The Importance of a Good Team
On my drive home one day, I was listening to Colin Cowherd. Cowherd was talking about Kyrie Irving getting traded from the Nets. While discussing that Irving would be an “unstable business partner” for the team who receives him, Cowherd mentioned that he once sought advice from Mark Cuban on a business he was starting. Cuban told him, “Ideas? Everybody’s got ‘ideas’. Get good ‘people’.” There is a lot of truth to that statement. Natural Power would be dead in the water if it weren’t for the outstanding team of people that I have to provide support and expertise. I have absolutely zero experience in the beverage industry. While I have an idea, the passion, determination, and drive to make it a reality, I am missing one key component: experience.
You don’t know what you don’t know
So, how do I gain experience? I gain it through reading, listening, and asking questions. When I decided I wanted to create an energy drink, the first thing I did was research the industry. Once I learned some basics, I began to seek people I could talk to and work with. I connected with a former CEO of a beverage company who was willing to work with me to make Natural Power a reality. I discussed with him my business plan, and he asked me questions about it. I had good, formulated answers to many of those questions, but did not to some. This is the first step you want to take. You want to find someone who will “poke holes” in your plan, so you can improve before taking your product to market. The next step for me was to start talking to formulators to produce my beverage. I vividly recall sitting in that meeting. There were five of us there, with all of them having many years of experience in the food and beverage industry, except for me. This is when I really first realized I was out of my depth. I learned an important lesson. There is no such thing as a “dumb” question. We hear that time and time again but I really mean it. For establishing a baseline, basic questions are very helpful to you and your team. If you have a good team, they want to help you and would not mind if you slowed things down for a second so you can fully understand a subject. While I did feel somewhat flustered during that meeting seeing what I did not know, I learned that slowing down and really understanding what was going on would help me learn and put my team in a better position.
Where can you go to learn?
When you first have an idea, start bouncing it off people. They could be your parents, friends, peers, or colleagues. Once you have an idea that you are passionate about, hit the books. Search online or go to your local library to start doing some research on your industry. After you learn more about your chosen field, start seeking out members of your community who have experience in your industry and that would be willing to talk to you. As a student trying to start a business, I found that most of the people I approached were very receptive and happy to help. From there, start assembling your team with those who have experience and those who share similar ardor for your idea. Business is all about working with people. Putting together a team with experience and passion will immensely help your chances at success.