A guide to best practices for greater success.
It takes a special breed to not only become a successful entrepreneur but also to maintain that position in an ultra-competitive and at-times-cutthroat commercial arena. Many try but only an elite few succeed to solidify and grow their business over the long-term.
In business, as in pretty much everything in life, experience breeds excellence, and for many novice entrepreneurs, that inexperience can lead to many hurdles and subsequent stumbles, more setbacks than successes, and more often than not crushing failures rather than glorious victories. But it’s those tough few that refuse to relent, yield, surrender, or give in to discouragement and defeat. These invincibles of industry, these commandos of commerce simply don’t know the meaning of quit and keep pressing forward, no matter the headwinds against them, and indeed sometimes succeed in the most unconventional of ways.
Against all the odds, when these tough-as-nails entrepreneurial titans finally do reach the summit of success, many are both willing and enthusiastic to share their journey with peers and those just beginning that said journey for themselves. Passing on that knowledge can help immeasurably to avoid many of the traps and pitfalls so common in the business world.
Accordingly, for the purposes of this article, we’ve consulted several top entrepreneurial professionals, and as a result of their contributions, we will list 5 tips that every good businessman worth his salt would be good at taking to heart in practice.
Ready? Let’s go…
1. Positivity
It’s vitally important that you remain of a positive mindset, even when things seem not to be going your way. Discouragement breeds negativity and will, invariably, result in failure, as sure as night follows day.
It’s best to consider every setback not as a failure but a learning experience that you will emerge from the other side of as a wiser person and a better business operator. Always keep in mind your initial vision, stay focused on that no matter what obstacles come your way. With a positive and can-do mindset, you’re unstoppable… but only if you choose to be!
2. People
Further to the previous tip, and staying positive, it’s an imperative to keep around you people who are positive, encouraging, pro-growth, and most importantly, objective.
It’s very easy to fall into negativity, so what you need is a strong, proactive team around you to build up not only yourself in times of doubt but each other. Strong links create a stronger chain that can withstand all kinds of pressure.
3. Persistence
Of all the advice our experts gave us in researching this article, this was the one emphasized more than any other.
Time and again our professionals stated unequivocally the importance of staying the course, sticking within your vision, keep working hard, and don’t take the path of least resistance just because it’s there. Also, don’t just do it for the money, do it because you genuinely love the work.
4. Philanthropy
With success comes responsibility. Giving back is not just good for the soul but good for business too.
On a purely cynical level (not that we would approve of such an approach), giving back to the community and/or individual worthy causes can be great for both publicity and goodwill aimed at your business. However, genuinely believing in the concept of giving back and doing it with love and passion can actually create opportunities and contacts that will help grow your business as well as make you feel good.
5. Pragmatism
You may have a set vision as a budding entrepreneur, a definite plan to realize your goals… unfortunately, as the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) so eloquently observed, “the best laid plans of mice and men so often go awry.”
Being able to adapt to changing circumstances is an important part of entrepreneurship. Sometimes life intervenes to shift your initial plan(s) and you need that flexibility to be able to change course accordingly. But some of the biggest and most successful ideas in business have been the result of such problem-solving changes being forced on a business, so accept it, deal with it, go with the flow, and who knows where it might lead?
Good luck and all success to you!
