As we all know starting anything, especially a business can be one of the biggest hurdles to overcome. However, once you take the leap, you can enjoy the ride and look back to see how far you’ve come.

With that, I present 10 tips to launch the startup you’ve been meaning to

1. Don’t let starting be the reason you don’t.  Starting a business of any kind takes a lot of leg work and it also takes a lot of courage.  Don’t let your overwhelming startup to-do list grow so big that it’s impossible to tackle and stalls your momentum.  Prioritize what the most important elements that absolutely need to be done first are and then take the leap.  You can tackle the rest of the items on your list while you’re developing your brand.  Rome really wasn’t built in a day, and your business won’t be either.
2. Fearing the unknown is a waste of time.  If you don’t start you’ll never know if your idea could have become successful.  Weighing the pros and cons of starting a business is natural and necessary but letting the “what if”s” cloud your entrepreneurial spirit can be detrimental to starting.  It can be reassuring to remind yourself that you don’t know what you don’t know and that’s ok.
3. Take advantage of your resources.  When just starting and throughout the life of your business, be sure to take advantage of other people’s expertise in your field.  You can’t know everything about everything, but there are a lot of people that know a lot about one thing and that are willing to help.  Be a sponge and soak up as much as you can from others.  Most people want to see you succeed and are willing to help in any way they can – so take advantage of that.
4. Accept help.  Being a perfectionist can be a double edged sword.  On the one hand, you see your product or service exactly how you envisioned it, but if you’re too busy to be able to do it all (and you will be), take help when people offer it.  Remember to focus on the job that only you can do and then delegate other tasks to people who can do those well.
5. Say yes.  Opportunity usually doesn’t come knocking on your door; you need to seek it out.  Set yourself up for success by saying yes to a variety of experiences that, at first glance, may not necessarily seem relevant.  You never know who you’ll bump into or what you’ll take away from a new experience so be open minded, flexible and adaptable.  It will pay off.
6. Varied experiences harvest growth.  Recognize that every experience, whether positive or negative can be a valuable “lesson learned” and an opportunity for improvement.  Being able to gather information you can then invest back into your business turns an otherwise “bad day” into something useful.
7. Don’t loose sight of your big idea.  You had an idea and took the leap to act on it.  (Congratulations!)  As the business evolves, be sure to check back with your pre-business self and reflect on whether the current state of your business is in alignment with the vision you had before you started.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be, but stepping back and refocusing can keep you from going too far down a road you may not have planned.
8. Ride the wave and hang on.  Being the founder of a startup is an emotional roller coaster, with lots of highs and lows that keep you questioning why you started in the first place.  Harbor the positivity and pat yourself on the back, you deserve it.   The low points keep you resilient, use them to spring you forward and overcome the challenges ahead.   You won’t have time to let them hold you back.  Ride the waves and remember to recover fast.
9. Believe in your success and let it show.  If you want people to buy into your idea, you have to believe it in yourself.  Starting a business requires a lot of hard work.  It can turn something you’re passionate about into something that can be quite draining.  Don’t let the day-to-day stress and maintenance wear you out and extinguish the passion that got you started in the first place.  People like supporting positivity so if you believe in your ideas, chances are that others will as well.
10. Just start already!  What are you waiting for – buy the domain name, launch the Facebook page, secure the investors.  Whatever it is, just do it and get started.   The only thing holding you back is yourself so take the leap!

Jillian D'Amato

Jillian D’Amato is the founder of Somerville, MA based startup RUNFELLOW, a runner inspired gear company with a focus on motivating fellow runners through positive performance gear and a free weekly run club.

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