Do You Have What It Takes To Become A Successful Entrepreneur?

Becoming a successful business owner is attainable at any age and in any industry. You don’t have to follow any one formula to launch a thriving business. But it’s those first two years that are most critical to your future success. Taking the right steps in the right order will make the difference between freedom and failure.

Strategies are just like recipes. You need to know the ingredients, the amounts and qualities of each, and the order and sequence to add them. If you want to change your business success, you need to change your ingredients. So let’s go change up your ingredients with the top 12 success strategies from thriving entrepreneurs.

Tony Robbins said, “There are people who follow through and people who want to.” Whether you take action or not has nothing to do with your ability, and everything to do with what you’ve convinced yourself is possible.  

Here are 12 surprising success strategies from thriving entrepreneurs

  1. Be passionate about your vision. There is action and there is inspired action. Successful entrepreneurs have a vision – an undying belief about a problem to solve and people to be serve. Their passion is infectious – it attracts investors, partner, employees and can save the day when the chips are down. Do you know the #1 thing investors look for? That the founder is passionate about their story.
  2. Forget the niche, hone in on your ideal client(s). Marketing to a demographic is the fastest route to failure. There is a huge difference between a woman over 40 and a woman over 40 who is burnt out with her career and wants to pursue a passion or solve a problem. She loves a challenge and isn’t afraid of risk – she defines success on her terms and that includes being of service to others. Your ideal client is a psychographic profile with beliefs, desires and characteristics and behaviors that go far deeper than a demographic profile. When you speak directly to your ideal clients, they take action.
  3. “Twist” Your Brand. Look at companies in other industries that you admire. Create an iconic brand persona by “twisting” your brand with a brand that stands for your values. My own logo for The Great Do-Over was a “twist” suggested by my brand consultant, Julie Cottineau of Brand Twist. We twisted my life reinvention coaching with the Nike “Just Do It!” logo and got The Great Do-Over!

         

  4. Delight your customers. Go beyond your competition with a user experience that delights, and may disrupt, your market. Think about brands like Stitch Fix … Do you hate shopping for clothes but love to look stylish and put together? A personal shopper will look at your style preferences and your Pinterest board and hand curate your “style in a box.” You only pay for what you keep.
  5. Raise enough capital to launch and pivot if you need to. Many women entrepreneurs fail because they are undercapitalized. Plan for the inevitable “learning experiences” and have a financial footing that allows you to pivot in a new direction when needed. Whether you go for an equity or debt offering, get advice from an expert in how to capitalize for success.
  6. Learn from the success (and mistakes) of others. Get connected with other entrepreneurs in an accelerator or mastermind group. Learn from those who have been there, done that. Your success strategies should come from those who are one step ahead or one or more levels above where you are now, and who match the direction you are headed.
  7. Balance logic with intuition. To be a success running your own business, learn to listen to your intuition as well as your logical brain. There are times where intuition trumps reason and others where you simply can’t ignore the data. Solutions come from feelings as well as thoughts. Trust your gut, and measure your result. Pivoting is part of the game.
  8. Outsource what absolutely must get done and hire great people to do it. Stay in your zone of genius and sub out tasks to others to do the rest. Get a great accountant and lawyer. If technology is not your forte, find someone who can turn your inspired ideas into streamlined solutions. Not good at marketing? Find someone who is a genius at it. Hire well, trust your team and praise them often.
  9. Don’t sacrifice quality for speed. While it’s great to test and iterate, your launch should be fool proof. You have taken time to know your market and what makes them tick. You have crafted the ideal solution, hired the best people to deliver and you are playing big in your launch. Take the time to deliver a quality outcome. There is a reason why 75% of new startups fail – they missed the market, ran out of cash, hired the wrong team, created a poor project, or lacked the marketing mechanics to reach critical mass. Take time to launch the RIGHT business for the right buyers with funds from the right investors.
  10. Stay current with what works. Success is more than 50,000 twitter followers. Innovation is happening at the speed of light. New ways to deliver content and connect and engage your customers appear almost daily. Stay on top of what’s working now and you will be on the leading edge of how people make buying decisions.
  11. Train your brain for the ups and downs. It’s inevitable that you will have moments of elation and times of sheer panic. One day everything is humming, and the next day you can be plagued by doubt. Success in entrepreneurship is 80% mindset. Be aware of mind traps. Giving into your the inner conflict will cause you to pull back. Examine and shift habitual thinking and master your mindset. The perfect strategy, without the right mindset, will likely fail to deliver.
  12. Get a coach. Tony Robbins said it personally in my weekend with him, If you are going to master anything, you need to get immersed in it. If you are going to be a success as an entrepreneur it takes mastery. Commit to growing with a real mentor or coach. If you want to grow in this area of your life, you need to set yourself up with a framework and process and coaching is one of the most valuable ways you can get there. In this world, it’s no longer enough to be good. You need to be excellent. There is no limit to what your purpose can be. As Tony says, “training never stops when you want an extraordinary life.”

Do you have a success strategy to add? Post in the comments below…

Love,

Deb Signature

Tuesday, September 26 join me in New York City for the inaugural launch of EBW2020 (Empowering A Billion Women by 2020). Ingrid Vanderveldt, the founder of this movement to increase the success of women entrepreneurs around the globe will be there for this event. Reply here and I’ll add you to our list.

December 1-3, Stamford, Connecticut: Join me for The Passion Project Launch Lab For Women Entrepreneurs (and those who want to be). The Lab is a hands-on business launch and growth workshop for women who want to launch or scale their passions to generate more good and more profit.

Release Fear. Think Clear. Get Into Gear.

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