Becoming an entrepreneur who succeeds is a typical dream many business owners have in mind. Yet, the reality is usually a lot more complicated – and whether you run a small business or a larger one doesn’t make any difference.
Some start their own business to achieve that ideal target, some get there, and many keep the idea in mind while they eventually end up focusing on daily routines that keep them way too busy day after day, week after week, month after month…
The stake, accordingly, is to figure out how to get to the successful part of the dream, and in this article, we give some very efficient coaching tips you’ll be able to use immediately to make the most of your time, money, and energy.
If you are wondering how to become a successful entrepreneur, this article was written for you! Oh, and make sure to check our ten steps to success checklist in the wrap-up section!
Wondering how to be a successful entrepreneur? Start with knowing why becoming an entrepreneur is important to you
As surprising as that might sound, being successful as an entrepreneur doesn’t relate to how much money you make. It doesn’t relate to whether your second name is Richard Branson or Steve Jobs. It doesn’t relate to how well you get paid. And it doesn’t relate to whether you are the founder of a unicorn startup company either. Nope!
Of course, many people will associate success with money, watches, cars, beach houses, and other external signs of “success”, but the fundamentals are not there.
In our experience as business coaches, those who purely focus on making money keep running after sales, and as one of our very successful clients keeps saying, “just making money and sales is boring – what counts is to innovate and create products or services that make a difference in the real world”.
So what’s the alternative then?
Well, the alternative is very personal because the definition of success is very personal. Some will decide that they will be successful in business when they can afford to travel first class. Others will want a car and a few million dollars in the bank, or perhaps a team of 45 that works while the boss plays golf.
And some will decide that becoming an entrepreneur is all about keeping time for themselves whilst generating a 400.000 dollar annual revenue with a team kept as small as possible.
Said differently, the key is this one: knowing why becoming an entrepreneur is important to you is what will make you successful down the road. Period.
Set Your Definition of Success as an Entrepreneur
What the previous point means is simple: start with setting your own definition of success.
Decide what you want to achieve a few years from now from a business perspective, from a material perspective, from a spiritual perspective, and of course from a personal perspective.
Decide what difference you want to make (your impact) and whose life you want to change.
Decide what vision you want to turn into reality (something you are passionate about, usually), and turn that vision into a personal mission statement. Then use that vision and that statement as drivers for your business. When the vision becomes reality that should sound like success.
Decide what success will feel and taste like a few years from now – we call that Business Karma – and make sure that picture is desirable enough to guide you along the way. Then stick to that.
Setting your own definition of success is the first step to becoming a successful entrepreneur
- Decide What success you want to achieve a few years from now
- Decide what difference you want to make, personally and through your business
- Have a vision, and turn it into a mission you must accomplish
- Stick to that.
Solve a problem on a viable and durable basis
Now, as far as the question “how to become a successful entrepreneur?” is concerned, there are several absolute necessities you need to be aware of – a topic we discuss in great length in our Entrepreneurship 101 course.
The first of these necessities is plain and simple: a successful entrepreneur knows how to identify an issue on which to base their business, and they know how to solve that issue in a viable and sustainable way.
First, that means finding an issue, but not an imaginary one. Your issue must be a real one, faced by real people, who will ultimately be willing to pay for your solution.
An issue that doesn’t create a demand – or a product-market fit – is only an issue in your head and it cannot be viable!
Second, the way you solve the issue must be viable and sustainable. You need a reliable business model, you need money to fuel the solution, and you need to make that a long-lasting opportunity.
Be able to handle risks
The second of the absolute necessities we mentioned before is this one: your success as a business owner first of all depends on whether (and how) you can handle risk. And by “handle risk”, we mean accept it, mitigate it, and move on despite it.
Like it or not, but risk is an inherent part of entrepreneurship, and you have no way to escape it.
There is a risk when you invest and when you hire, obviously, but not investing and not hiring is also a risk because stagnating is never a solution.
Becoming an entrepreneur, that is to say, implies being aware of the stakes, and setting a decision-making process capable of reducing the risks you will take to an acceptable level. And as we said in the Entrepreneurship 101 Course, making yourself familiar with the notion of validated learnings is probably one of the best ways to manage.
Be comfortable with people
How to be an entrepreneur is also a question of being comfortable with people. And by people, we mean all sorts of people.
Team kind of people, partners kind of people, and of course, client kind of people.
Some will be nice and willing to help, others will be adversarial and against everything you’ll say. Some will think and act like you, but others will have very different characters and ways of doing business.
Some will make you feel bad just because they negotiate that way. Some will refuse to pay their dues, and you will have to figure out how to handle that too.
Of course, some will take a lot more than they give, which will force you to handle your own feelings and emotions. And when you need a hand, you will also have to find your way through people’s agendas.
Build resistance and perseverance
To that extent, becoming an entrepreneur takes a lot of resistance and perseverance. People will consume your energy and patience, but neverending projects and unreactive partners will drain your energy even more if you let them do that.
Said differently, as a business owner you must therefore train yourself towards becoming stronger and resistant to tons of tiny but cumulated details.
You must learn how to handle your patience levels, your emotions, maybe even some anger issues you never knew you had.
When it comes to this, in fact, coaching can be very efficient because by giving your thoughts a sounding board, it helps with accepting, taking responsibility and moving on constructively. The alternative is of course to coach yourself, or to rely o a group coaching team you trust.
