With the Oscars ceremony this Sunday, we wanted to highlight one of favorite movies from 2015, “Joy” – a movie that all start-ups and entrepreneurs should watch. “Joy” tells the story of a young woman with an unstoppable entrepreneur spirit who believes in her good ideas, no matter how much bad advice she gets.
Just like Jennifer Lawrence’s title character, most entrepreneurs have heard the word “no” a lot and had to figure it out on their own.
With that in mind, there are lessons start-ups can take from this Oscars-nominated film.
1.Offer Something People Actually Need
Joy’s self-wringing mop product begins with just the barest sketches of an invention and a strong idea of how it will benefit people like her. She knows people trying to balance household chores with busy lives don’t have time to get their hands dirty.
The focused mission of her product is what keeps Joy moving. She never has trouble answering, “But why do people need this?” She truly believes in the urgency of her product, and so her efforts come across as genuine. When promoting your start-up, being able to explain why your product is necessary can carry you to great heights.
2. Don’t Let Your Dream Get Away From You
There’s plenty going on to distract entrepreneurs from their dreams. In Joy’s case, it’s her family and the daily grind. She’s not easy on herself either, saying “All the things we used to dream about feel like they keep getting further and further away.”
Eventually, Joy realizes she can’t be distracted from her dreams any longer. She’s not helping anyone by burying herself in mundane pursuits and getting bogged down by other people’s problems and demands. Start-ups can easily fall into the same trap when you get wrapped up in the day-to-day tasks and forget about the big picture. If an idea’s been keeping you up at night, it’s worth a shot, even if it means an extra hour in the office.
3. Know When To Call In The Experts
While Joy doesn’t have formal business education or a handbook of how to get started, it’s her passion that pushes her forward. She fakes it until she makes it plenty of times, diving into new opportunities without looking back.
There are times when Joy realizes she needs help, whether it’s getting welding tips while designing her mop, or taking financial advice from her family. While most entrepreneurs have an independent streak, it’s smart to know when you’re better of in the care of an expert – for example, when getting this year’s small business taxes in order.
4.Get Creative With Marketing
Joy quickly learns that it’s important to be able to prove your product is valuable to your customers (see No. 1). She runs into the common challenge of getting people to listen. Standing in a parking lot to promote her mops, she’s shouting into a void as people walk by.
However, she figures out how to get people to listen with a little creativity. As a friend demos her mops in the parking lot, Joy walks up pretending to be a customer: “Self-wringing, huh?” It’s the slightest bit of guerrilla marketing, and it’s effective. They attracted a crowd in no time. Granted, the police showed up. The lesson here for entrepreneurs is to think outside the box, within reason and legality.
5. Be Tough
The one thing that helped Joy persevere more than anything was her thick skin. No matter how many times people told her no, she didn’t stop. She told her daughter “not to take no guff from nobody” and tried to show her that when people see there’s no shame in hard work, they’re inspired to work hard, too.
At one point, Joy’s wannabe stepmother Trudy told Joy that business “takes a toughness and an acumen that you simply don’t have.”
That sounds like the sort of comment an entrepreneur would save for their scrapbook, to show everyone when they make it. Tough start-ups just brush it off and keep working hard.