Young Entrepreneurs

During these hard times, please prepare yourself. But don't overdo it.
Remember to ask your friends and family, especially old people or parents who are unable to leave home. Remember to ask them and help them out. Not everyone is blessed as you are.

Buy essential items. Food that you can store for long periods and are healthy such as
1. Beans
2. Pasta
3. Rice
4. Cereal
5. Canned foods
6. For vegetables take
Broccoli or cauliflower, beets, leafy green, garlic and ginger
7. For fruits go for Bananas and citrus fruits
8. Nuts
9. Nutritional biscuits

Other essential items are
1. Water
2. Soap, especially hand soap.
3. Emergency medicines like ibuprofen, cough and cold medication.
4. Bandaid, plasters and antiseptic medicines
5. Multi-vitamins to keep yours and the kids immunity at a good level.
6. Essential toiliteries such as toothpaste and toilet paper if needed.

Maintain a reasonable stock and share with your friends and neighbours. Make sure you don't panic and overbuy. Be considerate for other families.
Have I missed out on anything ? Please leave a comment about it.

Kindly share this if you think it's worth it.

Times are hard on most businesses now. No one is really prepared for such major catastrophes.
Having team meetings is always good to prepare for the worst. Times like this it's very important to work as a team and support each other. Take a moment to check on your colleagues who need help, who are suffering major losses due to lack of business.

Today we had a great session with Suprabha Raorane. The budding entrepreneurs had a chance to practice their sales pitch. Good feedback, be it positive or negative is very important for growth of a business.
Learning to do a sales pitch involves practice in public speaking. If you can't sell your product, how can you grow in the market.

Time to start finding your passion and working towards it. Don't waste your time.

Our young entrepreneurs presenting their program to experienced professionals in the field for review. Constructive feedback is very important at this stage.

Your pitch deck is one of the most important tools when talking to investors. While the information contained in it may vary depending on which stage of operation or fundraising your startup is on, the pitch deck should be able to present important information in a tone that reflects the personality of your startup.

Understanding the details of how to set up your business is very important.
You need to find a good CA you can trust and who can guide you in the right direction. They should share all the possibilities with you and the importance of following the rules.
Our young entrepreneurs sit with their CA to learn how to set up their own business. It was an eye opening session for them.

Our young entrepreneurs have just started their journey on their own company. Here is the name and logo. The aim of the company is to spread the sport of Ultimate Frisbee in schools, colleges, groups and individuals.

F.Y.I :

Ultimate, also and originally known as ultimate frisbee, is a non-contact team sport played with a flying disc. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by a group of students at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey

Have you checked out competition in your line of business ?
Most entrepreneurs believe that they were the first ones to think of the idea. But you need to dig deep to find out why hasn't anyone thought of it before.
One of the best methods is to prove to yourself why this business won't work. Find faults and list each one. Make a detailed action plan. Talk to your peers about it. Don't overlook any detail.
It's also possible someone did try it and it failed. Find out why. Never be disheartened if the answer is bad for you. Think of it as a saving grace. You just saved yourself from losing money.
Test the waters before swimming.

Finding the right space to work out of is very important.
You need to account for cost of renting a space, the facilities available. Most important is the speed of the internet connection, space to conduct meetings, brain storm, store etc. Sometimes the smallest things we forget and cost us a lot on the long run.
Co working spaces are always handy. They may cost a bit more but all facilities are taken care of under one roof. If you have a big enough team, you may try to find your own space, but many issues arise. Something as simple as parking for your employees, food, dealing with landlords and neighbours, someonene taking advantage of your office space after hours.

These small details are never included in a successful entrepreneurs journey. But they do make a difference. A huge difference.

The key issues we have witnessed are :
1. Net connection
2. Facilities like meeting room, toilets etc
3. Parking for employees and clients
4. Access to food and beverages
5. Safety and security of the space
6. Neighbours and society issues
7. Storage of your equipment. When you do events and stuff you will collect banners and boards you need to use again. Ensure you have an easily accessible storage space.
8. Ease of travel to reach the office.
9. Night travel and work.
10. Postal service for parcels and packages.

Did I miss anything ?

When starting your own venture, finding the right and efficient resources is the key. Not every detail is available online.
You need to track, find and study all resources in your area. Every accomplished startup has been through this rigourous stage.
Make sure you have located, studied and understood the resources required for your startup. When you upscale the requirements will change. Costs will change and profit margins are heavily affected. Don't assume it, make sure you study it.

Every company needs to have their own 'Core' Values. It isn't just to fill up documents but to decide on the path of the company. These values decide how you intend to operate, what kind of employees you wish to hire and work ethics to observe .The founders of the company decide what core values they would prefer.

Our young entrepreneurs decided on the following core values :

1. Drive and motivation
2. Efficient with their time
3. Trustworthy
4. Teamwork
5. Positive attitude to each situation
6. Conflict resolution

What are yours ?

Getting the right team is one of the hardest part when forming a company. Most startups tend to assume that hiring skilled people at lower salaries are easy, or hiring interns to do big level tasks are easy.
Before you even make a company, ensure you have the right team in place. Keep in mind the salaries are with industry standards and that you have the right working hours. Take into account delays, holidays and lack of manpower. Always meet experienced people and get advice. Talk to people with experience in human resources and understand the way to hire right. Invest in younger people and make sure you make a work friendly environment. Treat your team well to ensure long term growth.