Think different & make the business work for you
You should be on the right track if you start implementing the previous point, but we can’t elaborate on how to be an entrepreneur without adding a dose of ‘Cogita Differenter’ in the equation.
In plain English? Your role as a business owner is to think differently, not just outside the box but outside your – own – box. And that starts with making your business work for you rather than the other way around. Your business must do the hard work so you can go play golf or spend time doing whatever you like. If you spend your life working, however, then your business is nothing more than a glorified job, with problems on top.
Thinking differently is a question of anticipating your competition, but it’s also a question of being able to analyze existing models to improve them. Innovation is purely based on that and it allows for differentiation, which in turn allows you to raise your prices and produce quality products even more people want to buy.
Again, that’s also explained in great length in the Entrepreneurship 101 Course you should already be booking here. And you can start exploring for free, what are you waiting for?
Acquire a specific mindset
It flows from the previous points that when trying to figure out how to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to work on developing a very, very, very specific mindset.
When others think in terms of security, you need to be ready to think in terms of acceptable risks, and when they fear failure, you must accept to treat it as a source of validated learning.
When others look at what they have and complain about what they don’t have, your role as a business owner is to look at what you want to achieve, and to take responsibility for your actions (and inactions, by the way).
When others follow and do what they’re told, those who wonder how to be an entrepreneur who succeeds must lead and push walls.
The rule also applies to the way you build your business. When others complain about having to write a business plan, you have a chance to build a business with a plan.
When they see management as a constraint, you can see it as an opportunity to create superpowers.
When others keep their nose to the grindstone, you need to stand on the table and take some perspective on how things work.
Mindset is a big topic so, again, we elaborate a lot more in that Entrepreneurship 101 Course you should REALLy have booked by now!
Entrepreneurship skills, a degree, what do I need?
We often receive questions as to whether becoming an entrepreneur requires specific skills and degrees, and of course as to what to study to get there.
The above probably gave you some food for thought on the skills side of the discussion, but we wrote another article to explore the topic of entrepreneurial skills – please have a look at it – and the same goes for the question of degrees.
Having said that, getting an entrepreneurship degree won’t make a massive difference if you plan on building and scaling your business right now. Yes, of course, an MBA will teach you financial analysis and the theory of marketing, but we’ve rarely heard MBA graduates tell us that their degree made a difference outside of the corporate world which is far from what being an entrepreneur is about. Plus, you don’t have a couple of years to spend on waiting, do you?
Getting some entrepreneurial education and coaching yourself is always a good idea, however. That’s why we created the Accelerated MBA blog as a resource, and that’s also why we designed self-coaching programs in which you’ll be able to not only learn the concepts but also make them actionable and turn them into immediate improvements for your business.
This is where the Impactified self-coaching toolbox comes in handy – try it for FREE and see for yourself!
Successful entrepreneurs don’t stay alone
Last but definitely not least, becoming a successful business owner takes a willingness to dare to ask for help.
Not staying on your own and gathering people around you is super important, because teams work better than solos.
So, well, build a personal board, create a group coaching team around you with people you trust, or find a personal business coach who will be the best equipped to help you think outside your own box. And
Either way, do not stay on your own.
Takeaway: 10 key steps to becoming an entrepreneur who succeeds.
To wrap up, and as promised in the introduction, we wanted to give you ten key steps to becoming an entrepreneur who succeeds
The list is right below, but in the main, the big idea is that your success isn’t a matter of what others think. Success is very personal and depends on what your own expectations are. So, start with setting your own success story and stick with it. It really is the only thing that matters.
Next, remember that your success as an entrepreneur and business owner depends on your ability to spot a real problem faced by real people willing to pay for a viable and sustainable solution.
Beyond sales, your success also depends on whether you can handle key issues that will spoil your fun sooner than later: uncertainty and risk, being comfortable with all sorts of people, being resilient and perseverant.
Being a successful entrepreneur also takes a lot of Cogita Differenter (so you need to be ready to think differently) and a very specific mindset. In case you’re interested, look for our mindset articles on the Accelerated MBA blog!
And overall, well, don’t stagnate. Coach yourself, build your own personal board, and use a business coach as your own personal sounding board!
10 Key Steps to Becoming an Entrepreneur
- Know why you want to become an entrepreneur
- Define your own success terms
- Focus on solving a problem, viably and sustainably
- Learn to handle risk
- Learn to be comfortable with people
- Build resilience and perseverance
- Think different & make the business work for you
- Acquire a specific mindset
- Don’t lose your time on a degree – coach yourself!
- Don’t stay alone!
Boost your earning potential with the Entrepreneurship 101 Course!
The Entrepreneurship 101 Module gives you over three hours of self-coaching videos (by a business coach) and THE workbook you need to get your business to the next level, whether you are starting a business or scaling one!
- Week #1. Reality Check: What Being an Entrepreneur is (Really) Like
- Week #2. Playing the Smart Way
- Week #3. Mindset is Key (And You’re Probably Missing It So Far)
- Week #4. Vision: Are You Seriously Driving Blind?!
- Week #5. Positioning Traps to Avoid
- Week #6: Creating value Beyond Pricing!
- Week #7: Building on Your Strengths (And Wrapping Up!)
The only thing it takes is a decision to move on, what are you waiting for? Secure your Entrepreneurship 101 Module access now!
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