond announcing the release of a new iPhone, and consumers will flock because Apple is perceived as the definitive authority capable of changing consumer behaviour with their brand.

I applied this to my business. Suddenly, my whole brand and consultancy was about producing the changed behaviour which would attract more consumers. That’s when my community grew — I wanted to change them, and they bought into it.

When drafting out your business ideas, ensure your outputs are underpinned by the desire to change the behaviour of the consumer. Once you have their attention, you have authority.