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SUCCESS STRATEGIES
21 Success Tips for Young and Aspiring Entrepreneurs
SUJAN PATEL
CONTRIBUTOR
Entrepreneur and Marketer, VP of Marketing at When I Work
Being successful often means learning from those who have already achieved their goals. Having a mentor is an amazing blessing to an entrepreneur, but not everyone can find one in person.
If you haven’t yet found your personal business guru, here are 21 tips for young or aspiring entrepreneur to help get you started.
1. Challenge yourself.
Richard Branson says his biggest motivation is to keep challenging himself. He treats life like one long university education, where he can learn more every day. You can too!
2. Do work you care about.
There’s no doubt that running a business take a lot of time. Steve Jobs noted that the only way to be satisfied in your life is to do work that you truly believe in.
3. Take the risk.
We never know the outcome of our efforts unless we actually do it. Jeff Bezos said it helped to know that he wouldn’t regret failure, but he would regret not trying.
4. Believe in yourself.
As Henry Ford famously said, “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.” Believe that you can succeed, and you’ll find ways through different obstacles. If you don’t, you’ll just find excuses.
5. Have a VISION.
The founder and CEO of Tumblr, David Karp, notes that an entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and a desire to create it. Keep your vision clear at all times.
6. Find good people in our surroundings
Who you’re with is who you become. Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, noted that the fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be.
7. Face your Fears.
Overcoming fear isn’t easy, but it must be done. Arianna Huffington once said that she found fearlessness was like a muscle -- the more she exercised it, the stronger it became.
8. Take ACTION.
The world is full of great ideas, but success only comes through action. Walt Disney once said that the easiest way to get started is to quit talking and start doing. That’s true for your success as well.
9. Do the time.
No one succeeds immediately, and everyone was once a beginner. As Steve Jobs wisely noted, “if you look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” Don’t be afraid to invest time in your company.
10. Manage energy, not time.
Your energy limits what you can do with your time, so manage it wisely.
11. Build a great team.
No one succeeds in business alone, and those who try will lose to a great team every time. Build your own great team to bolster your success.
12. Hire character.
As you build your team, hire for character and values. You can always train someone on skills, but you can’t make someone’s values fit your company after the fact.
13. Plan for raising capital.
Richard Harroch, a venture capitalist, has this advice for upcoming entrepreneurs: “It’s almost always harder to raise capital than you thought it would be, and it always takes longer. So plan for that.”
14. Know your goals.
Ryan Allis, co-founder of iContact, pointed out that having the end in mind every day ensures you’re working toward it. Set goals and remind yourself of them each day.
15. Learn from Mistakes.
Many entrepreneurs point to mistakes as being their best teacher. When you learn from your mistakes, you move closer to success -- even though you initially failed.
16. Know your Customer.
Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s, cited knowing your customer as one of his three keys to success. Know those you serve better than anyone else, and you’ll be able to deliver the solutions they need.
17. Learn from Complaints.
Bill Gates once said that your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. Let unhappy customers teach you where the holes in your service are.
18. Ask for customers’ input.
Assuming what customers want or need will never lead to success. You must ask them directly, and then carefully listen to what they say.
19. Spend Money wisely.
When you spend money on your business, be careful to spend it wisely. It’s easy to spend too much on foolish things and run out of capital too soon.
20. Understand your industry.
Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos, once said, “Don’t play games you don’t understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them.” Truly understanding your industry is key to having success.
21. Deliver more than expected.
Google's Larry Page encourages entrepreneurs to deliver more than customers expect. It’s a great way to get noticed in your industry and build a loyal following of advocates.
Being a successful entrepreneur takes a lot of work, a lot of vision and a lot of perseverance. These 21 tips, from entrepreneurs who have already found success, will help you navigate the path much more easily.
JUNE 26, 2015
Building great, sustainable and meaningful relationships is arguably one of the most important things we can do during our time here on Earth.
All too often, we see men and women who think it’s perfectly fine to neglect their relationships just to move up the corporate ladder or increase their net worth.
Now, don’t get me wrong. You absolutely should strive to get better and advance from where you are to somewhere higher up within a company. And who doesn’t like to make more money and see their net worth increase every year? However, this should not be done at the expense of neglecting what’s most important: relationships.
Related: Why Trust Is the Most Important Part of 'Know, Like and Trust'
What a lot of people don't understand is that creating and nurturing exceptional relationships will actually help advance your career and increase your personal net worth. Relationships and people aren’t just important when referring to living a healthy and happy life, they are also the foundation of creating exceptional businesses.
It utterly amazes me when I see someone neglect a relationship for the sake of closing a deal. It may give you short-term satisfaction and build your ego, but as time goes on, it will do more harm than good.
The companies and organizations that dominate their competition and market completely understand the extreme importance of creating a memorable and unbelievable experience for their customers. They understand that people matter. They understand that every single relationship and interaction matters.
A piece of advice that changed the direction of how I operate and look at business is as follows: “If you want to make a million dollars, serve a million people.” Regardless of what business you are running or what field you are in, when you aim to serve people, build meaningful relationships and adopt the “people matter” mentality, you will eventually win in the game of business.
We live in a technology-driven society, which is both a blessing and a curse. It’s unreal the amazing things that technology can do for us these days, but we are at the point where human interaction and relationships with actual people are being pushed to the side by a large portion of entrepreneurs, organizations and companies.
Besides creating a world-class product or having an exceptional service to offer, the quickest way to grow your business and build a loyal and growing fan base is through care. Care for every relationship, interaction, tweet, email and phone call that you come across. Go out of your way to make people feel special. People matter.
These wonderful words from Max Lucado sum it up perfectly:
“When you are in the final days of your life, what will you want? Will you hug that college degree in the walnut frame? Will you ask to be carried to the garage so you can sit in your car? Will you find comfort in rereading your financial statement? Of course not. What will matter then will be people. If relationships will matter most then, shouldn’t they matter most now?”
Relationships matter most. People matter most -- in life, and in the game of business.
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