As an entrepreneur, you can be both your own best friend and your worst enemy. Bouncing back and forth from being confident and savvy to doubting your every move is not uncommon for most business owners looking to reach their entrepreneurial dreams.
Reaching your goals and finding success can be an exciting personal achievement, however, every business has its own risk, from the small startup to the big corporation. The fact of the matter is, no one can guarantee success with absolute certainty. However, by following these 8 tips, you’ll stand a much greater chance of achieving success with your business.
1. Hustle
Want to reach your goals – fast? Adopting and embracing the hustle mentality is a surefire way to become successful.
A hustle mentality is the desire and commitment to get ahead, no matter what, even when faced with insurmountable challenges. Someone that hustles not only knows how to work smart, but they work hard, too.
Great entrepreneurs work an average of 60 hours a week, with some working much more than that. Reaching your goals isn’t a simple process. It’s easier to be lazy, but this laziness can quickly derail our entrepreneurial dreams. Running a business is hard work.
Take experts like Neil Patel, Co-Founder of KISSmetrics and Crazy Egg, and Founder of Quick Sprout, and Rand Fishkin, Co-Founder of Moz. These experts hustled their way to the top, establishing themselves as leaders in the digital marketing industry.
2. Hire Help
It’s easy to want to get involved in every aspect of your business – but you shouldn’t. If you don’t have to have your hands in it, you shouldn’t be doing it. Whether you choose to outsource or hire an in-house team, there are different ways you can take some of the burden off of your shoulders.
When you hire help and start delegating, you free up time to produce high quality work. You’ll also have the opportunity to focus on business growth.
The greatest delegators hire specialized talent to get the job done right. Check out my Dream Team Guide if you’re looking to assemble the perfect marketing team for your organization.
3. Stop Procrastinating
Every business has certain aspects that aren’t necessarily fun, but it’s important to not push these tasks aside. Paying invoices or prepping contracts aren’t always the best part about owning a business, but even the smallest of tasks are important and will push you in the right direction.
There are some things you can do to stop procrastinating. First, I suggest listing out the things “you were going to do tomorrow.” You know the ones—the tasks you’ve put on hold for a while now. This can give you some insights into what needs to get done. Look at the list in front of you and put some energy into one of your delayed tasks.
Setting a deadline is also an important step in ending procrastination. Tasks that don’t have a set deadline are easier to push off until tomorrow than those that have a clearly defined deadline.
4. Be Prepared
Not only can being unprepared ruin client pitches and client work, it can tarnish your reputation, which can be very hard to fix once it’s ruined.
As a business owner, you know that anything can happen. Entrepreneurs have to anticipate the unknown or it can disrupt their own well-laid plans. Building out a Plan B is the best way to stay prepared of any unknown changes ahead. Think about your path forward and assess the myriad twists and turns this path might take. Then do your best to prepare for what’s to come.
5. Stop Complaining
Negativity breeds failure. If you are someone that is constantly complaining and just plain miserable all of the time, it can be very difficult to be a leader. People naturally gravitate to those that have a more positive mentality, so you may be turning off potential clients or employees with your negative attitude without even knowing it.
Additionally, when you only focus on complaining about what’s wrong, you may lose sight of what’s working right. Putting your time and energy into what’s working can make your business stronger and opens your eyes to new growth opportunities. Furthermore, having a more positive outlook will add years to your life. In fact, one Yale study found that having a positive attitude can help you live seven years longer!
If something’s not working, take the time to build a well-thought out plan to fix it. Complaining won’t do much.
6. Ditch the Negative People
Negative people can suck the time and energy out of you. These individuals may be anxious, worried, pessimistic, and complain a lot. Not only does negativity breed failure, it always breeds more negativity. Once initiated, negativity can spread like wildfire and it can be difficult not to get dragged down that route. It’s important to note that these people don’t necessarily have to be within your organization. Perhaps they are a client that is sucking the life of out of you. You may need to reevaluate your situation and eventually cut ties.
Once you cut ties with the negative people in your life, it can seem like a burden is lifted off of your shoulders.
7. Get an Accountability Partner
Having an accountability buddy could be your secret weapon for faster growth. An accountability partner is a business peer who helps you grow your company by offering guidance and holds you accountable for your commitments.
While a mentor is similar, in an accountability partnership, both partners work on bettering their businesses with the feedback and support of each other. This could be the push that you need to reach your goals as accountability partners often help identify weaknesses in your business and help you set a plan to overcome them. Furthermore, they’ll hold you accountable to make sure you follow through with your actions.
If you are in the market for an accountability partner, it’s important to choose someone that will be brutally honest with you. You’ll want someone that will be straightforward with you, instead of someone that will rescue, fix, or save you. Additionally, you’ll want to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses. A great partnership relies on you giving back, so make sure you’re willing to provide constructive feedback even when it may be uncomfortable.
8. Learn from Your Mistakes
Every business owner is going to encounter some bumps in the road. However, if you want business success, it’s important to acknowledge these mistakes and stop them from happening in the future. If left neglected, even small mishaps have the potential to blossom into major headaches.
Failure and mistakes are a part of life. The most successful entrepreneurs made a couple of big mistakes before achieving greatness (just look at the infographic below)! You can bounce back from a big mistake by following these steps:
- – Accept responsibility. Don’t place the blame on anyone else.
- – Analyze the situation and figure out where you or your team went wrong.
- – Look for corrective measures and implement them.
- – Document the lesson learned to ensure that it does not happen in the future.
Get the Secrets to Growing your Business — Fast!
Owning your own business and pursuing your passions can be exciting, but what happens when your business takes over your life? Trying to achieve ultimate career success doesn’t have to come with packing more hours into your workday. In fact, working more hours won’t necessarily guarantee success. Instead, overworking can be a sign of an inefficient strategy, leaving you feeling burnt out and overworked.
If you are struggling to find balance between your work and home life while scaling your business, it may be time to reevaluate your overall strategy. Unlock the 5 Secrets for Growing your Business on Autopilot today to find out how to become more productive and profitable with your career.
