Utilize your greatest resource – people!

 

Everything is now in place for your business to be a success, including those complicated finances; however, you aren’t supposed to know how to do everything by yourself. Trust me, I know that’s overwhelming.

There are so many aspects to owning a business that you simply can’t completely understand on your own, especially at this point in your entrepreneurial venture. From banking to taxes to insurance, there are professionals all around you who do know exactly what they’re talking about.

Therefore, you need to find those people who will help you gain the body of knowledge that you need to succeed. Don’t forgot that you’re an awesome college startup business, so people want to help you!

One of the easiest resources to access is your university. The College of Business at Lipscomb has been invaluable to us in a number of ways throughout our beginning stages of operation.

First, we got our first wholesale contract through a professor who co-owns a coffee shop called The Well here in Nashville. A short time later, we won the first round of a business pitch competition and received $2,500 that went right into the business.

Since then, we have developed many relationships that have helped us develop our business model and vision.

As we started planning our coffee shop and pottery studio for this summer, we quickly entered several worlds in which we were extremely inexperienced. Yet, Chris Galbreath, Christopher’s dad and the owner of Historic Images, gave us a dozen phone numbers one afternoon, and we sat down and called every single one.

After continuing conversations for months with those people, we were developing a pitch for a loan to a bank, were able to calculate every individual expense and were projecting every revenue stream we will have.

People who know what they’re doing and are willing to help you are your greatest resource. What industries do you have personal connections in that could help your business?