Are You An Entrepreneur?

1. Have successful thoughts.

To achieve success as an entrepreneur, you need to dream big. You need to have big dreams for yourself You need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve. But it doesn’t stop in dreaming alone. You should actively visualize success in your mind so that you can almost feel it, touch it or have it within your reach. Play this image back at every opportunity. What would it feel to double your current income? How will your life change for the better? What will your business look like if you achieved the million dollar mark? Successful entrepreneurs possess an attitude of openness and faith that they can have what you want if you can simply envision it as the first step on the path of action to acquiring it.

2. Love what you do.

You start a business to change part of your life. To attain this change, you need to develop or uncover your personal passion to change the way things are and to live life to the fullest. Success comes easily if you are passionate with what you do. Why? We are more relentless in our pursuit of goals about things that we love. If you hate your job right now, do you think you will ever be successful at it? You may plod along, even become competent at the tasks, but you will never be a great success at it. You will achieve peak performance and do what you have to do to succeed only if you are doing something that interests you or something that you care about. Entrepreneurs who succeed do not mind the fact that they are putting in 15 or 18 hours a day to their business because they absolutely love what they do. Success in business is all about patience and hard work, which can only be attained if you are passionate and crazy with your tasks and activities.

3. Concentrate on your strengths.

It’s not possible to be everything to everybody. Each of us has our own strengths and weaknesses. To be successful, you need to identify your strengths and focus on it. You will be more effective if you are able to channel your efforts to areas that you do best. In business, for example, if you know you have good marketing instincts, then harness this strength and make full use of it. Seek help or assistance in areas that you may be poor at, such as accounting or bookkeeping. To transform your weakness to strength, consider taking hands-on learning or formal training.

4. Never consider failure.

As an entrepreneur, you need to fully believe in your goals and yourself, and that you can do it. Know that what you are doing will contribute to the betterment of your environment and your personal self. You should have strong faith in your ideas, your capabilities and yourself. You must believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have the ability to recognize and fulfill them. The more you can develop faith in your ability to achieve your goals, the more rapidly you can attain it.

5. Make Proper Plans.

You have a vision, and you have enough faith in yourself to believe that you can achieve your vision. But do you know how to get to your vision? You need to have concrete goals that will provide the stepping-stone towards your ultimate success. Put your goals in writing and plan each day in such a way that your every action contributes to this. Intense goal orientation is the characteristic of every successful entrepreneur. They have a vision, and they know how to get there. Your ability to set goals and make plans for your accomplishment is the skill required to succeed. Plan, plan and plan because without which failure is guaranteed.

6. Work harder than ever before.

Every successful entrepreneur works hard, very hard. Ask any successful businessperson and they will tell you immediately that they had to work more than 60 hours per week at the start of their businesses. Be prepared to say goodbye to after-office drinks every day, or a regular weekend get-away trip. If you are in a start-up phase, you will have to breathe, eat and drink your business until it can stand on its own. Working hard will be easy if you have a vision, clear goals, and are passionate with what you do.

7. Find New Ways to Network.

Businesses always need assistance, more so small businesses, you need to possess good networking skills and always be alert to opportunities to expand your contacts. You may meet someone at a trade association meeting who can help you secure funding, or someone at a conference who can provide you with management advise. It is important to form alliances with people who can help you, and whom you can help in return.

8. Be Willing To Learn.

You do not need to be a MBA degree holder or PhD graduate to succeed in your own business. In fact, there are a lot of entrepreneurs who did not even graduate High School and studies have shown that most self-made millionaires have average intelligence. Nonetheless, they have achieved their goals in business because they are willing to study and learn – especially with the amount of new technology and the ever-changing ways of doing business.

9. Keep your faith.

No one said that the road to success is easy. Despite your good intentions and hard work, sometimes you will fail. Some very successful entrepreneurs have suffered setbacks and resounding defeats, even bankruptcy, yet refocused and rebounded. You must learn to pick yourself up and start again. Your persistence is the measure of the belief in yourself. Remember, if you keep your faith, you will achieve your goals.

10. Self discipline.

“Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you like it or not.” (Thomas Huxley) Self-discipline is the key to being successful. It’s not an easy lesson to learn but once you set your mind to your goal, and focus, focus, focus, you can achieve your dream.

Learning these ten strategies for successful entrepreneurs is not for everybody; there are some of you who prefer to work for someone else the rest of your lives.

Technology for Every Generation – by Theo Schmidt

James Hickey

Internet Marketing Consultant

619-224-2592 Mon to Fri 9am to 4pm PST