Being a business owner or entrepreneur is no joke. There are long hours, loads of responsibilities on your shoulders, and lots to keep organized while still trying to find time to spend with your family.
While being your own boss can be rewarding, it can also present many different challenges. Some issues are unavoidable and come with the territory of owning your own business. However, have you ever considered that you may be to blame for not achieving your goals? In many cases, you may be self-sabotaging your own success — and not even know it!
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1. Take Calculated Risks
Starting your own business is a huge risk, but throughout the process, you’ll also face smaller risks that need to be addressed. Successful entrepreneurs take on these risks with ease because they realize that it is part of the business. In fact, more often than not, those who take more risks have fewer regrets than those who play it safe and struggle with uncertainty.
If you haven’t taken very many risks while owning your business, this could be holding you back. Although it may seem uncomfortable to take new risks, over time, they’ll either pay off or teach you valuable lessons.
If taking risks is unchartered territory for you, consider these helpful hints:
- – Identify what you want to achieve: Once you clarify what you want, dig deeper to understand your outcomes and consequences. Ask yourself “what do I have to lose?”
- – Look at past mistakes: Before you take a challenge head on, ask yourself if you have done this before. Were there mistakes that you made? Are there any key lessons you can apply?
- – Analyze: Decide if the risk is worth taking.
- – Develop a Plan: Feel more confident with your decision by developing a plan of action and a time frame for the results that you are expecting.
- – Evaluate: After the decision, evaluate the outcomes and your feelings. Document any key lessons learned for next time.
2. Build a Solid Team
Finding success within your business depends on the people you surround yourself with. If you have a dedicated team that is trying new things and constantly pushing you in a positive direction, you are more likely to succeed.
Look for partners, mentors, consultants, and even friends that are on your side encouraging you to get out of your comfort zone and support you throughout your business’ journey. Finding the right partner is imperative. In many cases, a strategic partner can help you exceed your growth goals and motivate you to find a winning attitude that will take your business to the next level.
Building a solid team also depends on your personal management philosophy. It’s important to place people on your team that you trust to do their work well. You don’t want to be micromanaging their every move. Delegation, communication, and teamwork are essential for scaling your business to the next level. By taking a step back and allowing your team to utilize their skills, you’ll also notice that they are much more productive, too.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Delegation, communication, and teamwork are essential for scaling your business. #BusinessGrowth” quote=”Delegation, communication, and teamwork are essential for scaling your business to the next level.” theme=”style3″]
3. Practice Time Management
Being an entrepreneur will give you lots of freedom that you may have not otherwise have in a traditional career. One of the major benefits is having the ability design your own schedule and decide how much you work. This kind of freedom is great for those that are highly motivated. For those that lack self-discipline, this could be a bit tough.
Too much freedom placed in the hands of an unorganized individual is a recipe for disaster. The inability to manage your time effectively can lead to poor decision-making and an inability to prioritize. It can be hard to get projects started and more importantly, completed.
To combat this, create a schedule like you would have if you were in a traditional work setting. Since you are your own boss, scheduling is key and will serve as a guide for achieving your goals.
Remember, if you can’t get your schedule under control, you won’t be able to keep up with your competition. Self-discipline and organization are key attributes that every entrepreneur needs to succeed.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Self-discipline and organization are key attributes that every #entrepreneur needs to succeed. ” quote=”Self-discipline and organization are key attributes that every entrepreneur needs to succeed. ” theme=”style3″]
4. Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Embarking on an entrepreneurial journey is anything but easy. Most people aren’t comfortable trying new things and branching out. Although being cautious is safe, it won’t help you gain any opportunities or grow your business.
Successful entrepreneurs enjoy trying new things and getting a bit uncomfortable. They are open-minded and vigilant about seeking new opportunities. Additionally, they are flexible, fluid, and nimble, and react to what’s in front of them.
If you are uncomfortable with change, you could be self-sabotaging your personal and professional life.
5. Recognize your Weaknesses
For confident entrepreneurs, it’s only natural to gravitate towards what you’re are good at. However, as a leader, it’s also important to recognize your weaknesses. When you recognize your weakness, you can learn how to transform them into strengths.
Two major weaknesses that set entrepreneurs up for failure are remaining powerless and speechless. On the contrary, successful people are in touch with their power — and they aren’t afraid to use it. They advocate strongly for themselves and on behalf of others. They aren’t afraid to stand up for what they believe in and articulate their feelings. Lastly, they don’t wait to bring up concerns. Instead, they tackle challenges head on and speak openly about them, so they can find a solution as a team.
You may find some of these traits within yourself, or perhaps you identify a different inherent weakness. Figuring out what your weaknesses are and acknowledging them is an important personal growth step.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Figuring out what your weaknesses are and acknowledging them is an important personal growth step.” quote=”Figuring out what your weaknesses are and acknowledging them is an important personal growth step.” theme=”style3″]
6. Set a Clear Plan
In some cases, business owners and entrepreneurs might self-sabotage by not making plans in advance. Instead, they struggle through life with no clear direction or solid plan for how to deal with certain situations, people, or circumstances, all while wondering why they are stuck in a rut.
Once you start laying out your plans for your business, and how you want to achieve your goals, you will start to see where possible challenges and obstacles might come into play. This way, you can acknowledge these obstacles and consider the actions you’ll take if they happen to cross your path. If you don’t deal with them at the time, don’t fret. You can simply learn from your experiences and be more ready and willing to tackle these challenges the next time around.
7. Take Time to Learn
Owning and managing your business likely involves long hours and stress, however, it’s important to take some time for yourself in order to fine-tune your skills. Business and technology are constantly evolving, so if you don’t take the time to do research and stay abreast of the latest developments, you may fall short of your competition.
Adapting to change is an acquired skill. In a fast paced work environment, skills can become obsolete if you don’t take the time to keep up with ever-evolving technology. To be prepared to deal with the change successfully, it is important to continually build on your skills and nurture new ones as needed.
Perhaps you might take a class in something that interests you. Or, maybe you sign up for a few webinars to learn more about the latest changes in your field. There are countless webinars and podcasts available for free online. You can also attend conferences and industry events, network with other professionals, or simply read up on a topic of interest on a news aggregation site.
8. Avoid Over Promising and Under Delivering
Many small business owners and entrepreneurs will experience this first hand at some point in their career. In the beginning phases of your business, it’s easy to be a “yes” person. This is only natural, as you’re overly excited about your product or service and want to help as many people as possible.
Unfortunately, saying yes all the time can set you and your team up for failure. Instead, by underpromising and over-delivering, you’ll exceed your client’s expectations. Plus, you’ll set the bar of expectations at a level that is achievable and repeatable.
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