Three Lessons I Learned From Launching an Anime Business

I started a business based on a hobby, to be honest, based on a passion. A passion for anime and fascination with Japan which began decades ago. Being a part of a fandom community for so long, I felt equipped to solve issues that come up for a lot of people new to anime. However, it took failing to reach my ideal customer for me to understand that going into business required a shift in thinking. I took the month of April to reflect on lessons learned so far and begin planning for my next business endeavor with a new mindset, a business mindset. As I reflected on how I would approach this new project differently, there were three major lessons that stood out.

Lesson 1: Get help.

As my first attempt at starting a business, I decided to make an app. I didn't have experience with writing code, but I figured I could learn and it seems like a low cost business idea. After a number of YouTube videos, Google searches, and desperate dives into Stack Overflow threads, I managed to get most of the app done…except for the main part. *sigh* I finally sought help from the software developers in my circle after being stuck for months. The rest of app development went so much faster that I regretted trying to do it all myself.

In business, it makes more sense to stick with your strengths and get help for handling the rest. Help can be from friends, family, or you can hire someone if an expert doesn't exist in your social circle.

App development took me about 2 years. While I gained a lot of experience, I am still nowhere near the level of an experienced developer who I could have hired from the start to do this in significantly less time. Not only that, but I was only able to create a bare minimum version of what I envisioned for the app (I learned that’s called an “mvp” in business, a minimum viable product). If I focused on business and let someone else help with development, I might have ended up with a nicer mvp and more time for coming up with a marketing strategy.

Lesson 2: Feedback is gold, even if it stinks.

When the app was finally ready for testing, I sent it out into my circle of friends and family in order to make sure the app worked and to get feedback. I actually started receiving feedback during development from my family, but I feared using feedback to make changes would derail progress and change the vision I had for the app.

Staying focused on my initial vision for the app helped me reach the finish line, but, in retrospect, I needed to learn how to incorporate feedback. The point of making a product is addressing a need which means listening closely to all feedback, even if you don’t agree with it. I eventually came across a business school video which opened my eyes to how I could approach feedback. That’s when I realized that all feedback is valuable.

Feedback can help you get a better idea of who your ideal customer is, make a better product for them, or learn about a completely different customer base and their needs.

Hearing what people didn't like was hard to take in at first, but those comments helped me fine tune my understanding of who might need my product.

Lesson 3: Know when to call it quits.

Let me preface this section by saying I had no problem following timelines and meeting deadlines as an employee. But, something changed when the work was for my business. Since I had never created or sold an app before, it was harder to set timelines for development work and for marketing plans. Even deadlines were easy to push into the future since most goals seemed possible to reach if everything went smoothly, which it never did. This is where I was grateful to have a business mentor to guide me through decisions like when to be flexible and when to have a backup plan. Thanks to his help, it became easier to avoid the sunk costs trap (believing that because I put so much time, effort, money, etc… in, to stop would mean I wasted my efforts) and stop myself from exhausting any more resources on the project.

Final words: Closer to success

Writing this article meant acknowledging the end of my first business endeavor…which is probably why I rewrote it about 5 times before being able to admit things didn't work out the way I wanted. I still believe it was a good idea to create the app. Even though it didn’t bring wealth in terms of money, the process of starting a business brought a wealth of knowledge. The experience helped me shift from wondering if I can succeed in business to thinking about how I can succeed. Success, for me, is offering a product or service that helps (a lot of) people enjoy life. I feel like that's a goal worth getting back in the game for. As I move forward with a new project, I know that my new business mindset is helping me get closer to success.