Published: August 1st, 2018; By: Judi Hughes
We love working with entrepreneurs. People who own their own business are some of the hardest working, most creative and energized people we know.
Building a successful business can be rewarding and fulfilling but it can also be challenging and lonely.
Fact is; the successful growth of your business is completely dependent on you – the business owner.
If it works – it all comes down to you having done the right things – making the right decisions, hiring the right people, having the right growth plan, taking advantage of the right opportunities.
If it doesn’t work – it all comes down on you too.
So how can you maximize your opportunity for business success?
1. As your business grows and becomes more complex – you need experience to apply to your decision making.
You don’t need to always learn from your own mistakes:
- Hang out with experienced, successful business owners. Listen, watch and learn.
- Find a successful business owner as a mentor to help work through challenges.
- Read everything you can about entrepreneurs who have grown their businesses. Learn from their successes AND from their mistakes!
- Consider hiring or partnering with someone to fill gaps in areas where you lack expertise.
- Subscribe to small business management blogs. Note we suggest “small business” because managing large companies is very different.
2. As the driver of your business you wear multiple hats. It’s impossible to be the master of everything – but you do need to know enough to ask the right questions.
- Make constant learning a priority. Identify your most serious knowledge gaps and seek out webinars, workshops, and programs with practical – not theoretical – learning specifically targeting those subjects.
3. Self-confidence is the backbone of all successful business owners. You need to put practices in place to support you in times of doubt.
- Take a few minutes every day to reflect on 3 things you accomplished. It’s always easy to dwell on what we didn’t achieve.
- Find words and phrases to bring you confidence. In his book “How to Think Like a Millionaire”, Mark Fischer suggests this wonderful mantra ~ Every Day In Every Way I am Getting Better and Better!
- Hang out with positive people; their positive attitude will rub off on you. The opposite is true as well; eliminate the negative people in your life.
- Your body goes through the same physical and mental response when you are scared as when you are excited. The next time you are feeling insecure and afraid, simply say: “Am I ever excited!”
4. Remember your Vision. It is so easy to become absorbed by the issues of today – cash flow, client delivery, managing team problems, making sales and more.
Truly successful business owners work “in today” and they also make time to think and work “in the future.”
Being a business owner is a tough job! It is even a tougher job if you don’t have a clear Vision pulling you into the future.
Take time to dream. Then, make time in every week to work on the future.
Enjoy the journey! It’s worth it!
As always, feel free to contact us directly. We’d love to hear from you.