Whether you’re just starting out or are an old pro, who doesn’t want to be a more successful entrepreneur?
Owning your own business gives you a sense of freedom and empowerment. You can build things and watch them grow.
Entrepreneurs make decisions for themselves, realize their creative visions, and develop lasting relationships with other entrepreneurs, customers, and vendors.
It’s a great way to live. That’s why I’ve founded so many companies — I can’t get enough.
That’s why I’ve put together these tips to help you to become more successful.
1. Get gritty
Grit is perseverance. Grit is the go-get-’em attitude that we expect of entrepreneurs. Grit is the ability to keep working when everyone tells you that you should give up.
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be gritty.
Honestly, without hard work and perseverance, you’re not going anywhere in the entrepreneurial world.
2. Challenge yourself
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to challenge yourself. No one else is going to push you, so it’s up to you to do it.
Challenges keep entrepreneurs nimble and on their toes. If you’re constantly looking for the next challenge, you’ll always be prepared for what comes your way.
Consider this example:
You’re going to the gym to build your upper body strength. You start doing bicep curls with a 10-pound weight. It feels pretty heavy at first. But as you build up your strength, it gets easier.
Would you stop there? No!
Then it’s time to do bicep curls with a 20-pound weight. Once you’ve done bicep curls with a 20-pound weight, going back to a 10-pound weight will feel easy.
Challenging yourself with new and difficult tasks will make your other tasks seem even simpler. Just like the 10-pound weight feels light after you lift a 20-pound weight.
As an entrepreneur, you always have to be looking for the next big challenge.
3. Be passionate
If you don’t love what you do, don’t do it. I truly believe it’s as simple as that.
As an entrepreneur, you’re going to have to put in long hours and make sacrifices for your business.
When you’re passionate about what you do, putting in the long hours won’t feel like a sacrifice anymore.
If you’re not passionate about what you do, you’re not going to have the motivation to keep going when you’re stressed and tired.
Have you ever noticed those entrepreneurs who never seem to get tired? Those entrepreneurs who get that gleam in their eye when they talk about what they do?
Yeah, that’s passion.
Forty-four percent of entrepreneurs started their business because they saw an opportunity to create something great. They are passionate about their business. Are you?
Be passionate about what you do, and being an entrepreneur gets just a little bit easier.
4. Take risks
Humans are generally risk-averse, but part of being an entrepreneur is recognizing the risks that you should take.
Successful entrepreneurs take risks. It’s part of the job.
Successful entrepreneurs also know which risks to take and which they shouldn’t. Learn to recognize the risks that will benefit your business and take them.
Taking risks has a dangerous side, but the opportunities they present often far outweigh the potential dangers.
Learn how to identify which risks are worth taking and you’ll learn how to be a successful entrepreneur.
5. Trust yourself
If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?
Being a successful entrepreneur means that you’ve learned to listen to your intuition and rely on your wisdom when making decisions.
Your ability to trust and believe in yourself will show your confidence. People are more likely to follow and trust confident leaders.
Trusting in your own skills will also take some of the pain of uncertainty out of being an entrepreneur.
When you feel uncertain, remember how much experience and knowledge you have. Most entrepreneurs start their business after years of experience working for someone else.
There’s nothing wrong with asking for help when you need it or turning to a mentor for advice, but you also have to learn to trust yourself and your own judgment without input from others.
Learn to trust yourself and you’re already starting down the path of entrepreneurial success.
6. Reduce fear
Fear stops action. Entrepreneurs have to be able to pivot and quickly take action when they see an opportunity or recognize a mistake.
With fear riding on your shoulder, you won’t be a successful entrepreneur.
As an entrepreneur, if you let fear be your guide, you won’t be able to listen to your intuition, you’ll be afraid to take the necessary risks, and your judgment will be clouded by emotion.
Find ways to reduce and manage your fear and you’ll be a much more successful entrepreneur.
Remember, fear has to do with your perspective.
Research has shown that the more crime TV that you watch, the more likely you are to fear crime. Reduce your fear by changing your perspective.
My favorite tip for managing fear as an entrepreneur is to do confidence-building exercises.
For me, I like to take a few moments at night to think of the decisions I made that day that had a successful outcome.
Thinking each day about the decisions that you made that benefited you, others, or your business will help you to quickly build your confidence and reduce fear.
7. Visualize goals
This tip is less abstract than you might think, so bear with me.
When I recommend that entrepreneurs visualize their goals, I don’t intend for them to close their eyes and see the goal in front of them.
What I want you to do to visualize your goal is to define it so clearly that it’s real and tangible.
For example, which of these is a more accomplishable:
- I want to become a successful entrepreneur.
- I will become a successful entrepreneur by starting a business that solves a problem for this specific niche of my audience.
The second one, right?
When you can clearly articulate and visualize your goal, it becomes more achievable.
There are many ways to visualize your goal if you aren’t sure how to start. You can write it down or draw it out.
You can tell someone, such as a friend or business partner, or take photographs that represent your goal. Go with your strengths.
When you ask a successful entrepreneur what their goal is, they can tell you in great detail what it is that they’re working to achieve.
8. Hire great partners
I’ll admit that this one might be a little bit obvious.
Successful entrepreneurs aren’t successful within a vacuum. We all have a great team and support network behind us.
And when I recommend hiring great partners, I don’t just mean someone who can do the job you’re hiring them for.
I want you to hire partners who have great character and whom you like and respect.
And just as a bonus, you’re more likely to succeed with a partner than you are on your own.
You and your partners will be working long hours together and making stressful decisions. If your partner has a character that you don’t respect, your team won’t last long.
Fill your team with people who have great character and you’re well on your way to success.
When choosing your partners and team members, always remember that you can teach skills, but you can’t teach character.
9. Act
Talk only delays action.
Successful entrepreneurs act.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in planning, considering potential failures, discussing funding, and talking in meetings with board members. If all you do is talk, you’ll get nothing done.
At some point, you have to halt the talking and make something happen.
10. Spend time
Do you think that there’s such a thing as an overnight success? I recommend that you take a closer look.
Upon examination, those people and businesses that became overnight sensations and successes actually worked really hard and long for their achievements.
When you think you’ve found an overnight success, check again and examine closely the hours, days, and years that went into their success.
Take a look at their life, the things they learned, and how many times they failed.
Successful entrepreneurs take the time that’s required to reach success. And many of them have failures along the way.
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