I consider my extreme impatience to jump in the entrepreneurship one of the best things that could have happened to me. I was able to start my entrepreneurial journey at the age of 17! As a result of that, I have realized that I’ve been pursuing my own dreams for the last 7 years without ever looking back.
What is it that makes people successful? Are successful people smarter or do they work harder? Are they risk takers or do they have powerful and influential friends?
I have been able to learn numerous secrets, tricks and strategies in regards to what it takes to be successful as an entrepreneur. I have learned from my own experiences, from being mentored by other successful entrepreneurs and simply from educating myself on various topics. Here are 8 secrets to success I uncovered in my entrepreneurial journey:
1. Success Only Comes From Hard Work
We all know that there is no such thing as overnight success, but many of us fail to believe it regardless. For every successful person you see, they had to work and sweat behind the scenes for years before getting to where they are today. The only easy success comes from winning the lottery.
People with luck will tell you there’s no easy way to achieve success purely based on luck. Getting lucky is about working your ass off and having opportunity meet your hard work at the right time. Successful entrepreneurs always give 100% of their efforts to everything they do. If you know you are giving your best effort, you’ll never have any reason for regrets. Work like others are unwilling to work and you will find yourself achieving success.
2. Trust Your Instincts
There are times when you’ve got to stick to your ideas and beliefs. Then, there are other times when that’s the worst thing you can do. In most situations, there never really is a right answer. Even if there is a right answer, you won’t find out until later down the line. So what do you do?
In business and entrepreneurship specifically, you’re going to be faced with tons of dilemmas. Rather than sitting around trying to figure out the best answer, trust your instincts from time to time. Successful entrepreneurs are ones who can make a decision based on their instincts and live with the consequences later.
3. Be Willing To Adapt When Necessary
Sh*t happens and that is a reality of any entrepreneurial journey. Businesses changes, industries change and various issues arise on a daily basis. Running a business can be very unpredictable and can end up throwing a serious wrench into your plans.
Regardless of what challenges or obstacles you face, it isn’t the smartest or the strongest entrepreneurs that survive. Just like Charles Darwin said, it’s those who can easily adapt to their circumstances. As an entrepreneur, you have to see what is happening around you and utilize logic to make the best decisions possible. This will often times require you to change and adapt even when you aren’t comfortable doing so.
4. Rely On Your Team, No Individual Can Do It All
The quickest thing I figured out from being an entrepreneur was that no matter how hard I worked, I couldn’t do it alone. I needed help to really be successful in the long run. Successful people develop and nurture a network of partners and employees that share a common vision as them.
Everyone has limitations. The quicker you figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are, the better your odds of success will be. Find employees or partners to fill in your weaknesses and focus on your strengths. That’s what I have done for the past few years and I’ve seen my success amplified as a result of it. Best of all, I don’t feel as burned out as I did when I first started out because I’m not stressing over things I’m not so good at.
5. Enjoy The Journey Because It’s Going To Be Long
Every entrepreneur who has come before you and has become successful will tell you that you need to focus on your journey to success. Along with focus and determination to succeed, you also need to enjoy the journey. The journey will take a long time, maybe even a lifetime for some depending on your goals. Enjoying it is part of being successful and reaping the fruits of success later on. What is a success if you are not having fun with it? When you have fun, you are more likely to attract people who want to join you.
It’s the journey that changes you. The journey is how you grow, expand yourself and how you have fun. The journey is how you learn to cope with struggles and get back up when you’ve failed. Embrace the entire process because it’s great!
6. Make Tiny Improvements Each Day
Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out. There is a continuous process of improvement until you reach your goals. We don’t become the best or great at anything overnight. We need to improve our craft constantly. Ultimately, we need to do our best each day while always striving for excellence. It’s all about how much effort we put into our tasks and what kind of results we want to achieve. If we want to succeed, we need to be willing to do everything it takes and never give up.
The road to success is a tough one. There will be challenges each day and accomplishments along the way. Not every day is ever really the same, but we can make sure that we put our full effort in each day. Learn from each day by reflecting on what went well and what went poorly. After that, improve day by day and you will see yourself achieving far more in a 24 hour span than ever before.
7. Go The Extra Mile
There is one sure way to get what you want in life, but few people do it. Put this practice firmly into your day to day business activities and you will have an advantage at anything you do for the rest of your life. Successful people realize their life long dreams by doing things that most people are not willing to do.
Going the extra mile is part of a small business success mindset. It’s your business; you are ultimately responsible for the results. Setting deadlines for yourself and writing down your goals makes it easier to go the extra mile. With everything you do, don’t just put in 100%. Instead, put in 200%!
8. Don’t Stop Networking
Networking and going to events around the clock for me was one of the toughest things to do. I couldn’t be at the office working and it was rather tiring. However, the connections that I was able to make along the way were vital to my success. I like to say that it’s important what you know and who you know in business.
Understand that networking is crucial to success in most industries. As an entrepreneur especially, you can build lots of valuable connections. I met investors, employees, partners, clients and much more just from putting myself out there. Networking is very important regardless of where in your entrepreneurial journey you are.
Conclusion
Every individual who wants to succeed and has already succeeded has secrets that they followed to achieve their goals. In this post, I shared with you 8 secrets to success I uncovered in my entrepreneurial journey.
