Running Your Business Like a Startup

Bungii’s co-founder Harrison Proffitt provides three practical tips on how to hustle and drive results for your business.

Before I dive in, I’d first like to thank everyone at ReeceNichols for their amazing support of Bungii. From the executive team to the agents, it has been an amazing experience.

I think a few of these tactics may help get more out of your days and think more creatively.

Find creative ways to hustle.

There is always more than one way to solve a problem, but have you ever really taken more than a few seconds to weigh your options and make a decision?

Back in college, my business partner Ben and I ran into a unique problem on how to secure funding for our startup. We had to face the fact that we were a couple of young bucks with minimal connections to people with money — much less real investors. We quickly thought through a number of different options, but nothing really stood out. So we decided to try a new technique.

We set a timer for 10 minutes and started writing out any and all ideas in complete silence. Sure enough, about eight minutes in, after lines and lines of worthless ideas, Ben had an aha moment.

There were hundreds of alumni donor names etched in the wall of our college business building. These people had money and apparently were willing to donate it. So we took a picture of the wall and reached out to every potential (living) investor.

From those connections, we set up over twenty meetings, from which we received three offers, and ultimately decided on one. We now had a living startup!

When you can block out 10 to 15 minutes just to think on a single problem, you’ll eventually make a breakthrough. We use it all the time at Bungii, and it works wonders.The toughest part is starting, so just set a timer and begin. Motion creates emotion. The more you dive into it, the more ideas will start popping out.

Don’t be disciplined — be motivated.

People are always saying that to be successful in life, you have to be disciplined. This is true, but it carries a negative connotation. You feel like you have to hold this weight of “discipline” up on a daily basis. “I have to get up at 5 a.m. I have to work this many hours a day. I have to sell this many houses this year.” It adds a whole lot of unnecessary pressure on a person.

But if you simply change up your mindset and instead think about what you get to do and what opportunities you have, you’ll have a better outlook on each day. You’ll be self-disciplined by your own motivation.

We launched our app in KC over a year ago, confident that it was going to blow up instantly. Wrong. We launched to the sound of crickets with a whopping four people using our app over an entire week.

The self-disciplined Harrison would have gotten up at 6 a.m. and put 10 hours on the clock each day, or cut his losses and start prepping for his next job interview. But with the motivated mindset of “this idea is going to work, we just need to make it work,” we were able to turn the ship around.

Using the tactic from point one, we figured out all the possible ways we could bring people to the platform. We spent the next six weeks going to the West Bottoms, estate sales and vintage market events. Wherever we had the opportunity to talk directly with people and business owners, we were there.

Now, with thousands of people using our service to get stuff across town, we’ve made it a point to avoid complacency by staying motivated rather than simply staying disciplined.

Literally go the extra mile for your customers.

We are in the middle of a business mindset shift that is taking place globally. The center of attention and focus is now completely on the end user — otherwise known as the customer.

Think about it. We can order groceries with our voices from home, open our garage doors from across the world or even request a friend with a truck to show up within minutes from our phones (sorry, I had to). Today’s best business practices are honing in on exactly what customers want rather than what the businesses or creators want.

This “customer is king” concept can be applied to all businesses and in all industries. It just takes some listening and a little bit of elbow grease.

At Bungii, there have been more times than I can count where Ben or I have had to jump in a truck and go save a Bungii trip from “failing” (not being connected to a driver). We were, and still are, going the extra mile for our customers. Yes, we would rather be building the business, but it’s not about what we want. It’s about the customer.

So ask yourself, “What do my clients really want?” “Is there anything I can do that would make their experience with me exceptional?” “How can I go the extra mile for my clients?”

Again, thank you for helping us spread the good word about Bungii across Kansas City. We’re excited to make KC proud as we expand this business to cities across America.

If you have a chance, follow us on Facebook and Instagram and say hi! We would love to hear your Bungii experiences. And be sure to download our free app!