The fact of the matter is that there are plenty of competitors no matter which industry you choose. It is crucial to get things done right the first time, which is why preparation is so important. In this article, we look into the various tips to make startup business management easier to handle for most.

Tackling insurance as early as possible

With the right kind of coverage for a company, a startup owner can focus on other aspects and not have to continually worry about legal matters. The trouble with some company owners is that they often see insurance as money spent on something that will never happen. However, it would be wise to expect the unexpected and to look into all of the potential insurance options for your startup as soon as possible

Some of the most common include general liability insurance, as well as commercial car insurance for your business if you happen to make use of vehicles. Fortunately, the presence of small business packages makes it easier for new company owners to get the help they need.

Learn to delegate

If there is one thing a startup owner needs to learn, it is that newer businesses rarely get a great start when the business owner is the only one pulling their weight. Proper business management involves making sure that your staff understands their responsibilities — and that you are ready to delegate to the right person. While the business might be your baby, it would be wise to give it the freedom it needs to grow.

In the same vein, learning which professionals to hire early on can make a world of a difference. For example, a search engine optimization (SEO) professional can get things started on the digital marketing front for a reasonable price. Looking into digital marketing solutions as early as possible is highly recommended for any business.

Avoid multitasking

One of the most difficult parts of running a company is when all of the responsibilities are pulling you in different directions and driving the feeling of helplessness. Keep in mind that while multitasking is unavoidable in some situations, it would be wise to take things one step at a time whenever you can. Focus on a single thing and look to solving it completely before moving on to the next issue.

Aside from the various tips above, it would also be a good idea to listen in on breakthroughs in your industry and figure out what the competition is doing. You might get a few clues regarding how to move forward. While running a startup might be challenging, you can make it much easier by focusing on the above tips.

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There is a lot of debate and study on this and the evidence doesn’t seem overly conclusive.

It’s difficult for me to comment on anyone else, I don’t have the required information to be able to answer that, but what I can comment on is my own life, my own development.

Some of the things which I think make me a good leader, such as my determination and my competitiveness, are certain characteristics that I was born with. These are not something I was taught, nor were they nurtured in me by my parents. It’s just the way I am and always have been.

My honesty and integrity, are things that were nurtured within me by my parents, especially my father. But maybe there is something in the character that I was born with, that helped make these grow through nurturing.

My understanding of how teams work together, the value of teamwork, and team spirit came to me through my love of sports, this is clearly something that I learned and not something I was born with.

Being able to inspire people, make people want to follow me, much of this comes from my personality, something I was lucky enough to be born with.

However, creating an inspiring vision, coming up with plans and approaches which allow my natural skills to flourish have all been taught to me, via leadership courses and coaching.

My leadership approach has changed and evolved over time, it has become less directive and more empowering. This is something that I have learned from experience, trial and error, and through feedback from the teams that I have led.

I have read countless books on leadership, all of which have helped give me insight into different styles and approaches, from which I have been able to pick and choose things that I have added to my own style.

One of the books I have read, Good to Great by Jim Collins, talks about level 5 leadership as the highest level of leadership, and two of the characteristics of level 5 leadership are humility and fierce determination.

I would say that humility can be taught, or at least learned, whereas fierce determination is a natural characteristic, which is difficult to teach – trust me I have tried

I think leaders can be made, especially self-made and I think some characteristics I was born with help me be a better leader.

There are also leaders who have achieved great things without formal leadership training, who just stepped up and did what they thought was the right thing, things that just came naturally.

So in answer to this, I think it’s both – some people are born leaders, and others develop leadership through nurturing, training and experience.

I think it’s wrong for us to say leaders are just born, and cannot be made.

This would put people off taking up leadership or developing their leadership if they didn’t feel they were born leaders, which in itself is bad leadership.

Many people, without great natural talents, in many walks of life: business; sports; the arts; have all been able to develop expertise and go on to achieve great things.

One of the things I have always believed is, don’t listen to anyone who says it can’t be done.

So if you don’t you believe you were born a natural leader, take up the challenge, and prove to all those doubters who think a leader can’t be made, that they are wrong!

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1 – KNOW YOURSELF AND SEEK SELF-IMPROVEMENT
Use the leadership traits to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. An accurate and clear understanding of yourself and a comprehension of group behavior will help you determine the best way to deal with any given situation

2- KNOW YOUR MARINES AND LOOK OUT FOR THEIR WELFARE
You should know your Marines and how they react to different situations. This knowledge can save lives. Knowledge of your Marines’ personalities will enable you, as the leader, to decide how best to employ each Marine.

3 – KEEP YOUR MARINES INFORMED

Informed Marines perform better and, if knowledgeable of the situation, can carry on without your personal supervision. Providing information can inspire initiative.

