...when starting a new business

Starting a new business can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s impossible to avoid all the friends, family and marketers that will bombard you with their opinions, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you will want to stay true to your core mission and be sure to cut through all the noise and stay focused!

When we started TENFED back in 2015, we had a simple mission, “To provide as many meals to people in need as possible”. Pretty straight forward. Everything that we do revolves around this simple mission. We sell apparel, candles, and we will even attach our feeding program onto services such as concert tickets. Now this isn’t to say that we didn’t have absolute chaos happening in front and all around us! We had what seemed like a million opinions coming at us and as the years went on, the marketing emails that we received seemed to multiply every day.

Always someone who wanted to help and who saw how we could be better. Did they want to help us genuinely, or did they see an opportunity to make money themselves? Of course it can be both, but this can be challenging to distinguish. But how do you know who to listen to and who to trust!?

It can be difficult to cut through all the noise of people telling you what to do and how to do it. When you feel like you’re at a fork in the road, take a step back and ask yourself what the most important thing is to do next. Then prioritize the tasks you need to complete to get to that goal. Breaking down tasks into manageable chunks can help you stay focused and reduce stress. When making decisions, research your options and make sure you understand the pros and cons. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Just be picky with who you go to! It can be helpful to consult with an experienced mentor, family mem- ber, or friend to get advice and make sure you are on the right track. Most importantly, take your time and don’t rush the process. With patience and hard work, you will be able to get your business off the ground.

Take the time to understand your goals and the vision for your business. Once you have established what your goals are, it is important to do your own research about the industry you are entering. This will help you make informed decisions about what route to take, what products or services to offer, and how to best go about marketing and selling them. Lastly, it is important to stay open to feedback and new ideas, but ultimately trust yourself and your own judgment.

Be open to new ideas, but the most important advice we can give is that you must pick a direction and go with it! You will either move forward and succeed, or you will find out what doesn’t work and then re-adjust. As long as you are ok with this process, there is nothing to be afraid of. This always goes back to the classic quote by Thomas Edison in his explanation of failing 1000 times before he succeeded in creating the light bulb. “I didn’t fail 1000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps”.

When considering advice for running your business, it is important to identify the source of the advice. Ask questions about their credentials, expertise and experience in the area you need advice for. Furthermore, research their background and any relevant references to verify their advice. Addi- tionally, look for feedback from other business owners who have used their services and/or taken their advice. Finally, consider your own intuition and decide if the advice is applicable to your business and if it aligns with your goals.

When it comes to our business, Tenfed, we have been knocked down more times that we can count at this point. We have made some incredibly big mistakes and learned a lot from each one. The further that you go along on your journey, the more you begin to intuitively see the authentic from the inauthentic. You begin to get a good idea of who is there to help you, and who is there to profit from you. This is why staying true to yourself and your mission is the most important. The noise will go on forever, but you will eventually gain the ability to block it out and become focused!

With our business, Tenfed, we wanted to create clarity right from the beginning! Before it became Tenfed, it was something completely different. We were originally partnering with multiple charities and speaking to multiple audiences! We began to hone in on something much more specific. Tenfed – Every single item sold provides TEN meals to children in need all around the world! In creating that focus, we knew what our goal was. Now it was time to figure out exactly how to get this out to the world. Where we got stuck was in the questions; are we a company that sells at events? Are we an online business? Are we focused on partnerships? Do we sell apparel? Do we sell candles? Do we sell multiple items or do we focus on ONE thing? There are SO many angles and options, and if you ask 100 people, you will get varying answers. So boiling all of this down to what you feel is right is most important. From there, you go forward! More mistakes have been made than we can count as we mentioned, but we have everlasting gratitude for all of these mistakes, for it lead us to exactly where we are at. Not only have we become better at business, but we have become better at relationships, we have become better at controlling our emotions, we have become better at recognizing opportunities.

The journey is the best part. Get lost in the process. Have fun researching and exploring new ideas and systems. Be okay in failing. It is better to fail your way forward than to stay frozen in fear of failing!

If you would like to know more about Tenfed, just head over to tenfed.com Our IG is @tenfed, or www.prints4purpose.com. This is a way for individuals, businesses, or teams to join our mission and create their own designs. Every single item sold through Prints4Purpose will still provide TEN meals to those in need through a partnership with Tenfed!