Startup Workshop Recap

Last Thursday, the small business dream team came together to host a workshop to inspire and educate some eager small business owners interested in getting some questions answered and taking their businesses to the next level.

Featuring the founders of Law Squared, Healthy Business Finances, 2atstartup, and One Roof Women, the workshop covered everything from finance and legal advice to digital marketing with an inspirational talk to round up all the speakers.

Demetrio, from Law Squared, covered business essentials and structures.  Setting up a business plan is essential to create a timetable for goals and objectives, provide a brief for banks, incubators, etc, and determine any risks and legal obligations.  Once the foundation has been set, there are some other burdens that must be taken care of to have a smoothly running, successful business.

Equity can be very tricky.  Demetrio made sure to detail splitting equity, sweat equity, vesting, and share options to show us small business owners what the options are, how to tell what will work best for our business, and how to navigate around equity to keep investors, employees, and founders happy.

A tip from Law Squared is to create a clear and detailed Term Sheet. This document should include company and founder and investor details, amounts of investments, valuations, voting rights, key considerations, and equity splits.  This will in turn aid in negotiations, avoid inconsistencies, and the path the way for further legalities.

Stacey, founder of Healthy Business Finances, the “numbers nerd” informed us on all things numbers!  Focussing on accounting and bookkeeping, she answered those day to day questions all startups ask themselves and then push to the side to fall beneath the piles of work to get done.

Stacey highlighted the importance of paying yourself a wage from the very beginning.  This is so hard for some of us, especially at the early stages, as we feel guilty taking from any success our business might be bringing in.  Change that frame of mind!  Pay yourself from the beginning to set up good habits and outline how you would like your business to go on.  Startups take a lot of hard work and dedication… and simply, you deserve it! The amount is irrelevant, but the principles are significant.

Tip two: you CAN budget your money so stop self-sabotaging and simplify. Keep all your receipts in an organized format, pay taxes because that means you are making sales, and budget, budget, budget!

If you’re trying to figure out what platforms you should be on, consider asking your current audience and clients, “how did you find out about us?”. If you start to see one platform outshine the other, consider investing your time into the top performing one.

Now, without giving away all her amazing tips and tricks away I’ll just share another two that are super easy to do youseld…

Tip One! Make the most out of your search engine optimisation, work on getting your business to the top of page one on Google through organic SEO driven by content and quality. The easiest way to add quality content to your website is with a blog.

Tip 2! When regramming… Ask! For! Credit!  Avoid any tricky legal traps with other companies and simply ask and give credit to the original post and posters.

One Roof Women’s Sheree took part in the workshop to tell her success story and instil in us the same confidence as a founder of our own startups.

She shared with us how One Roof came to be and how it began as an idea then a test run at an Airbnb and eventually a thriving community of small businesses supporting women and each other.

She shared some wise words that she learned from her journey.  “Test and learn!” Through the Airbnb coworking space trial run, Sheree was able to see if her idea was something that would take off and could work out all the hiccups.

“Failure is an important part of success!”  Every business will encounter failure, but One Roof is living, and thriving proof that businesses with confident employees that work hard will overcome.

“Find your tribe!” Create connections… support other businesses that share your values and they will support you.  Work alongside with people that you trust and that are working to make the same impact.

Finally, “bring passion into everything you do!”

After a full day of Q+A’s, presentations, and a coffee or two, the participants left refreshed, reinspired, and with a lot on their minds.

The team at One Tiny Tribe spoke highly of the event, saying, “as fun and exciting as starting your own business is, there’s a *ton* of ‘complicated’ stuff that goes into it that way too many of us are winging.  And we shouldn’t be. Because it can be damaging for our business if we don’t get the foundations right.”

With a flood of new legal solutions, financial guidance, marketing tips, confidence and assurance, the small business were ready to think even bigger!

2aT and four other founders will be holding another Startup Workshop this August 8th.  If you are looking for some guidance on finances, marketing, legalities, and confidence take a look at the event overview!