When you check the Cambridge dictionary it says that scrappy is an adjective that means badly organized, untidy and not very attractive or well developed.
But at the same time it also means to have a strong, determined character, an aggressive spirit.
Funny how a word can have two very different yet related meanings.
These two meanings are ones you should live by as a small founder or someone who’s starting out and has very little resources that can help bring their idea to life.
More often than not we want things to be perfect before we launch, we spend a lot of time building, adding features, watching motivational videos instead of just launching the thing that is usually already working.
Sometimes you may not even need complex tech at first, you could even test out your hypothesis by simply offering the service itself first to validate the idea then build after.
A luxury car hire service for weddings and celebrations doesn’t require an Uber like app when starting out, you simply need a landing page with a few cars that you offer and a phone number for customers to reach you on.
What you’ll need to do is approach owners of these luxury cars, pitch them your offering and get them business.
The first meaning of being scrappy (badly organized, untidy and not very attractive) does not mean that you put out a totally bad product, it means that your first iteration will not be perfect, it will not look exactly like you would want it to, some things in it may not be working as well but even so put it out so that real users/customers can try it out.
It also means that you should try to be simple with your approach in the beginning, you need not a fancy logo, branding or a design system, you need only something that does one thing that people need well and you will get users.
Allow the customers to help you iterate, you will build a far more superior product and a much more sustainable business because you will be building what people actually want.
When you don’t have a mega budget, be scrappy.
The second meaning (have a strong, determined and aggressive character) is about showing up consistently.
You will face a lot of challenges because you will have to begin doing things that get you out of your comfort zone like marketing and talking to customers, but you will do it regardless because you are scrappy.
You will do it wrong many times but you will also do it right just as much as long as you stay consistent.
Progress happens too slowly to notice, it is compounding. Be consistent.
Be Scrappy.
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Product Spotlight: Onekitty
I have used a number of products for contributions online before but just recently I tried Onekitty and I must say, the experience was simple, smooth and very accountable.
Simple in that I just clicked on the link shared on a Whatsapp group, entered my name, M-pesa number and amount, made the payment after an STK push was initiated and the accountability part comes in where immediately, my name and amount contributed was reflected in the same Whatsapp group to show that I had indeed contributed.
Quite simple, yet very effective. You can use Onekitty for various monetary contribution drives such as Chamas, Merry-go-rounds, wedding contributions, on bills of various kinds to mention a few.
If the task at hand needs a group of people to accountably contribute money towards its achievement, then Onekitty can do that for you quite well and accountably.
Thank you for reading this far. Tell a friend to tell a friend.
