Everything starts from your mind.
Your thinking will determine your decision and your decision will
determine your action. And your action will get you the result, whether
you want it or not.
Therefore, if you want to be a
successful entrepreneur, first you have to adopt the right mindset. When
you have the right mindset, you will make the right decision, which
will lead you to take the right action. And if you take the right
action, you will be able to produce the right result.
Here are 7 actions that will help you become a successful entrepreneur:
1. Be proactive
A successful entrepreneur is someone who is proactive
and gets things done rather than someone who waits for things to happen
and then respond. Your reactive mindset is not going to help you in
your business.
This is exactly how Richard Branson
started his Virgin Airline business. Instead of being stranded in the
airport due to flight cancellation, he leveraged on his proactive
mindset and solved the problem. He chartered an airplane and sold
tickets to the stranded passengers. And the rest is history.
Everyone has dreams. Are you going to act on your dreams or are you just going to let it be a dream?
2. Be innovative
Just like Apple’s tagline, you need
to “Think Different” to create outstanding success as an entrepreneur.
This world is full of ordinary people who take orders, work without
thinking and never question anything. That is why they are just
ordinary.
Being an entrepreneur is different. You have to think differently than ordinary people
and be innovative. Look at how Steve Jobs transformed the personal
computer industry with Mac. He did it again with iPod in the music
industry and then conquered the mobile phone industry with iPhone.
You have to think into the future and dream big enough to create change to the industry.
“Innovation is taking two things that already exist and putting them together in a new way.” – Tom Freston
3. Trust yourself
Trust your ability, trust that you
can do it and believe in your dreams. You have to be the first person to
believe in yourself. There will be a lot of rejections, a lot of
setbacks and a lot of mistakes waiting for you to get through.
Every successful entrepreneur trusts
himself or herself that he or she can build something extraordinary.
This is what allows ordinary people to tap into their maximum potential
and create amazing results in life.
If you don’t trust yourself and your
dreams, you would give up sooner than you think. People can produce
outstanding success in their lives because they believe and persist with
their dreams.
4. Never give up
The world as you know it would be
very different if Henry Ford gave up his dream to mass produce cars. And
can you imagine, there will be no Disneyland if Walt Disney gives up as
well?
All the great successes are a result
of someone’s tenacity and their mindset of never quitting. If you quit,
you lose. As long as you did not quit, you stand a chance to win the
game. So never give up.
5. Have fun
As an entrepreneur, you need to have
fun as well. Regardless of whether it is in your life or business, you
need to have fun to create great work.
Richard Branson said, “A business has
to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative
instincts.” If it is not fun, you’d rather look for something else to
do.
Having fun is one of the most
underrated things in business that most people don’t take into
consideration. Remember, your work is going to fill up a large part of
your life. You want to have fun and have the passion when doing it.
6. Dare to take risk
Are you a risk taker? When I mention taking a risk, I don’t refer to taking a risk like gambling. I’m talking about taking calculated risk. Successful entrepreneurs study the situation, do the research and calculate the risk before they jump in.
There’s no point going into the game
if you know you are going to lose. You go into the game because you know
that you have a higher percentage to win the game. The same goes in
business. Don’t jump into a business opportunity blindly. Study the
situation and do the research.
Understand that you will go in only
when you have a higher chance of winning. If you don’t have that
competitive advantage of winning, it is not taking the risk; it is
gambling.
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” – Mark Zuckerberg
7. Be extraordinary
Dare to be different. If you cannot
differentiate your business from others, you are in trouble. Everyone
else has been taken; you just need to be yourself. It is the time when
you stay true to your authentic self; you will be able to create the
breakthrough because you are shining as yourself, and not others.
Another thing about being
extraordinary is that you need to do the additional and go the extra
mile. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the little
extra that you put in.
Every successful entrepreneur goes
the extra mile, does something more, puts in more time, pour in more
effort and take more action than ordinary people. That is why they are
successful.
Some of these may not be your
strength but you have to adopt them, practice them and live them. It may
not be easy, and it will be challenging to practice them, but the
reward will be well worth it. Keep these seven things in mind when
becoming and entrepreneur.
