Are you a couch potato? If so, lacing your shoes up and starting a new workout regime may seem daunting. But with the right fundamentals in place, a finger on the pulse, and a great team around you, it all gets easier. Soon, you may even have to increase the weight and intensity as you speed off to greater heights.
I work with many startups that are also just beginning their own ‘fitness journeys’. By providing them with some fundamental tools, we help them monitor their progress and improve their strength to become fitter and healthier businesses.
Let’s go through some of the basics together.
1. First things first – set your business fitness goals
Start by compiling a list of fitness goals — business objectives — so you know exactly what you’re working towards.
Start with: What do you want to accomplish by the end of the year?
Then grind down into the details: How many people will you employ to accomplish those things? What revenue will you reach? How much will you raise from investors?
Set both long and short term goals. The sooner you start checking things off the list, the more motivated you’ll be to keep the momentum going. Crucially, always be moving. Time is not on your side, so the minutes and hours you waste is time spent not making progress.
2. Prioritise organic growth over steroids
Organic growth is underrated because it takes a longer time to build a business with real customers instead of venture capital. However, it’s often smarter and more sensible to test the sustainability of your idea this way, without the artificially inflated targets.
You’ll also be answering to customers and clients rather than shareholders and VCs. As a result, you can channel your most valuable resources into what matters most – building a better product or service.
While it may take longer to scale your business without tapping on funding, each of the paying customers that you cultivate is a vote of confidence in your business. There’s nothing more rewarding than that!
3. Don’t skip leg day!
Don’t be that guy with massive biceps, pecs and shoulders, but tiny spindly legs – an inverted human triangle! I get it. I hate lunges too. But when you neglect certain business tasks, for example, bank reconciliation, your business starts looking triangle-shaped as well.
Also Read:7 reasons why profitability is for losers
Fortunately, machine learning built into online accounting and small business platforms automate many of those mundane tasks so that you can focus on the exercises that really drive business value.
4. Use a fitness tracker to track the metrics that matter
When you’re bootstrapping, none of the vanity metrics matter. Profitability is the only metric that you should care about. Profitability may look different for different kinds of businesses. For example, profit margins for restaurants are typically lower and if you run a speciality retail store, your profit margins may be cyclical. In any case, you should aim to be profitable from the start, even if your balance sheet begins with modest entries.
To track your growth, use cloud software that sets all your key financials out in a dashboard. This way you can easily spot the insights you need to plan your business better and make more informed decisions.
5. Stay motivated with group fitness and personal trainers
Now that you’ve successfully left the couch and kicked off your startup fitness journey, your mission is to stay on it. One of the best ways to keep yourself motivated is to work out in a group. Aside from the countless startup networking events that run each week, there are also free training and workshops where you can meet other like-minded founders. Plug yourself into online startup communities too.
When talking with other founders, it pays to be open and candid about your experience. They can share learnings and advice from their own fitness journey with you and vice versa.
The entrepreneurial journey is full of steep uphill climbs, downhill runs and obstacles of all shapes and sizes — like a Spartan Race that never ends. Just remember never to lose sight of your goals and to have fun along the way!
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Image Credit: Risen Wang
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