The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. YEC polled its members to find out, “What’s one simple thing every startup founder should do this summer to improve their business?”
Here’s what they had do say:
Take a Customer to Lunch
“Find a nice day in the summer to invite your best customer out for lunch. Take the time to speak with him and hear his perspective on how your partnership is working. The relaxed setting will provide a great opportunity to learn what is working well, as well as what can be improved in the future.”
Charles Bogoian
Kenai Sports, LLC
Check on Your Financial Health
“Doing a mid-year forecast or budget this summer might not be simple, but it’s essential. Maybe you did a budget in January. Summer is the time to check back in. Where are you at the mid-year point? Have your objectives shifted? Where is your revenue? Are you hitting your milestones? Asking these important questions and setting down your projections will set you up for the rest of the year.”
David Ehrenberg
Early Growth Financial Services
Offer More Vacation Time
“Summer is the perfect time to launch an initiative such as unlimited vacation time. It will improve morale, your employees will perform at a higher level, and as long as it’s managed correctly, it can significantly improve business operations.”
Money Crashers Personal Finance
Unplug for a Week
“Whether you take a vacation or simply turn off your phone and laptop for a week, you’ll find out exactly how well the business runs without you. If things fall apart, then you know where to devote your time — perhaps to creating systems and building a team to maintain the business when you’re gone. The next time you have a trip, family emergency or get sick, you’ll be thankful you took the time.”
Kelly Azevedo
She’s Got Systems
Systemize the Operations
“Most companies slow down over the summer. I see this as a great opportunity to build business processes into the company so you’re more efficient and can scale faster. For example, we have a huge wiki that we’ve built over the years that contains every process within our business. We’re planning a large scale audit of that wiki to cut out redundancies and make directions clearer.”
Encourage Time off for Employees
“Let your employees take vacations. People will come back refreshed and ready for the next challenge. We recently enacted an unlimited vacation policy in the hopes of encouraging personal responsibility and a better ‘work hard, play hard’ culture. “
Audit Financial Statements
“Understanding the income and expenses that make up the business will help startup founders identify what points of their business need attention. Auditing financial statements is one way to better understand these processes.”
Get in Shape
“Get in the best shape of your life. Why not? The minute you get serious about your health, everything else improves. Use the summer as a motivational time to challenge yourself, and set an awesome health and fitness example for the rest of your team.”
Schedule a Retreat
“Summer is a great time to take your team (or just yourself) and plan for the rest of the year. It is ideal to be off-site and even better if you don’t allow technology — or go to a place where it doesn’t work well. I encourage you to work with an outside facilitator to ensure that your entire team can participate. You’ll see the payoff immediately in team cohesion and focus.”