Lessons from 12 New York business leaders — What they wish they knew before starting out
From New York Business Journal
Diving into the business world comes with a steep learning curve. What are the most important things that someone should know about business when just starting out?
To answer this question, we sought out wisdom from leaders in New York. From the importance of managing cash flow to cultivating a long-term mindset, here are the top 12 pieces of advice these seasoned professionals wish they knew about business from the start.
Pivot and iterate to meet needs
One of the most important things to know about business is how to pivot and iterate. Focus less on what you, as the business owner, want to offer, and more on what the people you want to serve actually need and want — and then become excellent at delivering that.
In my own experience growing Embrace Change, I had to iterate our executive coaching a few times in order to most effectively support our clients in senior leadership. Now we’re able to provide high-touch, tailored and strategic executive coaching to women of color leaders across industries much more successfully. The ability to pivot nimbly is a business imperative that paves the way to finding the right niche and delivering a highly valued service that clients can’t imagine living without.
Cynthia Pong, founder and CEO, Embrace Change
Test and refine your MVP or MVS
When starting a new company, especially in situations where the solution originates from a problem the founder has personally experienced, you may feel like you know the customer. You may think you know the type of product they want and how to best position it. However, these assumptions are just that — assumptions.
Instead, create a minimum viable product (MVP) or service (MVS) and test, test, test. Introduce it to your potential customers, gather their feedback and refine the product until you create something they love and, most importantly, want to buy.
For example, with the first company I launched, I was positive that I knew what my customers wanted. After all, I was the customer that I was trying to sell to. But, thousands of dollars later, I realized that, in fact, my customer didn’t need my product, at least not in the way that I had packaged and presented it. I had to go back and restructure the entire product line, which was a costly mess.
In contrast, with my current company, a personal branding agency for executives, I took a completely different approach. Before creating any service packages, I leveraged social media to gauge the needs of my target audience. I conducted over 80 prospect calls, pitching various product iterations to determine which options were most appealing and commercially viable. This proactive approach helped me create services that truly meet the demands of our clients.
Victoria Tollossa, CEO, founder, Illume Marketing
Separate professional skill from business acumen
When I did coach training to transition from being a headhunter to a coach, I quickly realized there was a difference between being a great coach and building a coaching business.
Often, in my work, I see very talented people fail because they thought and acted as though if they were good at their job, that would make them good at the business of what they do. It doesn’t. You need to know how to sell your services and deliver them.
Jeff Altman, global job search coach, The Big Game Hunter, Inc.
Fuel success with selling skills
The most important thing to know about business is that building your ability to sell will fuel your success. I learned to sell through an unconventional and quite dynamic career path in the art world. The selling skills I learned changed my career and my life, and they are absolutely the foundation for achieving future goals I’ll set for myself and my business.
Learning how to sell enabled me to launch my own business, grow it to an international firm and have an impact in my industry. I have honed my ability to sell through experience selling tangibles and intangibles. This includes selling at previous jobs, including high-end art storage to mega collectors, appraisals for art, jewelry, wine, rugs and more to insurance brokers, and in my current business, over $10 million in art to new and seasoned art collectors.
Katharine Earnhardt, founder, Mason Lane Art Advisory
Network for opportunities and growth
One of the most important insights about business, particularly in competitive environments like New York, is networking and building solid relationships.
Networking isn’t just about exchanging business cards or adding connections on LinkedIn; it’s about engaging with others, offering value and establishing trust. This approach to building a network, focusing on quality and genuine interaction, can open doors you might not have known existed. Embedding the habit and skill of effective networking into daily business practices from the outset could accelerate growth and success in ways that purely focusing on product or service excellence alone might not achieve.
Kristin Kimberly Marquet, founder and creative director, Marquet Media
Cultivate a long-term mindset
Do not expect immediate results. Draw up a plan that allows you to see small victories in the short term as you progress toward your big goal to maintain motivation. It is possible to achieve what you set out to do in your business if you have a clear purpose, if you surround yourself with the right people, and, above all, if you cultivate a long-term mindset.
This is crucial because the journeys are long, setbacks often occur and our expectations do not always match reality, or the market or external factors may delay the process. Therefore, having a mindset that allows us to build things in the short, medium and long term is essential for having a successful and enduring business.
Rafael Sansores Majul, director marketing communications, Avenue Media
Adapt to ever-changing business climate
One of the most important things a small-business owner should know is that what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. Always have a fallback plan and be prepared to iterate and adapt to changing times, preferences, and methods of communication.
You can have ad campaigns that are hugely successful for months that get exhausted and stop driving sales, so be prepared with fresh creatives to rotate into the mix. Or maybe you’ll have a product that was hot when it launched and starts to fizzle, so you’ll have to find new marketing angles you can use to re-feature that product and make it sell again. More often than not, product shipments will be delayed, and you’ll need to adjust your marketing plan and forecast to fill the gap.
Never a dull moment in the life of an SBO, but that’s what makes it so rewarding.
Noa Arias, co-founder, Bloomers Intimates
Establish a strong network of mentors
Looking back, establishing a strong network of mentors early on would have accelerated my learning curve and perhaps even altered the trajectory of my business journey for the better. It’s a piece of wisdom I now share with every emerging entrepreneur: Invest time in building relationships with mentors. Their insights, connections and potential investment are indispensable assets that can significantly contribute to your success, especially in a city that never sleeps.
Valev Laube, branding expert, designer and marketing director, The VL Studios/Valev Laube
Vision alignment with team mission
One of the hardest things I’ve learned when scaling my business to seven figures annually is that you will need your team to buy into your vision. I believe that my vision has to equal their mission. So many talk about the benefits of being a good leader, but so few talk about the cost of leadership. Leadership isn’t about being liked; it’s about being respected enough to get people to want to help you in your mission.
If I could send a message to myself five years ago, it would be, “You will be disliked despite doing your best for the majority of your team.”
Lucy Vincent, founder, LVS Digital Marketing
Manage cash flow before expansion
Rid your business of pressing debts and bills before a forecasted financial slump or recession in the market. Debts can have a snowballing nature when business owners are still in a position to optimize revenues and scale up.
Until you have the revenue to bring on new loans or growth campaigns, focus on managing your cash flow to pay off existing debts first. The last thing any business needs in a recession is a mountain of debt to be paid on top of declining profits. It’s better to break even and be settled than to be saddled with higher costs from a market out of your control.
Joanne Demeireles, CXO, Oula Health
Connect with people beyond selling
It’s all about connecting with people. When I began, I studied all the selling greats: Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, you name it. I thought selling was a “say this, show that” process, and people would buy.
While there are elements like that in my selling process now, I hadn’t learned that you must work hard at connecting to earn the right to sell the merchandise or products. I also looked down on myself for working in retail, never imagining that working in retail would allow me to live a life my parents could never have imagined.
Bob Phibbs, CEO, The Retail Doctor
Prioritize action over preparation
Focus on moving forward, not getting ready.
My gut said to build the logo, get the website ready, work on SEO, create marketing materials, basically do the prep in advance so I’d be ready when the customers started flowing in.
Turns out, the customers don’t just flow in. You need to go get them. And time spent getting them is way more valuable than getting ready for them.
I’ve met successful consultants who have just a newsletter and a busy schedule of client engagements, and every time I’m jealous that I didn’t just move forward as fast as they did!
Sean Dagony-Clark, chief learning innovator, effectivEDU
