lean-startup, partnership, business-structure, online-storeI started my own WordPress plugins shop since 6 months, it is branded with my personal name. Until now, I am selling two plugins and they are quite successful in term of sales. But I feel that the magnitude of work is overwhelming especially where I lack some skills such as marketing and design.
I am thinking of two options, that’s where I need your advice.
Check this link: Paul Graham's list of biggest startup mistakes. Paul Graham, who I think is one of the best writers about startups (and founder of Ycombinator) thinks that the number one biggest mistake is to start a startup alone. If you're alone, you're not challenging yourself, you might become bored, you don't have anybody to point on your mistakes. It's way too difficult alone. If you want your startup to grow, I suggest you to find a cofounder!
In your situation I would first hire help for tasks that don’t require too much expertise. As far as I know people in your situation often hire virtual assistants to offload customer support. But design can also be outsourced to freelance designers quite easily.
I would not consider to let other people do the marketing work because it’s somewhat critical to any business.
If your project is small, then it makes sense to do it alone. If the requirement is heavy, build a team and be in charge. You have option to form one person company. I have done the same. But i make sure that the projects are smaller and i can handle them on my own. After some time when i have sufficient funds, i am going to hire team but i will be in charge. You can always hire smart people and let them handle the work according to their specialisation. Specialised people do minimum mistakes. Partnership is adjustment according to me.
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