The Inc. Life
10 Things You Must Do to Be Successful in Business (and in Life)
Here are stories from several successful entrepreneurs that have had success business while living a successful life as well.
CREDIT: Getty Images
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.
Published on: Dec 15, 2015
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