Think big. Start small.

We all have grand ideas of making it big in life. The challenge is very few of us actually act on these dreams. The things we need to do appear too big and scary. When big things are at stake the risk of failure and fear of criticism cripple us from taking any action.

It is OK to think big. However we need to start small. Starting small reduces the risk of failure. In this way we convince our brains that it is OK to try. So if you dream of being a great events manager maybe you should start by organizing your sister’s birthday party. If you want to own a fleet of Uber cars maybe you should start with a boda boda and see how it goes.

If you want to build a hospital why don’t you open up a clinic in your neighborhood. If you want to open a supermarket maybe you should first open a small shop.

Starting small enables you to learn and test your ideas before fully investing. You get to know what your customer really wants. You get to perfect and improve your product or services. You test whether this is what you really want to do. You test the economic viability of your project.

This concept of starting small is usually referred to as making an MVP or a Minimum Viable Product. An MVP should meet the basic customer requirements without requiring a lot of resources to build. You then launch the MVP and test it in the real market with real customers. Based on this feedback from your customers you continuously improve on the MVP. This MVP concept is well illustrated in a book called the Lean Startup by Eric Ries.

We have adopted this MVP principle in our small business. Each time the team thinks of a new product idea we have to develop an MVP to test the market before investing in new production equipment. This has helped us utilize our meager resources more effectively.

We have so far developed and launched to market three products in less than 6 months. We currently have Shake Appeta, Shake Tomato Sauce, and Shake Ketchup. These are food condiments and can be added to snacks and food to improve the taste and flavour. They are great for meals at home and kids in boarding schools. A carton goes for 10k only. Inbox your orders for free delivery around Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso.