There have been thousands of books written about what it takes to be successful
in business, and a thousand more about achieving success in life as well. You
can find another thousand articles on the web that discuss the topic and a
thousand more will be written tomorrow. With such a broad subject and with so
many things that can play a role in making us happy, it can be difficult to
boil it down to a short list of things that anyone can read and apply in their
lives.
However,
across those thousands of books and articles, among the countless legends and
stories, you'll find some common themes woven throughout. You'll find
principles about us as human beings that many of us think about but never try
hard enough to achieve. You'll hear about ideals and decisions that we all wish
we could aspire to but often fail to understand. Here are ten of those things
you'll find among the tales of those who achieved success in business (and in
life) - which ones do you currently have and which do you need to obtain?
1. Be
Fearless
Want
to know why becoming successful in a business venture is considered such a
daunting feat by society? While there are obvious hurdles to face, one of the
biggest challenges is in overcoming the fear of jumping into a business in the
first place. Most people dream all day about launching a successful business
while watching the clock tick at their mundane day jobs. The reason they never
quit the security of a paycheck is because they are too scared by the unknown
that comes with starting a business. If you want to separate yourself from that
crowd, you need to learn how to manage your own fears. Don't worry, you're not
alone. When I quit my job to start my business, I was making double my salary
outside my day job than I was inside working my eight hour job. I still had
that huge fear of failure.
However,
this is only the beginning of the road for those who want to be truly
successful in business. Overcoming your fears and getting started is noble, but
the true tests of a fearless entrepreneur will be constant, from initiating a
conversation at a networking mixer, asking for the sale on a major deal,
severing ties with a partner who is causing harm to the venture, and perhaps the
most frightening of all situations - watching a business fail (it happened to
Henry Ford twice before he designed his famous assembly line!) One who can fail
miserably and not be scared to dust themselves off and try again and again
until they are successful is truly fearless.
2.
Understand Finance
Now,
people all the time will talk about how a well known business brand started at
one time in someone's basement or garage, so much that it's become a romantic
notion of sorts that going from rags-to-riches is what really identifies a true
entrepreneur. The reality of most successful businesses ventures couldn't be
farther from the truth - if you want to make it, you're going to need money.
However, that doesn't necessarily mean you need to have a lot of it when you're
just getting started, but more importantly understanding how finance works and
how to use your money to grow in the smartest way.
Robert Kiyosaki is
most famous for teaching the world about the importance in how financial
literacy plays such a crucial role in the lives of successful entrepreneurs.
Those who live from paycheck to paycheck are also those that fill their lives
with liabilities - car and house payments, credit cards, and other
materialistic things that cost them money. Those who are financially literate,
however, understand the importance of building assets - things that make them money instead. Once you start
having a positive asset column, you can then learn how to make even more money
through investing. To be a successful entrepreneur you need to know how to take
money and make it work for you.
3. Grow As A
Leader
Once you harness your fears and make the leap to starting a
business, you've already begun the journey of becoming a leader. As we'll
discuss shortly, your ultimate success will have a lot to do with how you help
others find their own. Many of us hold successful entrepreneurs on a pedestal
much like football fans hold a star quarterback or wide receiver in high
regard. However, there's always a team that these individuals lead that
ultimately leads to their success. You must learn how to be a leader on some kind of level in order to
motivate others to join you in your venture, believe in what you preach, or
give you money for a product or service that you offer.
Just because you need to possess leadership qualities
does not mean that everybody successful in business has to be the CEO, face of the company,
or person "in charge". When Google started to really grow, the
company's founders brought in a successful CEO in Eric Schmidt to come in and
run their company - they were engineers, not CEOs. The ability to lead a team
or lead the masses can sometimes come down to just having the right charisma
and message to get the right people to do the things that need to be done in
order for the entire thing to just work. A great soldier may be good at leading troops on the field,
but not managing the entire war. An amazing product designer may also be a
lousy salesperson. But a great leader will discover what they do best and where
their weakness lies, and know who to put where in order to ensure that their
company is one that achieves real success.
4. Use
Your Leverage
One
of the greatest challenges that will stand in the way of an entrepreneur from
getting what they want is understanding what "to do" with the
opportunities that fall in their laps along the way. This is where leverage
becomes such an important concept that people going into business need to
understand, and it takes a certain kind of mind to think "outside the
box" in situations to find the value in a new relationship or
circumstance. The same people who are too scared to quit their day jobs are
also the same people who do not know how to leverage the assets and
relationships in their life. A successful entrepreneur, on the other hand, is
constantly finding ways to create profits and new opportunities each and every
day.
The simple adage "when life hands you lemons, make
lemonade" is a great example of using leverage to move your business
forward. Many people will make the lemonade and drink it themselves. A true
entrepreneur will make lemonade and sell it to those without lemons, and use
the profits to buy more lemons or move into another business. While today a
polarizing political figure, Donald Trump is a great example of an entrepreneur
who time and time again used leverage to acquire crucial pieces of real estate
or strike very lucrative business deals. Love him or hate him, his book The Art of The Deal is
a great resource on how leverage can make someone mega successful.
5. Acquire
Partners
We
talked earlier about how becoming a leader is one of the most important
qualities one needs to "move the chains" in the game of business. In
order to achieve greatness as a leader, one must then have a team of
individuals who believe in the mission in order to move forward. That's where
assembling a great team of partners plays such an important role in any profitable
business. Many start out alone and the wearer of many hats, but a business can
only scale so far if there is only one source of energy, of inspiration, and of
the actual sweat equity it takes to keep the lights on.
