Outside help – An essential for a startup?

Is getting outside help essential for a startup’s survival?

Stats show that more than 90% of all business aren’t around in five years. But according to George Derbyshire, head of the UK-based National Federation of Enterprise Agencies, entrepreneurs who get outside help during the start up process increase their survival chances by up to 20%.

But how do you find the help you need?

Here are a few ideas:

• Keep learning: Learn as much as you can before you start to build the foundation for your business. Take classes at a local college, ecourses, go to seminars, network with other startups. The more you learn the more potential you have to succeed. Ryan Allis went to college to learn more, even though he had a thriving business, and ended up creating iContact.

• Do what you can, not what you can’t: Numerically challenged? Hire someone to make sure they are taken care of for you. This can be as easy as asking a numerically inclined spouse (which could cost you nothing), or finding a friend you trust and taking them out for drinks to repay them.

• Make contacts: Knowing other people who went through the same startup ordeal can be invaluable. People who are further along in the process can tell you who they went to for help when they were in your shoes. If you trust a contact, you can trust their referral and that cuts down on time spent shopping around.

Are you getting help with your startup? Was it a good experience you would recommend or not?

 (photo courtesy of Shannon Cherry of BeHeardSolutions.com)