10 things entrepreneurs should do to ensure success
Over the past few years, with revelations of super-high business valuations, start-up funding details & disclosures, abrupt business closures, billion dollar deals gone successful or sour etc becoming part of our routine and with that, the pressure on entrepreneurs have been, well, ever increasing.
This has recently even lead to grave endings for many dreamers who were unable to cope up with the mounting pressures on a daily basis.
I thought of sharing few aspects that one could look into which may come in handy to ease the daily pressure and focus on what is important and relevant:
1. Block Negativity:
When you receive direct feedback about your work, way of work etc, if this is a direct response to your request for the same from the said individual, then by all means ensure to LISTEN carefully, don’t get defensive and take the feedback in the right spirit. But what if it is unsolicited advice:
- When it is unsolicited advice or feedback that you receive, look for the following signs:
- Is the individual known to you, then pay heed and take it in the right stride and if it is valuable, incorporate and if not, diplomatically ignore. No need to get into a fight.
- Is this individual unknown to you? Then the question arises why are they giving this feedback and what type of feedback is it. For eg. some people give feedback that are positive and negative depending on the situation. This is always refreshing because you know that, these are the people that genuinely care. Then of course, there are those who speak or connect or communicate or have a conversation with you ONLY to when they want to give NEGATIVE feedback. Stay away and steer clear of such people. Their only goal in life is to instigate others or put people down. These are thoroughly unprofessional individuals. You don’t need to have such negativity around at any point of time. Block and or completely ignore such people.
2. Bandwidth:
Now, there are people who will suck your bandwidth with their never ending need to “catch-up”. Watch out for them. They will spend most of their time attending parties, so called networking meet-ups (run by a bunch of pretentious people) and ensure you that these are most crucial in building a good business.
They have no value for real work and or actual goals. Their only focus is to “look successful” in front of other people. You will more often than not find such cowards hiding behind the success of their parents, friends, business partners, spouse etc on whose money, time, efforts, credentials or contacts they try to hide and look successful.
What such people do is actually none of our business. The only thing you need to remember is that, exceptional businesses are not built because you know someone important. It happens because of exceptional work, exceptional quality of services, impeccable discipline, high ethics coupled with professionalism, proven track records of accomplished tasks, goals, awards, accolades, case studies, consistent upgradation of services, constantly rebuilding your business products / services based on industry and customer requirements etc.
Also, there is usually a pattern with pretentious wannabes. They will tell you about their multiple companies, scores of brands and businesses they have built in the past few years and when you get into the details of their brands or business, all you can hear is hoopla because they do not have anything concrete to show you.
Stay away from people who suck your bandwidth. Time is the greatest commodity for an entrepreneur. Don’t waste it on such people.
Remember, not everyone has the same priority as yours in life. So surround yourself with people who have the same goals as yours.
3. Build something of Value and work tirelessly:
Do you really want to grow? Then here is the simple deal: Build something of great value, work tirelessly on your abilities, ensure that at least 60-70%% of your business leads and sales developed so far are through your own efforts and not just from references or contacts from family and friends. Remember, eventually, that does not sustain.
Don’t fall into that dogma wherein those who have never done anything remarkable convince you that you can’t do it either.
Keep working till you no longer need to introduce yourself.
Great businesses were not built by people taking weekends off, holidays three or four times a year, working 5-7 hours on weekdays etc. People who are exceptional do not feel the ‘stress’ and or need to take breaks because they are really good at it, they enjoy and mostly because, they truly love what they do. So not even a single day feels like work.
4. Focus on Business REVENUE and PROFITS:
Unless you are running an NGO, you need to generate consistent revenue and make profits.
The purpose of every business is to create a customer ~ Peter Drucker
If you keep working for CHEAP and FREE without a clear business goal and revenue model, you cannot sustain as a business in the long run. There are plenty of reasons other than money why businesses shut down which we will have no control over. But this, is something that would be your call. There will be scores of people who would want your know-how, expertise, etc but for free. They might offer you freebies in return, but ask yourself, unless you generate income for your time devoted across any cause that is “professional and business-centric”, how are you going to survive on shopping vouchers or free foreign trips or free food & resort with spas, etc You need cash flow to survive, sustain and grow in the long run to help you build better products and deliver better quality of services.
