Succeeding as an entrepreneur requires specific characteristics that allow you to focus on your goals and challenges to reach your vision. I have identified five prerequisites for entrepreneurs to push forward and experience success. By developing the traits of successful entrepreneurs, you increase the odds of reaching your goals and experiencing success.
Be Flexible
If you want to be successful as an entrepreneur, you must perfect the discipline of flexibility – the law of non-attachment. Let your data speak for itself, and resist being attached to something because you “like” it; that is the worst way to know where to spend your time and money. Just like with your body, flexibility requires practice and commitment – for most people, it does not come naturally, but when you make it a priority, you can get to a place where decisions are made on merit, not feelings.
Embody Tenacity
You will reach a place that I call the Messy Middle, where it’s dark and difficult, and you want to give up because it feels like you are not going to make it — like nothing is happening for you. This is when you must double down and realize that it is always darkest before dawn. It takes drive to dive into what needs to be done and keep pushing forward. Perseverance and tenacity are vital because you must stay the course when obstacles happen along the way. Regardless of the vision or courage it took to step in, determination is critical to success because it allows you to finish the process.
Build a Strategy
Unless you know where you are going, then it’s impossible to get there. Strategy is the plan that helps you reach your goal. Developing your strategy is essential to your success because it allows you to break your plan into specific action steps that will lead you to success. Once this is in place, you can build your systems and increase your authority platform. Establishing yourself as an authority will ignite the client attraction machine that will propel you to your goal. Don’t be afraid of strategy – it leads to results.
Stay Focused
Once you know where you are going and develop a strategy to guide you, you must stay laser-focused to reach your goals. One way to accomplish focus is to ask yourself probing questions – Will this action that I am going to take right now help me reach my goal faster? If the answer is no, it is more than likely a distraction.
Trust your strategy and stick to it – if you don’t need another event, launch strategy, or digital marketing strategy, don’t waste your time and attention on these unneeded things. Maximize, optimize, and align what you already have, and then focus on which piece you want to work toward. I always encourage my clients to only focus on one strategy per quarter.
Understand Leadership
When I say leadership, I don’t mean some “pie in the sky” theory type of leading. I am talking about the kind of leadership that allows others to do their jobs to the point that you almost become obsolete. This is accomplished by putting great people in place who are fantastic at what they do and not micromanaging them. It’s the only way you will ever be able to scale your impact and grow your authority. You will never have time to lead if you do all the work. Place the best people around you and trust them to do what they do best.
Yes, your name is on it; your money is in it; your name is on the door; you came up with the idea – but your business is broader than just you. Lead in a way that makes your business larger than just you. At the Growth Architect, we want to help you break through with the tools you need to succeed in your business. If you want to hear more about developing the mindset and tools needed to find success as an entrepreneur, then watch my video.
Let’s grow!
Beate
Beate Chelette is The Growth Architect & Founder of The Women’s Code, a training company specialized in providing companies an ROI on Balanced Leadership. She has been named one of 50 must-follow women entrepreneurs by the Huffington Post. A first-generation immigrant who found herself $135,000 in debt as a single parent, she bootstrapped her passion for photography into a highly successful global business and eventually sold it to Bill Gates in a multimillion-dollar deal.
Beate works with business leaders and supports organizations by developing and providing training the training, tools, and expertise to create and maintain a balanced, equal, and inclusive work environment that fosters creativity, employee engagement, and corporate growth.
Recent clients include Merck, Women’s Legislative Caucus of California, Cal State University Dominguez Hills, Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), NFTE, CreativeLive, the Association of Corporate Growth, and TracyLocke.
Beate is the author of the #1 International Amazon Bestseller “Happy Woman Happy World – How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome” a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.
To book Beate to speak or train please connect here. Your Time Is Valuable!