5 Ways to Accelerate Your New Business from the Third Shift Entrepreneur by Todd Connor
“The entrepreneurial journey is one of the most rewarding experiences, a true act of realizing your full potential. Everyone who has the aspiration should have the opportunity…”
A great quote from Todd Connor founder of Bunker Labs, a nonprofit that helps veterans launch and grow businesses, and the author of the Third Shift Entrepreneur.
Connor believes that the strongest companies are built with a strong personal foundation, which includes financial stability. His book Third Shift Entrepreneur is about building a business while you keep working, but the lessons he shares can be useful to any small business owner, whether you are considering launching or are working to grow a young business.
5 Ways to Accelerate Your New Business
1. Be obsessed with the problem, not the solution
It is essential that you are passionate about solving the problem your business is addressing. Whether you are trying to teach people about wellness, create a delivery system that keeps French fries crispy, or help people groom their pets at home—you need to be all in if you’re going to have the commitment to create a lasting business.
However, when it comes to finding the solution to address your problem, you must be flexible. You need to remove your ego from the solution seeking process. You know what solution would work best for you, but you are only one person. You need to speak with potential customers to find out if your solution is something they would want.
And when new ways to solve your passion problem come about, be willing to hear them. Whether the suggestion comes from customer surveys, a mentor, your friend, or potential business partner, be open to the idea that there might be a better solution than the one you originally created.
2. Act with urgency
So many entrepreneurs start their own business because they want freedom and flexibility to do things their own way. And while this is great (I love it), it also comes with added pressure for discipline.
If you are like many people, you are easily motivated by the demands of others. You will jump right to action if there’s an assignment or clear need from someone else. But as an entrepreneur, the lion’s share of your work is done for you and your business.
Only you will be let down if you let your marketing, sales, bookkeeping, legal, or networking slide. You must create the discipline to make your businesses needs as urgent as every other demand that comes your way. When you identify a new strategy, learn a new concept, or get some great advice – you need to put it into action, or it will slip away.
3. Become an expert by doing
So many people who are entrepreneur-curious avoid starting their business because they don’t feel like they are enough of an expert. And this can be true for people who are already in business. Maybe you want to expand your product offering, but are scared to do it because you don’t have expertise in that space.
If this is how you are feeling, get out and start doing. If you want to lead wellness retreats, start with free wellness days in the park. If you want to coach teenagers to prepare for college, volunteer for an organization that already does this. If you want to help small businesses with their marketing strategy, host a free class at your library or offer to write a marketing plan for a few customers for free or low cost. And while you’re doing this, be sure to get feedback, take notes on what worked, and get testimonials from people who loved working with you.
4. Build Your Support Team
I realize that this topic comes up nearly every other blog post, but that must mean it’s important. You need to have a community of people around you to succeed in business. This means that you need to tell as many people about your business as possible. Your existing network is sure to have people who can help you, and you never know what introductions they might be able to make.
And beyond your existing network, you also need to start cultivating potential partners, mentors, and promoters. If you have a clearly defined goal and strategy that you can share with others, you will be shocked to discover how many people will come on board to help you.
5. Go find your customers, don’t wait for them to come to you
When you’re first getting started, or working on scaling, you can’t depend on your website or social media to find your customers for you. And while word of my mouth can be a great way to get people to buy from you, you need to build a large base of “mouths” talking about you to feel any impact.
You must proactively find your customers. You need to go where your target market gathers. If they are artists and other makers, you could spend time at pop up art shows chatting with people. If your market is parents of kids entering pre-school, the local park or play gym could be a great way to connect. Or maybe your target customers are women who love female comic book heroes; find them on Reddit, Facebook, and other forums, but also show up at conventions and start having conversations.
Small Business Book Review: Third Shift Entrepreneur
The Third Shift Entrepreneur was written for people who are exploring the idea of launching their business, but it has great value for anyone who is just getting started, struggling to make their idea work, or looking to expand.
You won’t find a lot of specific instructions for sales, marketing, operations, etc.—you’ll have to read other books for that. Rather, Third Shift Entrepreneur is more about the mindset necessary to discover a business strategy that will work for you.
Interestingly, most of the book is written as a story. Initially, I was put off by the idea of reading a narrative about entrepreneurship. But the more I read, the more I appreciated how much the story creates clarity around the principles being taught.
I give the Third Shift Entrepreneur a 4/5 stars for small business owners – especially for those that are just getting started or those who feel stuck and need to rethink how they run their business.
