Business strategies for start-up growth – Interview with Boomy Tokan

Boomy Tokan, business adviser, business growth specialist and teacher, talks to Eszter Molnar Mills about his key tips for business start-ups, and his passion to help people to achieve their dream of starting and owning a successful business.

Boomy suggests three key elements for new businesses to consider:
1. Mindset. There is a mindset for success, and there is also a mindset for failure. Tokan highlights that there is a common mindset of wanting to achieve growth and success quickly, whereas he states “you cannot bypass the learning curve” and highlights the importance of thinking for the long-term.
2. An effective system: the people, resources and process that make up your business.
3. Targeted customers: finding and keeping targeted customers, the people who are going to sustain your business over the long term. Instead of selling one product to one customer, he says you should think about the lifetime value of a particular customer, and how to we make sure you attract that customer or client and keep them.

Expanding on the mindset, from his work with business start-ups, Boomy has identified two routes to business: one is to find an opportunity and exploit it. The second is to have a passion that you can take to the market place.

Boomy suggests that many people focus on finding an opportunity, but success on this route requires more discipline, and also an entrepreneurial approach and risk taking. However following a passion may be easier, it means you have a mindset of being comfortable with what you have and who you are. By choosing a business that fits with your personality, your desires, your dreams and your passion then you will be more able to overcome the obstacles.

“Having a start-up business is not the same as running a small corporation.” Boomy suggests people, especially those leaving a corporate environment, need to accept that a start-up is still fluid, that it doesn’t have all the resources and support of established businesses: “You are the finance person, you are the marketing person, and you are everything as far as the business is concerned”

Boomy’s key advice is simple; to built on the foundations of your niche and expand:
1. ‘Just start’ – don’t just talk about it take actions, small steps, such as writing down your idea, attending a seminar, reading a book, talking to somebody.
2. Find a niche: what is your targeted group for sales? Start with a small group
3. Test your ideas – talk with your niche, use feedback to refine and develop the product. Find out why people like your product
4. Make some sales. Focus on selling more to existing clients than seeking out new customers.
5. Learn from competitors: what are they doing in terms of marketing, products, etc.
6. Plan to grow. Build a business plan around this knowledge.
In the video Boomy Tokan outlines a five-part business plan format to follow both for thinking about the future of the business, and for raising funding.

Finally Boomy’s shares his advice for business leaders in al walks of life. He suggests bringing on board a partner that complements you, with strengths where your weaknesses may be. If you are a visionary leader, invite a manager to join your team and run day-to-day operations. You also need to continually develop yourself, read and attend seminars to stay up-to-date. Finally, develop other people who can eventually take your place in the company.

Boomy Tokan, Udemy Premium Instructor, Small Business Consultant, Speaker and Author of 5 business books. He has helped over 1000 enterprises to go from the “idea stage” to Startup.

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