5.Prioritize and give stringent deadlines to yourself:
Plan your routine for every single day. Focus, create a list of daily deliverable, plan it, accomplish and make it a routine. This will help you avoid looking at social networking sites, watching tv shows, taking every call, attending every meeting, etc that are not on your first thing to do today list. It will ease your pressure, calm you down and let you finish complex tasks first and set a smooth sail for the rest of the day, week and year. More than motivation, add a WHY to your tasks, as in what happens if you do not accomplish a specific task and make sure you don’t take it as a pressure, rather as a reason of why you need to achieve something. It’s like a marathon, its about endurance. When you can see and or feel the joy you accomplish when you finish a marathon or a half marathon, the pain seems worthwhile, which becomes temporary as the pride stays forever. Be disciplined. No one ever who slacked around accomplished anything valuable.
6. Don’t compare, look at the larger perspective:
As an entrepreneur, ‘news’ about who is doing what should never be a priority. Discussing unruly topics or people should never ever be on your daily list. Focus on what is important and relevant to you. You have accomplished your tasks for the day, you have some free time, spend it with your loved ones, family, friends, etc. Or read a book, listen to soothing music, go for a run, sketch, paint, play music, play games etc. Never compare yourself with what others are doing and how you fair on that scale and at the same time, never let others opinion about you become your reality.
As an entrepreneur, you should place yourself in a mental position from where you can not only see the short term goals, but the complete vision wherein it feels like you are looking at the city’s skyline from afar and yet somehow, everything seems to be very clear.
7. Let go of EGO and Encourage others:
Did you know that EGO is one of the top five reasons across the globe of why businesses or deals have failed. So let go of that ego, but not at the cost of your discipline or ethics. Remember, be in the business of building client brand partners who you would want to look and smile at while crossing the street even if you are not in business with them anymore. In the long run or short run, never make it abut the money. It’s always about the right wavelength of people with whom you connect and build a brand.
Never accept failure to boost someone else’s ego and never let your ego get in the way of accepting your fault or in appreciating someone else. Great leaders always appreciate others. The more you encourage your peers, friends, etc the happier, at peace you tend to become with yourself.
8. Deliver Value, be disciplined and showcase excellence at all times:
Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected ~ Steve Jobs
At all times focus on delivering products and services of value. Never take a shortcut in your journey, there are no shortcuts to success. Be a no-nonsense professional with great discipline. People might not be comfortable, they might think you are weird or rude even, but never compromise on discipline. Remember, this is not a place to win a popularity contest. You are not here to please everyone. You are here to make a dent in the universe!
9. Decision followed by action:
Many entrepreneurs fall into the rut of planning, goal setting and idea generation. But there is no concrete action so there are no actual results. Do not wait for that perfect product, there will never be a perfect product. The time is Now. Take action, get started, make it happen and improvise based on feedback. That does not mean that you launch a product that is half-done. But set a clear timeline to your schedule and if its taking years, then ask yourself, should it really take years? If the answer is yes, then go ahead and keep working on it and if not, take steps NOW!
A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided Tony Robbins
10. Relax, enjoy and love what you do:
Nothing is life is permanent, not even our troubles Charlie Chaplin
If you are going through some hard times, keep going, but whatever you do never give up. Focus on the things you did on your own, where you have reached, remind yourself of the journey so far.
Don’t take life so seriously all the time. Take a break and honestly enjoy what you are doing.
One thing I would strongly recommend for you to do if you are an entrepreneur is to read books that have biographies and autobiographies of some really successful entrepreneurs. Why because, when you read their books you will learn about things which you never even thought could have happened. Unfortunately, we live in a world wherein either only final success or worse false success is celebrated most of the times.
Great accomplishments always require unbelievable sacrifices in life. It’s a journey. So learn what to do when your dreams and passions fail.
Whatever you do, never give up. Never take steps that will have no positive outcome. Under no circumstances should you ever take drastic measures to end your current pain or misery inspite of how difficult things may seem or unbearable life might feel. It takes only a millisecond for things to change for good. Talk to your friends or loved ones, if you cannot do that then take professional help if you feel too stressed out, there is nothing wrong with that. Say to yourself:
It’s not over until I win ~ Les Brown
Hope you found this useful.
I wanted to give a realistic approach with few insights and not sugarcoat it in anyway.
Life is hard, life is tough, but you need to be tougher than your dreams. Focus, live long, happily, peacefully and enjoy your journey.
Have a wonderful week ahead.
Be Well
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