4 – SET THE EXAMPLE

Set the standards for your Marines by personal example. The Marines in your unit all watch your appearance, attitude, physical fitness and personal example. If your personal standards are high, then you can rightfully demand the same of your Marines.

5 – ENSURE THE TASK IS UNDERSTOOD, SUPERVISED AND ACCOMPLISHED

Before you can expect your Marines to perform, they need to know what is expected from them. Communicate your instructions in a clear, concise manner, and allow your Marines a chance to ask questions. Check progress periodically to confirm the assigned task is properly accomplished.

6 – TRAIN YOUR MARINES AS A TEAM

Train your Marines with a purpose and emphasize the essential elements of teamwork and realism. Teach your unit to train, play and operate as a team. Be sure that all Marines know their positions and responsibilities within the team framework.

7 – MAKE SOUND AND TIMELY DECISIONS

Rapidly estimate a situation and make a sound decision based on that estimation. There’s no room for reluctance to make a decision, revise it. Marines respect the leader who corrects mistakes immediately.

8 – DEVELOP A SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY IN YOUR SUBORDINATES

Show your Marines you are interested in their welfare by giving them the opportunity for professional development. Assigning tasks and delegating authority promotes mutual confidence and respect between the leader and the team.

9 – EMPLOY YOUR UNIT IN ACCORDANCE WITH ITS CAPABILITIES

Successful completion of a task depends upon how well you know your unit’s capabilities. Seek out challenging tasks for your unit, but be sure your unit is prepared for and has the ability to successfully complete the mission.

10 – SEEK RESPONSIBILITY AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS

Actively seek out challenging assignments for your professional development. Seeking responsibilities also means that you take the responsibility for your actions. You are responsible for all your unit does or fails to do. Stick by your convictions and be willing to accept justified and constructive criticism.

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The messages are simple, clear and easy to understand.

The only reason not to follow them is because you don’t want to, simple as that.

Leadership, and especially Transformational Leadership is a choice, make the the right one!

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Do you want to be remembered as a leader who delivered great change, significant improvements or fantastic results, or do you want to be remembered for something else.

One of the things I always strive for is that any changes I implement will still be in use after I leave.

Why is this important to me? It’s important because it means the changes were perceived as beneficial, not just change for change sake.

I have worked with many leaders, who as soon they left, the changes they implemented were replaced, removed or forgotten.

This means that people were only following the new process because of that leaders position, not because they believed the change was an improvement.

If the changes I implement, are rejected the day I leave, then these were the wrong processes.

To ensure that the changes are actually improvements and not just changes, I try to focus on simplicity, simplifying complexity or even better removing it. Making it easier for people to be able to do their jobs and be successful.

I often find where we eliminate complex unnecessary processes they tend to remain eliminated.

Also, given that success leads to success, if you make changes which mean that people are more successful than they were previously, then it’s very likely that people will stick with these changes, as most people like to be successful.

I am a strong believer in stewardship, which means I believe that it’s my responsibility to leave things in a better shape than what they were when I joined them.

I’d like to be remembered as someone who made a positive difference.

What would you like your legacy to be?

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I fully agree with him that it all comes down to trust, if people don’t trust you then the won’t follow you.

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For me the following quote is the real answer to that that question.

“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”

It’s true that our teams have to have trust and have confidence in us as leaders, and this is something that we need to build, but only so that this is to allow us to build their confidence in themselves. It is not to make them dependent upon us.

I believe that as leaders we need to be making ourselves redundant. We need to build the  confidence our teams have in themselves so that they actually don’t need us to lead them, that they are in a position to be able to lead themselves.

Obviously leaders will still be needed: to set goals and direction; to provide reward and recognition; but those will be the main tasks, the rest of the leadership will come from within the team.

This also requires us to build our trust and confidence in our teams, to allow them the freedom to lead themselves.

This is often the more difficult part, as we need to accept that we are not quite as necessary as we would like to be.

If we can achieve this, then this will allow us to move to a higher level of leadership and actually achieve significantly more. This also allows the leadership that we have built to continue without us. Now that is a real legacy.

A great example of this is John F Kennedy who set the goal of landing a man on the moon and bringing him back safely, he set that goal on May 25th 1961, he inspired the nation to achieve that, he gave them confidence and belief in themselves that they could do it.

This inspiration even survived his death on November 22 1963, 2 years after he had set the US on the path, and the goal was ultimately achieved July 20th 1969, 8 years after the goal had been set and 6 years after his death.

Of course other leaders picked up the baton of leadership after his death, but this is what happens when we build confidence in our teams, they believe that they can achieve the goals, both with us and even without us.

Leadership is not about the leaders, it’s about the people that we lead!

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