What I have learnt about starting a new business (CampusLife) in 2022

Who would start a new business right in the middle of COVID? Me of course! Why would you choose the middle of a pandemic to risk a start-up? How has it been going with all the ups and downs of 2022? Well… let me give you the good, the bad and the ugly.

For context's sake, I have launched several start-ups in my time, so it's not my first rodeo. I began Social Star 10 years ago, right after the global financial crisis of 2009 when the tech company I was working for took a hit and couldn't afford to keep me on as their Marketing Director. It was a rough and abrupt way to begin my own business, but I loved it and never looked back.

I’ve also started a few other enterprises, a beer app called Closest Beer and an influencer company called Tribe. So, you could say I knew a thing or two about navigating new things.

But a pandemic is a strange time to start a new business that revolves around university students and helping small businesses with marketing. It all comes down to your perspective. I'm an eternal optimist so, in the middle of 2021, I thought the troubles with COVID were behind us and that everything would go back to normal. Well, I was right in some ways as lockdowns were coming to an end, but the impact of the pandemic on the global economy was just beginning.

The good thing about starting CampusLife is the amazing team we have assembled. The talent I have found among university students is so good I have been able to grow Social Star too, hiring five additional people. With a bit of guidance and confidence, it's amazing what these motivated students can do.

The bad things are the growing pains of new businesses. This has been especially, challenging with the double-sided marketplace we have at CampusLife. We started out with a bunch of small businesses wanting candidates and not enough students. Then we had a rush of students to the platform and not enough businesses to match them! Until you have a great scale, it's always hard to balance between the two sides.

The ugly things are the technical headaches. It's tough to get a new platform started and just how you envision it, while you are still forming your ideas. New businesses always have loads of pivots while they test their ideas on the market. Since technology doesn’t pivot as fast as your ideas, it's never quite like version 1.0 of the plan! You sign a contract for a technical build and six months later you get it delivered but your ideas have progressed. That's the real challenge as it costs a lot to go back and adapt the software.

So, there you go folks, the good, the bad and the ugly truth of my last year building a start-up from a concept in my brain, to a team of five making revenue and helping clients. I would love to hear your experiences building your own businesses during the last year- we are all in this together!

Regards Andrew

Andrew Ford

Marketing expert Andrew Ford, the founder of Social Star, has discovered the secret of ‘Powerful Branding’. With a fire for unleashing people’s inner brand and developing business models to generate profit from an individual’s passions, Andrew leverages ground-breaking digital and social media marketing techniques to create digital strategies for clients to attract maximum opportunities. Having established a strong name for himself in the field, Andrew blends traditional business techniques with now-necessary tools for entrepreneurs to achieve scale, quality, and influence in their niche. Andrew’s comprehensive business background and qualifications consist of a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) (RMIT 2003), a Graduate Certificate in Management (MBA Executive Program, University of Sydney 2005), and a Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Swinburne University 2011). Continually on the cutting edge of his own education, Andrew has tested his marketing theories in forums such as the BCG Business Strategy Competition, which he won in 2005 against all Victorian MBA schools, and the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition (Swinburne University 2003), which he won in the Masters category. With experience working at Hewlett-Packard, Sensis (Telstra) and IBM, Andrew also has mentored dozens of junior staffs to help them achieve their professional goals. Meeting and influencing high-profile public figures helped Andrew to realise just how many professionals require more understanding and control of their public brands or appearance, and need help with the skills to use the many amazing free tools at their disposal to generate success. At Social Star, Andrew consults with clients to uncover their personal brand – both where it is today and where it can be tomorrow – and refine and define how that should be displayed in social media in order to attract their perfect target audience. Andrew mentors his clients to rapidly grow their business’ audiences, resulting in larger potential client bases and higher revenue. Applying formulas that integrate over twenty years of Andrew’s business experience and fifteen years of formal business education, Social Star specialises in building clarity and velocity for clients’ brands using the ‘Understand, Build and Leverage’ methodology. ‘Having a Personal Business enables people to have an authentic, congruent connection with their valued clients and partners, using their brand as the bridge,’ says Andrew. ‘I’m highly driven to work with the new breed of entrepreneurs and small business owners – people who have a passion for making the world a better place. Traditional business models are stepping aside as people follow their innermost dreams and my role is to see them operate within their values while creating wealth. Some people think you have to sacrifice what you love to be successful in your business, yet it is actually the opposite. Follow your passion and success will come.’ Lecturing at Swinburne University from 2009 to 2011 on brand dynamics and digital marketing, presenting at numerous conferences, and consulting to hundreds of clients, Andrew has seen his philosophy work that if you follow your unique path, based on your skills, experience, values and goals, you will automatically attract the opportunities you desire and achieve the success you deserve. Living his mantra, Andrew has created a successful business and attracts high-profile clients including musicians, athletes, authors, models, entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners, helping them find their ‘why’ in their business and fulfilment in their lives. Business for Andrew is more than work, it’s personal. Running a personal business means that he is able to fulfil all of his values rather than separating his life from work. It supports his two boys while providing social opportunities, educational development, fitness opportunities, spiritual fulfilment and many valuable friendships. Social Star has now become the vehicle for Andrew to crystallise his mission in the world, to help people love what they do, supporting his ‘why’, that if more people loved what they did, the world would be a better place.

 
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