10 things that will make you a better entrepreneur

10 Things That Will Help You Become a Better Entrepreneur

We all want to become more engaged, more productive, and more successful in our endeavors, but what are the ingredients that will propel us to the results we want to achieve?  Follow these tips to achieve your dreams in whatever endeavor you choose.

1. Find your passion  –  Find something that you really love to do, and make it your mission as well as your business.  

Ideally, it should be something that you have found a talent for, but it may be something that because of your drive, will allow you to develop that talent.  If you love what you do, you will not give up on it, even when others might get stressed-out or tired of it. You will always have fuel in your tank for something that inspires you. This has also been called finding your "why". 

2. Get gritty and persevere

There will always be obstacles and difficulties in your way.  If it were easy, then everyone would be doing it, right?  Determine that you will not give up and have the guts to work through problems until you find the solution.  You will be among the top 5% and completely separate yourself from the pack in your field if you have this kind of persistence

3. Think and pray deeply about major decisions and trust yourself to make the right choices.

Pray first before you make any important decision.  Even if you don't consider yourself to be a religious person prayer can mean the difference between success and failure. Trust me on this.  Whether or not you believe in God, you have literally hundreds and even thousands of ancestors in the spiritual world that are aware of your life on earth, because your life is connected to theirs. They are concerned about your happiness and your success.  Most of all they want you to become a good and righteous person, but that doesn't mean they are unconcerned about your financial well-being.  They care about everything in your life.

Like most people living on earth, you may never have thought of this before, but it is a spiritual reality and a fact of our existence here on earth and the afterlife.  In Japan, at baseball games, the spectators bring pictures of their ancestors to assist in their prayers for their favorite team to win. It seems a little "nuts" to us in the West, and indeed it may be an example of something trivial, but your ancestors have been watching you since your birth.  They have seen your actions and they understand your way of thinking.  They know you almost as well as you know yourself.  They are uniquely qualified to give you advice if you pray to God and ask for help from them, as well as from God.  This may be the most important piece of advice I have to give in this post.

4. Overcome the fear of failure.

This can stop entrepreneurs dead in their tracks.  Calculate risk carefully, but don't be afraid of taking risks. Sometimes the greatest reward comes from taking big risks.  Just don't take foolish risks.  Consult with friends, but don't be discouraged if they do not support you.  If they are not successful entrepreneurs themselves they probably will not see the world the way you do.

5. Set concrete goals and work hard to achieve them.

I think most entrepreneurs do not set goals, and just try to deal with the day-to-day. Of course, it is important to adjust goals from time to time, but without short-term and long term goal, you are kind of adrift to whatever circumstance deals you.  It is much better to set concrete achievable goals.

6. Invest substantial time and effort

Don't dream about a lifestyle of working 4 hours and sitting on a beach somewhere sipping Margheritas.  This is a myth. No one who is really successful really lives like that.  Living like that will make you lazy and self-satisfied.  It is just a ploy to trick you into thinking that a product will make you easy money. Any successful entrepreneur has put in the time and the hard work it takes be successful.

7. Listen to your customers.

It is important to ask your customers if they are satisfied with your product or service. It is important to get a good read of how you are doing in meeting their needs.  They may even suggest modifications or additional products or services that you might offer.

8. Promote – Learn the most cost-effective and efficient time-saving methods of promotion.

Don't get stuck in any outmoded promotion method that is not effective.  This is a continuous path of learning and adjusting.  What works well today, will probably not work a few years from now. Always be open to learning new methods and techniques from more experienced and more successful entrepreneurs.
 

9. Ask for advice and Network

You can network with anyone, anytime, under any circumstance. Don't get stuck in isolation in your life where you never reach out to anyone you don't know.  Ask other successful entrepreneurs what they have found to be the keys to their success.  You can learn incredibly valuable information in this way.

10. Pay it forward by helping others to achieve.

This is very important.  Remember the Indian folktale that speaks about the restaurant in the village which was the only place where people were allowed to eat.  There was no menu there.  You just sat down and were served whatever food you deserved.  Good people were served good food, but bad people could only eat bad food., and there was nowhere else to eat.

Not only will you be helping others, but you will actually learn to identify attitudes and actions in others that are counter-productive to success.  By teaching, you also reinforce what you have learned.

 

Best success in all of your endeavors.

John Lombaerde

https://markethive.com/jonlomb/page/ standard

David

What is your business plan for 2017?

employees-entrepreneurs Now is the best time to review your successes in 2016, and begin to plan for 2017. This is especially true for start-ups and part-time or full-time entrepreneurs that would like to make this coming year a breakout one.

Here are some simple steps to fine tune your plans for 2017.

1) Eliminate waste. Review your monthly expenses. If there is any expense that is not critical to your operations, it must be eliminated or reduced. It is also wise to shop around for competitive services if you have not done so already. The smaller the size of your company, the more critical it is to examine and review any and all unnecessary expenses.

You can view any unnecessary expense as if someone were reaching into your wallet and stealing your hard earned profits. The problem is that you undoubtedly gave them permission to do so. A big problem for small entrepreneurs is recurring monthly expenditures that do not contribute substantially to their bottom line.

2) Make sure that the products and services you offer are top notch and that they meet the needs of your customers. Review each of your products and services, and examine ways to improve them in terms of functionality, quality, speed of execution, etc. Ask your customers directly by phone or by email how you can improve your products, or if there are additional products that they would like to see from you.

3) Based on the input you receive from your customers, make plans to expand your product offering. Above all, do not be a one-trick pony to your customers. Even if you have a main product, see if there isn't a way to offer some kind of premium service or an extension to one of your products or services that might command a premium price that some customers would be willing to consider.

4) Consider outsourcing smaller tasks for which you may not have staff with the particular skills to accomplish the job. A good place to outsource micro-jobs is Fiverr. For a guide to Fiverr that will make your outsourcing job much easier, I have a free Fiverr Finesse – Outsourcing Guide for you.

Just send email to info@goldfinchdigitalpublishing.com with your request, and I will send it to you. It is a 250-page guide with text and data that will help you quickly locate Fiverr vendors in over 120 categories.

Here is a video that explains all about the course, but of course, you will not have to pay for it, It is completely free.

Fiverr Finesse – Outsourcing Guide video

wish you the best possible success in all your endeavors for 2017.  

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