According to Joe Haslam, a professor at IE Business School, ‘Entrepreneurship is a way of life that you learn by doing.’ The fact is that becoming a successful entrepreneur doesn’t come naturally, and it doesn’t come easy either.
Entrepreneurs who start their businesses are armed only with bright ideas, innovation, and buckets full of passion. Yet, learning how to run a thriving and prospering business takes quite a long time. Entrepreneurs don’t have a structured organization, aren’t backed with capital, or have a strong team, in many cases.
Thus, entrepreneurs face various unique challenges during their ventures. These challenges set entrepreneurs up for success, help them create a legacy, and leave behind colorful and illuminating survival stories.
Some entrepreneurs make their way to the top through trial and error and others with luck. But what all successful entrepreneurial business owners have is perseverance. They didn’t pick practical business skills through education; instead, they learned them through experience along the way.
To help you avoid roadblocks and setbacks, let’s explore 10 essential business lessons you need to learn from successful entrepreneurs:
- Follow Your Passion
As Confucius, the famous Chinese philosopher, once said, ‘Choose a job you love, and you won’t have to work a day.‘
The fact is that your success largely depends on your passion, your thirst for success, and your love for what you do. If you enjoy your what you do, you’re more likely to invest your time and resources in it.
But if you don’t like what you are doing, every day will feel like a struggle, you won’t want to work hard, and you’ll find it impossible to invest yourself fully.
- Research and Work on Your Ideas
Behind every business model is a big, bright idea. But behind every successful business idea, there is a surety that it is achievable and realistic.
According to Jane Caujolle, director of Townhouse Concierge, it’s essential that you work hard on your idea, map it out, and ensure that it’s feasible in the market.
Moreover, Caujolle recommends entrepreneurs conduct market research by asking for industry advice. Don’t be afraid to ask others to validate and critique your vision. In-depth market knowledge is necessary if you want to succeed.
- Put Your Ideas into Practice
Coming up with ideas is not challenging; however, it can be tricky to develop innovative ideas and put them into practice. Before placing an idea into practice, you need to make sure you pick something that genuinely excites you. Ask yourself: Is this something I’ll be happy to do in ten or even more years?
Take the example of Artisanal pencil sharpener founder David Reese. He enjoys the art of pencil sharpening and has successfully turned it into a lucrative business. Today people send their old pencils to David, and he uses state-of-the-art tools to restore them for $40.
- Learn from Your Failures
One of the most critical lessons from seasoned entrepreneurs is that failure isn’t necessarily bad. It shouldn’t dissuade you from achieving your dreams.
Instead, failure should help you learn valuable lessons, make better choices in the future, and avoid past mistakes.
Hiten Shah, the co-founder of KISSmetrics, launched an array of failed products before making it big. He even spent $1 million from his pocket on a web hosting company that never launched.
- Make Calculated Decisions
Impulsive behavior and rash decisions can cause setbacks for entrepreneurs. No matter your business’s size, you always have multiple things at stake whenever making a business decision.
So, it’s a wise idea to ensure your emotions don’t control you. Instead, you need to make calculated decisions after carefully contemplating all the variables.
The perfect example of this is Bill Gates, who claimed to have written a programming language for MITS Altair 8000. He then worked with Allen, his best friend, to develop BASIC. Although Gates took a considerable risk, it was calculated.
- Work ‘On’ Your Business Instead of ‘In’ It
More often than not, entrepreneurs get so immersed in running the different company operations that they have almost no time to think about the big picture.
While it’s true that careful management and hard work are crucial to business success, but taken to an extreme, it can keep owners from looking at their long-term vision. To gain clarity, perspective, and imagine the big picture, you need to step back and be introspective.
VistaVu Solutions’ president and CEO, Jory Lamb, learned how to run his business the hard way. After leaving a profitable career as an accountant, he invested all his time working tirelessly only to stay afloat. Exhausted and mentally tired, Lamb did something people would call him crazy for; he took a vacation when cash flow was tight.
During his six-week vacation, inspiration struck, and Jory Lamb mapped out a business plan, communicated it, and started working on it.
- It’s Not All About the Money
Although making money is a big part of a striving business, your mission, vision, and passion are more important.
Take the example of the multibillionaire and globally renowned inventor of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. Not only was he a dollar away from becoming broke, but he also rejected a billion-dollar offer from Yahoo for selling Facebook.
Zuckerberg’s dedication to his project, desire to feel like he’s doing his best, and passion for creating a community and bringing the world closer, is what made Facebook a giant in the social networking industry.
- Believe in Yourself
One lesson that’s not just true for the world of entrepreneurship but across all careers is that you need to believe in yourself. Self-doubt can hamper your path to success and personal greatness.
If you don’t believe in yourself and keep undermining your efforts, you’ll end up focusing too much on your setbacks and not enough on your achievements. So, instead of giving up because of negative feedback, you need to celebrate your achievements and keep believing in yourself.
We wouldn’t have Google if Larry Page had listened to naysayers and given up.
- Be a People Person
To become a successful entrepreneur, you need to foster good relationships with the people around you. Business revolves around establishing a good rapport and being likable to ensure clients keep working with you.
Jan Hoffmann-Keining, the co-founder at Spacebase, believes that you need to connect with someone you would like to talk to and seek help from in your wildest dreams. Ask them for their expert advice and to be honest.
You may have to send a hundred different messages, but at least five people will answer back.
- Reinvent Yourself
To become a successful entrepreneur, you need to reinvent yourself and find yourself continuously. Most entrepreneurs preach this lesson; that you need to stay up-to-date with the latest industry news and the latest trends.
Sebastian Bates, the founder of Warrior Academy, transformed his business model to boost sign-ups and revenue. His business largely depended on engaged people showing up to physical locations; however, he recently launched online classes and an anti-bullying program.
The Bottom Line
On the surface, entrepreneurs are people who start their business ventures and assume risks along the way. But more than that, entrepreneurs are those with an eye for opportunity, acceptance for failure, and driven by passion.
Without these essential lessons, it’s unlikely you’ll be as successful as you dreamed of being. It’s why up to 90% of startups fail within their first five years. If you’re planning to develop your business and succeed, you must consistently follow the essential lessons mentioned above.
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