PBA ReporterLITERALLY, a person who sets up a business, taking on financial risks in the hope of making good profit is an ‘Entrepreneur’.
Owning a business gives you a sense of freedom and empowerment. You can build things and watch them grow. It can be a great way to live if you give it all it requires.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelEntrepreneurs make decisions for themselves, realize their creative visions, and develop lasting relationships with other entrepreneurs, customers, and vendors.
Recent statistics from Forbes, QuickBooks, The Hill, Guidant Financial show that 83.1% of the world’s richest billionaires are entrepreneurs, self-made. There are 582 entrepreneurs in the world. 90% of new billionaires in America are self-made.
Now, don’t get it all twisted. So many people are trying to build businesses every day. If you want to join that polarized market and be successful, you need to think differently, build differently and prepare differently.
Whether you’re just starting out or are an old pro, who doesn’t want to be a more successful entrepreneur?
Here are a number of tips that can help you become a successful Entrepreneur.
#1. Think of an idea that solves a problem:
No matter how brilliant that your dream or idea is, if it cannot help someone else to meet a need or solve a problem, it is useless and will not survive. Take out time to think and develop ideas that are geared towards solving some of the problems you can see around you.
Why was the electric light bulb invented? Who thought about the need to create a torchlight as small and simple as it looks? What about the umbrella? You get it now, right? Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and other scientists created a global village with Microsoft, Apple, the internet, the world wide web (www), windows.
#2. Get the required education or training:
I hear people saying that you don’t really need the education to become successful. Really, like seriously! You must learn the ‘A.B.& C’ of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship education (formal or informal) serves as the basis for the creative and innovative ideas required for success in the 21st century.
Learn from the best entrepreneurs. Study their history and learn both from their successes and mistakes.
Entrepreneurial education and training provide individuals with the ability to recognize commercial opportunities, self‐esteem, knowledge and skills to act on them. It includes instruction in opportunity recognition, commercializing a concept, managing resources, and initiating a business venture. You must learn to trade, manage and delegate.
#3. You need perseverance and hard work:
Some ideas are long dead and buried even before they are birthed. Why? Fear of the unknown, and giving up so easily and cheaply too, without seeking for help from experts first.
To survive as an entrepreneur, you need what most call ‘Grit’. This can be called perseverance. It is the firmness in you to keep going and doing what you’re doing even when everyone and everything around you is screaming STOP!
The thought of owning a business sounds daunting to some, especially when they have the idea but no money start. This is one of the biggest challenges and setbacks for many. However, to be successful as a self-made, you must be gritty, persevere and work hard.
#4. Visualize your goal & be passionate about it:
When you are driven by passion, it soaks your belly and heart like fire, and this keeps you going no matter what. Think about accomplishable goals, articulate them and let the love/passion for it drive you ‘crazy’.
When you listen to great business owners like Dangote, Tony Elumelu, Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos talk about what they do and represent, you will notice the confidence and pride in their voice. That’s passion speaking right there.
Being passionate about your ultimate goal brings out what I call the ‘Business Monster’ in you. You put in long hours and you’re not tired. MJ – Michael Jackson, used to stay in his studio 19 hours a day rehearsing for a new hit. Messi and Ronaldo spend 7 – 9 hours respectively practising after the normal club training time. You know their records.
#5. Have Faith in Your Ability & Reduce The Fear:
If you can not place a bet on yourself or trust your ability, who will?
Your ability to believe in yourself and your skills will drive that fear of uncertainty far from you. People tend towards leaders who first have faith in themselves, to lead others. Having faith in yourself and trusting your ability shows confidence.
#6. Seek Help from Partners:
No man is an island. You cannot achieve something great without the help of partners, those who believe in your dream and are ready to support you in their little ways.
Again, in this age and time, you need help with digitizing your business for more visibility and reach. Get people who can help out with this and other tasks you may not be able to do yourself.
So, seek help not just from anybody but from friends and partners who can add value and are of a good attitude. Successful entrepreneurs aren’t successful within a vacuum. We all have a great team and support network behind us.
#7. Plan Your Funding & Resources:
Having a fantastic and in fact achievable idea is good but, without making plans for finance and other key resources it may not be realistic.
Every successful entrepreneur plans for their startups and entrepreneurial businesses with money in mind. That is the way it is. It’s just a part of the lifestyle.
Many business owners spend too much time looking for money and not enough acting. Plan your funds from the beginning through self-funding, startup loans or look for investors or partners to ease the burden. Also, learn to stick to your budget to keep staying afloat and remain sustainable.
#8. You Must Act fast & be Patient with The Process:
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” Walt Disney.
If you are not paying attention to timing and possible delays in the whole process then, you may not be successful as a business owner.
Talk only delays action. Successful entrepreneurs act. At some point, you have to halt the talking and make something happen.
It is easy to get wrapped up in planning, considering potential failures, discussing funding, and talking at different meetings. If all you do is talk, you’ll get nothing done.
On a final note, there is no such thing as an overnight success? I suggest you look before leaping. When you check properly, the people and businesses that are tagged “overnight successes” actually worked really hard and long for their achievements, with the hours, days, and years that went into their success.
Take a look at their life, the things they learned, and how many times they failed. Successful self-made take the time needed to reach success. And many of them have failures along the way. Take a look at their life, the things they learned, and how many times they failed but kept pushing to reach their goals.
Just imagine looking back at all the hard work and knowing it paid off. Keep that image in your head to motivate you forward through the long, slogging hours.
Keep plugging along, pushing, putting in the hours, and before long, you too will be a successful entrepreneur.
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