We all have dreams. Big dreams. We dream that, someday, we will change the world. And we can. It’s all a matter of how we use the resources we have around us.
For the topic of this article, we’ll talk about startups, and how growing your startup with passionate and talented people will contribute to its success.
How a Startup is Born
Squirrly was born out of Florin’s, our co-founder, passion to build something that would help us, as a company, win, but, at the same time, would help our customers as well. If our customers are happy, then we are happy, and this is very important in the growth of any startup.
Many entrepreneurs start a startup for the same reason. In my opinion, not only entrepreneurs should build something out of passion. I believe that passion should be present in our life at all times, because it is the secret ingredient that will help growing your startup, and you as a person.
Hiring the Right People Who Can Help You in the Process of Growing Your Startup
Florin is a great person. He’s always with a smile on his face, he’s really understanding – in other words, I think he’s the perfect boss.
Before your startup is able to grow, you, as a leader, need to grow as a human being as well. You need to have a better understanding of what your actual employees want, and feel, to make them happy. I’m not saying you need to fulfill every wish they have, but some them, to show you care about them, and that you appreciate and value their contribution to your startup.
The first few people who will work for your startup will define its success. They need to believe in your idea of business, because, otherwise, you are wasting your time (and theirs as well).
Passion Sometimes Makes Up More Than Experience Can
And I will explain why.
I joined the Squirrly team last year, in May. I started with an internship. Prior to my interview, I had to write a 500 word article on a given subject. I was relieved that they didn’t ask for my CV, because I had no experience relevant for the job I was applying for. If they would have made the decision to hire me based on my CV, I think that they wouldn’t have done it. Yay for me, I guess!
When I applied for the job, I didn’t know much other than I wanted to write, and that it’s something I know I’d be good at. Luckily for me, I impressed Florin with my written English skills (I didn’t even believe that my English was that good). Another bonus point for me.
I knew that experience would come in time. There are some people who are born natural writers. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. But what I do know is that I’ve gained more experienced with every article I’ve written.
It’s been more than 6 months since I started working at Squirrly, and I truly believe that I’ve grown so much, and I’ve learned so many new things. And all of this happened because I had passion. I wanted to learn what content marketing is, how to attract customers, and how to engage them in conversations.
Growing Your Startup by Developing New Products, and Bringing Constant Improvements
A product you developed 2 or 3 years ago may need some polishing today. The market’s changing really fast today, especially when you have an online business.
We see this every day. A lot has changed since we opened our doors for our content writing services. And even though it has not been that long, we noticed that we need to change out style a little, so we’ll soon be adding more features to our services. This we’ll be able to satisfy our client’s needs.
Our churn rate for the content writing services is incredibly low, because we keep adapting and we keep delivering real value to our customers.
As I was saying earlier, if our clients are happy, and they win, we win as well, because we are able to develop more and more. Now, we have so many clients for our content writing services that we have to bring in some new people, which is a really good thing, because that is how we are able to grow.
Growing your startup is not only about the number of employees, but about how you develop your products, and how you think them, to fit your target market as best as it can.
How Florin Helped Me Grow as a Person with Squirrly
Disclaimer: I’m not saying all these kind words about Florin because he’s my boss, but because he truly is an inspiring person.
So, the story goes like this. As I told you, Florin is a person who knows people; better said, he knows how to read people.
Now, on to the other end of the story. Me. I’m someone who becomes bored quite easily. I mean, I like to write, but there was a period a few months ago when all I did was write articles, and nothing else. And I must admit, I somehow felt like I couldn’t take it anymore, and that I needed a break. Not from work, but from writing.
And then, all of a sudden, an opportunity came around that made it all better, and proved once again the power of attraction (I don’t believe in this crap either, but bear with me, for the sake of the story).
What opportunity, you may be asking? Well, it’s the exciting responsibility to help Calin, our CTO and co-founder, with customer support. At first, I did not know much about this, but after a few days of learning more about it, and interacting with different customers, I fell in love with my new responsibility of being Chief of Customer Service.
Florin told me when he offered me this opportunity that he knew I would like this, and I would also be good at it. And, must I say that he wasn’t wrong? I guess not.
I’m still a content writer, but I’m also making Calin’s duties a lot easier, which makes me happy. I love interacting with customers, and now it’s impossible for me to become bored. There’s always something new happening.
Plus, these two jobs are pretty much complementary. Since I gained the title of Chief of Customer Service, I began investigating this area more and more, to improve my skills. Groove’s blog has helped me a lot in this process, and just recently, they wrote an awesome article on how creating awesome content can improve the happiness of our customers.
It’s amazing how these two things are connected to each other. As it turns out, Florin wasn’t wrong, and Squirrly will gain so much because of this. This tremendous insight I gain every day has plenty of potential in growing Squirrly.
People Never Stop Growing, Nor Should Your Startup
We still do not have that many members in our team (9 members currently), but we’re growing surely and steadily, while paying attention and hiring new passionate and talented people. That is the key to success. Perhaps the lack of a passionate team is why so many startups fail these days. What do you think?
