Running a one-person business is a creative, flexible and challenging way to become your own boss and chart your own future.
It is about creating a life,as it is about making a living,it takes courage, determination and foresight to decide to become an entrepreneur. From the relatively safe cocoon of the corporate world, where paychecks arrive regularly,you will be venturing into the uncharted territories of business.
Is there a way to determine whether you can be a successful entrepreneur,or you better off to work for somebody else? Alas, there is no formula for success but most successful entrepreneurs share these characteristics, so check if you posses any one of them.
1. Think success : To attain the kind of success that you want,you need to dream big. Every success story starts with big dreams, you need to have big dreams for yourself -which you want to be somebody rich,famous or fulfilled. You need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve.
Successful entrepreneurs posses an attitude of openness and faith that the can have what you want if you can simply envision it as the first step on the path of action to acquiring it. Management gurus understands the power of visualization -seeing yourself in your mind as having accomplished your dreams.
2. Be passionate with what you do: You start a business to change all part of your life,to attain this change you need to develop or uncover an intense, personal passion to change the way things are and to live life to the fullest. Success comes easily if you love what you do,why? Because we are more relentless in our pursuit of goals about things we love.
Entrepreneurs who succeed do not mind the fact that they are putting in 15 or 18 hours a day to their business because they absolutely love what they do because success in business is all about patience and hard work, which can only be attained if you are passionate and crazy with your task and activities.
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3. Focus on your strength :Lets fface it; you cannot be everything to everybody, each of us has our strength and weakness.To be effective you need to identify your strengths and concentrate on it,you will be more successful if you are able to channel your efforts to areas that you do best. For example if you know you have a good marketing instinct, then harness this strength and make full use of it,to transform your weakness to strength,consider taking hands on learning or formal training.
3. Focus on your strength :Lets fface it; you cannot be everything to everybody, each of us has our strength and weakness.To be effective you need to identify your strengths and concentrate on it,you will be more successful if you are able to channel your efforts to areas that you do best. For example if you know you have a good marketing instinct, then harness this strength and make full use of it,to transform your weakness to strength,consider taking hands on learning or formal training.
4. Never consider the possibility of failure : Ayn Rand in her novel The Fountainhead, wrote"It is no in the nature of man nor of any living entity to start out by giving up.". As an entrepreneur, you need to fully believe in your goals and that you can do it. Think that what you are doing will contribute to the betterment of your environment and your personal self. However your confidence should be balanced with calculated risks that you need to achieve a greater reward. Successful entrepreneurs are tthose who analyze and minimize risk in the pursuit of profit as they always say"no guts,no glory"
5. Plan. Accordingly: You have a vision and you have enough faith in yourself to believe that you can achieve your vision. But do you know how to get your vision? To achieve your vision, you need to have concrete goals that will provide the stepping stone towards your ultimate vision,put your goals in writing not doing so just makes them intangible fantasies.Intense goal orientation is the characteristics of every successful entrepreneur. Your ability to set goals and make plans for your accomplishment is the skill to succeed.
6. Work Hard: Every successful entrepreneurs works hard, hard and hard because no one achieves success just by sitting and staring at the wall every single day. Brain Tracy said," You work eight hours per day for survival;everything over eight hours per day is for success." Be prepare to say goodbye to after office drinks everyday or regular weekend trip.
7. Constantly look for ways to network : In business, you are judged by company you keep -form your management team,board of directors, and strategic partners. Business always need assistance, more so small business.Its important to form alliance with people who can help you and whom you can help in return.
To succeed in business you need to possess good networking skills and always be alert to opportunities to expand your contacts.
8. Willingness to learn: You do not need to be MBA degr degree holder or Ph.D graduate to succeed in your ow own business. In fact there are lots of entrepreneurs who did not even finish secondary education. Studies shows that self made millionaires have average intelligence, but nonetheless this people reached their full potentials and achieved their financial and personal goals in business because they are willing to learn.
9. Persevere and have faith :No one said that the road to success is easy,despite your good intentions and hard work,sometimes you will fail. Some successful entrepreneurs suffered setbacks and resounding defeats, even bankruptcy, yet managed to quickly stand up to make it big in their fields.
Your courage to persist in the face of adversity and ability to bounce back after a temporary disappointment will assure your success.
10.Discipline yourself : Thomas Huxley said"Do what you should do when you should do it, whether you like it or not." Self-discipline is the key to success,the strength of will do force yourself to pay the price of success doing what others don't like to do,going extra mile,fighting and winning the lonely battle.
Wow! This is getting more and more interesting, do not miss the next article "Hard questions entrepreneurs answers to succeed." tomorrow you can check back.
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