8 Startup Lessons You Could Learn from Gotham Gal

I am a startup and I can tell you that it's not easy. I don't know the journey other entrepreneurs go through but mine is definitely not an easy one. I just take comfort in reading about the stories of other entrepreneurs who went through the exact same thing that I feel I am going through (see 6 Harsh Realities of Being and Entrepreneur). The easy exit is to find a job (which may not be that easy anyway) but there's a feeling of power when you are able to create opportunities for yourself and when you start collecting money for a project which you worked hard at. Unlike being an employee, almost everything goes back to you. I've put a lot of time and effort into my business (Hop Online, Inc - website currently under development) and an old business which Go Dive Philippines (I'm trying to jump start this one - anybody interested?).

Anyway, I found the this article "8 Startup Lessons You Could from Gotham Gal" to be very inspiring  and helpful. Here some of the points I appreciated:

1. "Get out of your comfort zone - don't just work on things you know how to do or like doing" - being a start-up I do almost everything unlike when I worked for someone else where I'd have an accounting department,  messenger, etc. You can just imaging how much I am out of my comfort zone. Need I mention that I have to make presentations to big clients and I'm just a tiny start-up? I just have to man-up sometimes and be bold.

2. "To be effective at sales you need to really understand the business of the person who will buy your product" - being in the service industry I really need to listen to potential clients and see exactly what their needs are. I have been in meetings where some of my colleagues push our service and I had to tell them to hold back. The client didn't necessarily need our services at the moment but our team had the potential to help their business. We need to know the needs and limitations of the potential client and tailor fit the proposal based on these.

3. "In sales you also need to establish rapport, ask insightful questions and then shut your mouth." - I dare say though that you can ask seemingly stupid questions especially if you really want to understand your clients business. If you don't ask your question you'll be ignorant forever.

4. "Don't go to work for big companies, don't get an MBA, go to work on a start-up and start on this path. In the next generation everybody is going to write code" - I think I'll adjust this for the Philippine scenario: work for a big company first, learn the ropes, see how it's run then work on a start-up or start-up your own. Obviously though things like these are hard to plan out but I always say this: BE AN ENTREPRENEUR AS SOON AS YOU CAN. Learn from the school of hard knocks. I'll give you an example of a person who started early - MARK ZUCKERBERG, does his name sound familiar?

Here's the link to the full article and I'll post the video below.