I’ve recently been working with a start-up in the food space, helping them with their marketing and communications strategy.

By the time I got involved, they were already at market with a great product but struggling to build awareness and sales momentum. Not for a lack of effort or ideas, though.

The founders are hard-working, fast learners and itching to succeed. They have some good advisors and support around them, they understand the food business, and are providing a high-quality service to their customers. But, they’re on the emotional roller-coaster that is so characteristic of start-up-land.

I’ve been there, and can empathise. One minute you’re all excited and full-steam ahead, next minute you’re down and thinking about throwing the towel in.

The thing is, there is no tried and true recipe for business success, and there is certainly no such thing as an overnight success. There are, however, lessons I’ve learned and observations I’ve made in my consultancy practice that may be beneficial to others.

1. Be realistic in your expectations. It nearly always takes more time, money, resilience and resource to achieve your goals than you expect.
2. Validate not just your product or service, but your go-to market strategy and business model as well.
3. Know when to launch, change suppliers/partners, raise capital, get help or expert advice. Don’t leave it too late.
4. Get great at story-telling. Hone, refine, practise and apply best-practice pitching techniques. There’s power in your ability to confidently tell your story in a compelling, authentic and credible way.
5. Don’t be afraid to admit failure, but don’t let it define you or your journey. It’s a process, and each ‘event’ is a data point.
6. Beware of the motivations of others. Not everyone shares your longer-term goals and vision. Sometimes others want ‘in’ for the wrong reasons, such as the promise of short-term monetary gain or FOMO.
7. Be flexible in your thinking and approach, and encourage robust conversations around underlying assumptions or beliefs. No-one has all the answers all the time.
8. Every good business needs others to succeed. Great businesses get an A-team of collaborators, advisors, contrarians, investors, advocates and ambassadors around them and embrace the diversity of opinion and thinking that they bring.
9. Do your due diligence, on people, partners and suppliers and don’t settle for second best or shoddy service just because you’re a start-up.
10. Ask lots of questions and be a sponge for knowledge and know-who. A lot of the journey will come down to cultivating the right connections and wisdom along the way.

Above all, commit to your idea with all the passion, energy, effort and focus you can muster. If it works first time, great. If it doesn’t, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try again.

Or as my father has always told me in times of doubt, ‘box on’.