Starting a business and becoming successful sounds very enticing, but in reality, building a profitable business takes tons of hard work, failures, and a bit of luck. Also, it’s necessary to build a good foundation and know the right tips before embarking on your business journey. That’s why we like to share with you nine key points from XYXX Founder Yogesh Kabra to help you gauge the real aspects of running a business.

Yogesh started XYXX (a brand which manufactures and designs exciting innerwear for men and women) with a mission to bring a positive change in the innerwear culture of India. During this whole journey, he has seen many ups and downs which catered to lots of learning and his overall development as an entrepreneur. As oftru now, his company is growing with 50% monthly sales growth and a monthly revenue of rupees two million. Thus, he knows what it takes to build a profitable business from a scratch.

Here are nine key points from Yogesh Kabra that you need to know before starting your business:

1. Ideas are just 1% of the whole journey

“In my first MBA class at Hult International Business School, Boston. Our professor, a PhD from MIT, and highest followed professor on twitter in the world, said, “look outside the classroom: every taxi driver has an idea, but what would differentiate you from the others is execution.” The idea is important but believing in one’s ability to execute is probably more important. If you believe you can do it and have a never say die attitude it will almost always work.”

If you really want to build a successful business, then it’s necessary to spend more time on execution rather on idea generation. You can’t predict the real-life situation while perfecting your idea. Thus, it is necessary to do execution, face real problems, get feedback, and make improvements, because ideas are just like caged birds, who don’t know how to fly.

2. Time is the most important assets.

“Yes, it’s more important than funding. Most people including myself take time for granted, get into the comfort zone after early success. I think that’s pretty dangerous.”

3. Don’t take long-term hustle for granted

“Entrepreneurs must develop patience. Building business at a scale requires time, and most of these are not funded. Thus, growth takes a really long time. A lot of people take the long-term hustle for granted before starting but are not actually prepared for it.”

While it’s very important to have faith in your business plan and believe that you will become successful; it’s also necessary to digest this hard truth of entrepreneurship that you have to struggle and hustle for long-term before generating profit.

4. Don’t expect a stable monthly income

“Working capital and cash flow management could be particularly hard for a start-up as most future expenses are not predictable and receivables are usually delayed.”

In your early day, you will find it really hard to get a set amount of receivables on a particular date, and people who are going through the transition phase of an employee to an entrepreneur may find it difficult to cope. So, you have to always keep in mind that your income will fluctuate.

5. Listen More

“You have to learn how to listen. Effective communication or lack of effective communication can give founders a really hard time.”

As a founder, you not only have to listen but also you have figure out the intention of the speaker. Because, while running your business; you will come across people with both good and bad intentions, and your listening skills can save you from making a bad decision.

6. Feedback is the secret to success

“Everyone loves a kickass product at affordable price. What has worked really worked well for XYXX is keep customer feedback very close to us (especially the unsatisfied customer). It is an absolute delight to convert a customer from unhappy to brand loyal.”

As an entrepreneur, you will make many mistakes, but what is more important is to learn from them. By getting feedback from your customers, you can find out faults which you can’t see from your side of the table. Thus, getting feedback and making improvements on the basis of it, can help you make your products and services more customer friendly.

7. Be Patient

“For every entrepreneur reading this, there are two broad risks: a) Financial Investment and b) Time Investment or the Opportunity Cost. As said earlier, building any business will take time, so unless you are ready to give 4-5 years of your life without certainty of return- don’t do it.”

Entrepreneurship is about making an impact on a larger scale, but it takes time to make things work, and you must take it into consideration before starting anything.

8. Be cautious while starting a business with a family member

“It is a double-edged sword. Harshita (my wife) makes all major design decisions at XYXX, and we fight a lot in office. If everyone involved is professional, then it is not much of a problem.”

Running your business with a family member is both rewarding and risky. One small mistake in your professional life may create troubles in your Personal life. So, before starting a business with a family member or a friend; it’s better to make everything clear and decide that you will not mix your personal and professional life.

9. At last, one important tip

“Go for it. Like the old Coldplay song, ‘if you never try, you’d never know’.”

Entrepreneurship has the power to bring a positive change on a broader scale, and you just have to overcome your fears, get out of your comfort zone, and make your dreams turn into reality.

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