The Biashara 360 Startup Story Part 2: Challenges Encountered

This is the second article in a series where the founders of Biashara 360 share their startup story. This was a long interview that couldn’t fit into one blog post. So we’re sharing it in a 4-week series.

Also, unlike the other interviews with business women, the recording for this particular interview will only be available at the end of the series.

There is a wealth of information and motivation in this series. So we recommend that you download the recording once it’s available and listen to it in your free time or on your commute.

In the previous article, we talked about how we got into Biashara 360. We also shared what we liked about the business (and working together) in the first year.

Today, we examine the top 10 challenges we had during and after startup. We also talk about our breakups and makeups, some of which were dramatic!

The Biashara 360 Startup Story

Challenges encountered before, during, and after startup

1. Lack of focus

In the first few months of business, we kept evolving and re-strategizing, moving from one area to another. We never really got to a point where we said:

“OK. This is what Biashara 360 is going to be known for out there in the market. This is going to be our ONE area of expertise that we will be projecting to the market.”

Also, we didn’t comprehensively identify our target. We used to mention it in the meetings and then come up with strategies and activities that aren’t geared towards who we had initially come together to help.

So there was no target market or common ground. Everybody was operating from their area of expertise and we kept changing things. We didn’t stick to strategies and ended up being everywhere.

Three things happened because of lack of focus:

• We were unable to bring out the best of each of us.
• There was a lot of back and forth which caused frustration.
• Eventually, we ran out of energy.

2. Too much focus on making money

Money became the thing we wanted the most. This was mainly driven by the desire to prove that this business is the best thing because we had made a big announcement about it.

The focus on creating income led to lack of focus on the business startup process. It played a big role in changing direction a number of times based on what we thought would make money fastest.

3. Jumping through the startup process

We tried to fast-track our business right from the beginning (again in a bid to make money fast). At startup, we all came in thinking and behaving like experts because each of us was an expert in our fields. This made us forget that we were building a new business from scratch.

We had an idea of what the business would eventually look like. However, this was a new business and we had to deal with registration, identifying a target market, marketing, etc.

Caroline has written a book called 12 Weeks to Startup. In our expert status, we jumped to Week 10. Hoping that 2 weeks later we’d have completed the startup process with everything in place, and that nothing was going to fall apart.

For example, immediately after startup, we started planning to host a workshop. This made us miss a vital opportunity in our business. Had we slowed down, we’d have realized that we were 3 new people working together and not each individually an expert on their own.

In essence, we didn’t take the time to nurture this baby into a fully fledged business. Because of that, we rushed too much to get things done and create a big impact. So we forgot to complete the back-end processes that are very necessary.

4. Loss of income

When we came together our income went down because we were no longer focusing on selling in our previous businesses.

So the income from the old businesses started running out and there wasn’t enough income from Biashara 360 to beef it up for all of us.

This contributed to the rush for Biashara 360 to become financially sustainable while operating on a bootstrap budget.

5. Slowing down

It was frustrating for all of us to come down and have to think like a startup. We were all running our own business and so we had to step down in order to fit into Biashara 360.

This was a big challenge, especially for Caroline whose mind had already jumped to her 2020 dream without the systems, processes, and a stable foundation.

6. Losing one of the founders

It was a big loss when one of the founders left…and she was the one good at marketing. This was the weakest area for the remaining founders.

7. Technological issues

Being a virtual business means that we rely a lot on technology. We had challenges with this, and especially with the teleconference facility. Unreliable connections led to long meetings or interrupted the flow of during meetings as we tried to reconnect.

8. Overwhelm

Running two businesses at the same time as we set up Biashara 360 while exiting our old ones took a toll on everyone.

At first, we had decided to get into Biashara 360 fully once it brings a certain amount of business. At the same time, we were to continue working with our current clients as we transitioned from our individual businesses.

In the end, we decided to go all in and moved fully into Biashara 360 despite it not having reliable income. Ronni and Lillian struggled during this period because most of the work required skills they didn’t have.

On the other hand, being overwhelmed made Caroline ignore the fact that Ronni and Lillian were struggling because there was simply too much work.

There reached a point where each person either resented attending meetings or being in the business itself.

9. Feeling of not being heard

While there was trust in each other, there was also an underlying feeling of being misinterpreted, especially for Ronni.

There was not enough trust on all sides to ask or double-check what someone meant when they said something. We fell back to our emotions, caught feelings, and forgot that we trusted each other.

We also forgot that each of us would ultimately want the best out of this and that we all deserved that chance to be heard. So emotions ran high.

This feeling of not being trusted, more than anything else, caused pain for Ronni especially towards the end of her time in the business.

She kept saying that she’s not OK, but we were so focused on business targets that no one heard her. In essence, we forgot the humans behind the business.

Looking back, we realize that we all weren’t authentic enough to admit our struggles or ask for help. We also realize now that if you take a chance on someone and go into business with them, they deserve reasonable doubt.

10. Breakup of partnership

Our partnership started unravelling towards the 6-month anniversary. By this time, we had reached a place where out of frustration, we were not communicating in the same way we coach and train our clients to.

We didn’t communicate in such a way that the message is received by the recipient the way it should be received. At times, we were not even waiting for feedback from the other person before making a conclusion or decision.

This wore out our energy subconsciously and eventually led to the partnership falling apart. No one, least of all the 3 of us, expected this to happen. But it did.

Thankfully, the end of the partnership happened in a way that didn’t break Biashara 360. This is why we’re still in operation and about to celebrate our first year anniversary.

What’s next?

In the next article, we’ll share the lessons we learnt from our experiences during and after startup. We hope that these lessons will be useful for business women and anyone getting into a partnership.

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