There is a portion of the population that believes in the story that starting a business is the easiest way to make money, because it will be yours and you will be the owner, meaning you are your own boss and don’t have to put up with others telling you what to do, you can make your own decisions and do as you please. In part, this is true, but if the right decisions are not made, your project can end sooner than it started and you will have to bear all responsibilities.
In times of unemployment, many enter this world of business not by choice or vocation, but because they see this possibility as the only path. The report from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) in 2019, a result of the partnership between the Brazilian Institute of Quality and Productivity and Sebrae, shows that 88.4% of early-stage entrepreneurs said they started a company to make a living because jobs are scarce.
When a person chooses this path, it is important to know that running your own business is not the same as being an employee, like under the CLT model, in fact, it is quite different. In the latter case, the employee is usually required to do things and has their income guaranteed at the end of the month, while someone who starts their own business has to ‘hunt the lion’, cannot expect someone to come buy their product or hire their services with arms crossed.
In this sense, a tool that helps in business management is OKRs – Objectives and Key Results – as they encourage constant alignment, generate focus and clarity, and greater employee engagement. All of these are crucial factors to increase the likelihood of achieving extraordinary results, regardless of the company’s size or industry sector, and also for those who venture into their own business out of necessity.
What should you consider when entering this world? Following the dictates of OKRs, comes the objective. Evaluate priorities, set objectives, and plan in detail the actions needed to achieve them without losing focus. Keep in mind the purpose you want to achieve. Adjustments are always necessary and OKRs not only allow them to be made, but understand that they should occur periodically, like every three months.
Lastly, but no less important, maintain the engagement of the employees you hire to be part of your team, even if this is done remotely, as is often the case nowadays, given the hybrid and home office work models. Everyone must be aligned with the company’s strategy and know exactly what they need to do to contribute to the business’s results.
These days, managing by OKRs is increasingly a wise choice in business management, be it due to the natural speed at which things change or the technologies that constantly open up new possibilities in all sectors, requiring constant adjustments to strategic plans. The fact is that starting a business can indeed be easy, what’s truly difficult is keeping it alive, healthy, and functioning well.