As we will see in understanding the meaning of success both in
business and in life, a true "business owner" is one who does not
need to be a part of the day-to-day operations in order for the business to run
and stay profitable. The classic book "The E-Myth" is a great story of how many try (and fail) at running a
business all by themselves. Instead, you need to take those leadership skills
and motivate others to take their own specific skillsets and apply them
together as a team for the greater good of the company. This doesn't just
include employees, but also includes knowing who to shake hands with, how to
create strategic partnerships, and how to use that leverage we previously
discussed to convince others to have an interest in your venture. And once you
reach a certain level of success, it will be an even greater feeling when you
get to share it with all who helped make it possible.
6. Having
the Right Attitude
So
far we've discussed some of the most important concepts you need to understand
in order to achieve success in business - but how do you exactly justify what
is true success? Is it money, or sales, or the influence your actions have over
the environment around you? Ultimately real success in business only matters if
it also equates to success in life, and that all starts with having the right
attitude towards it. Nobody cares about those who are rich but hate the world
they live in. Everyone knows the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge, the jaded old man
that had all the money in the world but did nothing but create misery for
others.
To
have a truly happy and fulfilling life, it's important to know what's really
important and to develop values around what you can do each and every day to
make that world a reality. Sure, many who start a business venture want to
achieve a certain level of financial independence. But what does one do with
those riches once they finally have them? Those with the attitude that having
money means they can buy more "things" to surround themselves with in
order to feel superior to others will never be successful in their life. The
entrepreneurs who focus on how they can create wealth that can help others and
solve problems have the right attitude needed to obtain true happiness and be
seen in a positive light by their peers and partners, and are the true
embodiment of the word "success".
7. Showing
Gratitude
We
live in a world that is changing each and every day, at a speed that any of us
can really truly appreciate. Technology over the last 30-50 years has altered
the way we communicate not only with our neighbor and loved ones but our
business contacts around the world. The generations that have grown up with
this technology often take it for granted, never once stopping to "smell
the roses" and to realize that they live in an amazing time in history and
that much of what they have in their lives - everything from the electricity
powering their lights, the cars that help them get to their next meeting, to
their smartphones in their pockets are all things they should very much be
thankful for.
Those who are happy in both business and if life are those who
are grateful for the world they live in. These are the people who make sure to
thank the barista for their coffee in the mornings, who open the door for
others, who actually listen to those who they have conversations with.
Successful entrepreneurs should never forget all the people, places and things
that have played a role in their lives that helped them get from their humble
beginnings to where they are today. The next time you're flying on a plane,
remember the comedian Louis CK's amazing
observation that
you're "sitting in a chair in the sky", and be grateful for all the
wonderful things we get to experience every day.
8. Staying
Healthy
Your
money and success isn't going to do you any good if you're not around to use it
- so why would you live your life so dangerously that you would sacrifice your
health? What good is all the passion you have for your business dreams if
you're not going to be around to see them come true? Too many of us get caught
up in the game of life that we never think about the damage we all do to our
bodies along the way. As entrepreneurs our days are so full of work and
juggling projects that are lunch breaks become mere small breaks in the day
where we shove fast food down our throats to get rid of our hunger. I
personally inhale my food.
Our
nights turn into a time where we sometimes burn the candles at both ends,
turning the stress of the day into an excuse to ease the pain with alcohol and
drugs. While we worship the celebrities who died before their time, is that how
we define success in life? Our obsession with money and material things makes
us greedy and insecure of who we are and how others perceive us. Without our
health, we can never truly achieve success. A leader needs to be strong, and
we're not just talking about a lean body or muscles here - your mind has to be
healthy in order to persevere through the day and not only achieve the success
you're looking for, but to be able to enjoy it as well.
9. Keeping
the Right Friends
We've discussed the importance of not going it alone along your
path to building your business, and this same ideology applies to your personal
success and happiness. What's the point of doing anything if you don't have
special people in your life to share it with. No one wants to be the Bruce
Wayne of their city, the quack who owns the huge dining room table with no one to dine with.
People
are social by nature, and it's important to have a life outside of those you
work with. Your friends are people to share your experiences with, who will be
there to high-five you with every victory and also pick you up after every
failure. Make sure they are also the ones who have the same attitude, give back
gratitude, and remain a positive force in your life. Those who feed off of
negative energy are the ones you can bring the whole house crashing down around
you.
10. The
Importance of Family
We've
discussed in detail why we become entrepreneurs in the first place, and the
importance of deciding what goals we're trying to achieve. Most will begin the
journey with dollar signs in their eyes, or seeking some level of power. Many
times these things are personal and selfish, but one who is seeking true
success in their lives will be doing so not just to share with their friends,
but more importantly their families.
Not
everyone has the greatest of childhoods, and no one is expected to share wealth
with their siblings just because of blood. Not every entrepreneur has a
soulmate, not will we all have children. It is important, however, to think
about success beyond just the material or power one might ultimately yield.
Real success lies in having a positive influence on those who you call family
and those who will eventually remember, and hopefully continue, the legacy you
leave behind.
Hi. I’m Sana ur Rehman Designer of This Blog. I’m CEO/Founder of Pak Zest. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.
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