By: Sara Hamou, CEO & Co-Founder of Medovie.
The world of business is always challenging. Starting your own business takes that challenge to the next level, demanding that you learn new skills and put everything you have into your growing project. Building Medovie over many years from the ground up has taught me a lot about the worlds of science & business – and a lot about myself too. I wanted to share some advice to any readers who might have just started a business or are considering doing so, especially if the business is built on science & research like Medovie is. I hope you find these tips useful.
- Passion Is Non-Negotiable
It may be a clichè that you should “love what you do,” but as a founder it’s actually completely true. You are about to take a great deal of responsibility: for your employees, your customers, your dependents. Responsibility is good and it provides a real driving force behind everything you do, but it is not enough on its own. A real love for your business – in my case helping chronic skincare sufferers using natural products – is a fundamental keystone of my “why?” – for me, and for the rest of the team too.
At Medovie, it’s easy to be passionate. We’re helping people with long-term skin conditions find life-changing solutions and building communities that transcend borders. When your business can help people and improve lives, that really helps you to stay motivated too.
- Build a Team That Compliments You
I am not a scientist, nor did I ever really have a background in science or the world of clinical research. I did understand, however, that good science (properly applied) can help people and improve lives. That’s what we’re here for, right?
Medovie is a company built on its research findings; we created a unique 3HX™ formula proven effective for chronic skincare sufferers over 10 years of rigorous study. I definitely didn’t do that on my own.
What we did is build a team of experts with a range of experience. Where I freely admit my knowledge is lacking, my fantastic co-founder, Nadav Shraibom, led the company through countless hours of in-depth research, tireless as he was in pursuit of a solution to psoriasis, a disease he has suffered with personally in the past. We were both assisted by a fantastic group of talented people, so many that I don’t have space to list them all here.
Hiring passionate people and giving them the space and freedom to thrive is fundamental to our work, as it must be for any business. No one person has all the answers. Watching smart people debating and brainstorming ideas is a joy – I much prefer doing this to speaking myself.
With the right tech and the right customer care in place, we could do more than pioneer safer, more effective skincare products. We could actually build a community for many people (just like us) who struggle with skin conditions that have upended their lives.
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- Listen More Than You Speak
Building on the end of my previous point, the importance of listening doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Business tips usually are all about action “do this one thing,” “speak this way,” as if the whole business rests upon your shoulders. It is indeed important that you do shoulder a lot of the responsibility, but these types of tips vastly underplay the importance of listening to other people’s contributions. Not only employees, but customers too. At Medovie, we are constantly looking for genuine feedback – good and bad – about our product range.
With Medovie’s 3HX™ products, successes and failures are out in the open. This is not necessarily the case with all products or services. With Medovie, customers are thinking: “Is my skin looking less red and feeling less itchy than 4 weeks ago?” If they don’t, there’s no hiding for us! Many might see this as a difficulty and an onerous challenge, but we enjoy it: it makes our products better.
We have learnt so much and improved our products in so many ways by simply listening. Whether it’s in our customer consultations, in the research lab, or around the conference table, there’s always something worth listening to. You’ll find you often hear the most important things in the most unexpected places.
Bringing it All Together
Building a startup is a demanding and challenging endeavour, but that shouldn’t put you off! If you’re anything like me and Nadav, these challenges are actually more like opportunities; if we can overcome the hurdle, we’ll have done something that no-one else has done. That’s of value to customers and also to our business.
The process isn’t easy though, which is why it’s important to be fully immersed and passionate about what you’re doing. It’s also crucial to build a team with the expertise and diverse viewpoints that help you overcome those challenges. You won’t do it on your own. That’s why it’s also paramount that you listen. You didn’t hire brilliant support just to bulldoze meetings with your own ideas!
By keeping these points in mind, you’ll be in a great place to start your journey in whatever project you want to put your mind to. I’ve learnt so much since founding Medovie, and I’ve met so many fantastic people that have shared in that journey. I am a better person for it, and I hope Medovie can continue to make the world a better place in its own way. We may be small, but the impact our products have on our customers’ lives is anything but.
About Author:
Sara Hamou is CEO and Co-Founder at https://medovie.com/.
