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How thinking like a startup will help you in life

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The principles of building a successful startup “can definitely help” people excel in their lives, jobs and studies, says an award-winning startup entrepreneur.

Karl Wyzenbeek, the managing director and founder of LabFriend.com.au, said a lot of the skills he developed while creating his business startup had changed him in areas other than just his work.

“A startup mindset can definitely help,” he said. “The skills you use outside of work and how you manage your daily life will be influenced.”

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Mr Wyzenbeek’s company sells lab equipment online to scientists, researchers and universities which changed the traditional distribution model of “brick and mortar” company representatives pushing supplies through exclusive contracts.

So how can thinking like a startup help in everyday life?

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When work piles up, manage it in increments like a startup. Photo: Shutterstock

Improve the way you study

Whether it be at university or at high school, students suffer from stress when it comes to assessment.

According to Mr Wyzenbeek, it’s a similar feeling trying to turn your new business idea into a reality.

“How you multitask and manage stress is a big factor,” he said.

“When you’re starting a business by yourself you’re managing stakeholders, recruiting and all these different areas.”

University of Sydney Business School’s startup expert Richard Seymour told The New Daily startups fight that stress or uncertainty when faced with a big task by working “incrementally”.

“Good startups will not be overly ambitious,” he said. “The way they solve problems will be to try and do it incrementally.

“The vast majority of those (startup initial goals) are incremental improvements.”

Set smaller goals for your study, review them often and don’t be overawed by a seemingly impossible task.

Managing money and relationships

A startup might begin by wanting to be large and successful but that’s not likely to be how you will always start. You should still be frugal with how you set up.

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Who needs their own office? A startup hub created to allow a range of startup workers a space to build their companies. Photo: Getty

“A lot of large companies when they have problems they throw a lot of resources at them,” Mr Seymour explained.

“This idea of doing things with a minimal cash outflow is also critical. Everything they buy and everything they spend money on earns revenue.”

He said this can teach us a “way of reflecting on success being also something we could look at in general life and not just in terms of money”.

“It can also be asking, how successful was that day? Did I build relationships today? Did I finish today happier?” he said.

It’s the idea of knowing that money is important, but recognising that in the beginning other things might be helpful to measure and emphasise as well when setting goals involving finance.

As for working closely with others in the field, Mr Wyzenbeek said he soon found out “when you’re starting from scratch you really have to develop relationships”.

“If people don’t like you then they’re not going to help with your business.

“That flows over into your everyday life,” he said, adding that it taught him that the best way to connect with people properly, and subsequently be successful, is to listen to exactly what they want.

“It’s reverse engineering and thinking and asking what is essential? If it is not essential it’s only going to add cost to the customer.”

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