Did you know 65% or more of all startups fail within three years–usually because the entrepreneur forgot the leadership side of running a business? They know their market, they know their sales proposition, they know their cash flow needs. But what they don’t pay attention to is how they themselves impact their business’s growth or demise.
What we do know, from research into entrepreneurship, is that highly successful business leaders like Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Howard Schultz of Starbucks and Larry Page of Google have four factors in common.
This Article will focus on two of the success factors – mindset and self-management – and the required entrepreneurial competences. My next Article will focus on the other two – dealing with others and your business orientation.
- Mindset:
Unless an entrepreneur has a positive, proactive mind-set is in place, making a business plan come to life has less chance of happening. It’s the attitudes, thoughts and outlook with which a person interprets and responds to the volatile situations of building a business that can make or break his or her success.
Here are three key mind-set competencies. Which do you have and which do you need to develop?
a. Independent Minded
Often entrepreneurs act on their own hunches and push boundaries rather than follow guidelines or get approval for their actions. How comfortable are you thinking outside the lines and challenging the tried and true?
b. Risk Tolerant
Without personal and probable financial risk taking, there is no entrepreneurship. But it’s calculated risk based on possibilities not certainties. How willing are you to go out on a limb and make decisions based on guesstimates?
c. Optimism
When starting or growing your own business, you’ll have many difficult days -finding the resources, recruiting the talent, and implementing the business plan. How confident are you that you will not just survive but thrive in challenge?
- Self-Management:
As an entrepreneur how you manage YOU is more essential to your success than if you worked in a large company. In a small business, you are mission critical… It’s very much up to you to chart the course, make the decisions, find the resources and so much more.
Here are three key self-management competencies. Which do you have and which do you need to develop?
a. Action Oriented
More than any other profession, entrepreneurs have to be motivated by action. Many times you’ll be facing barriers and disappointments. Often nothing happens until you do something. How well you redirect yourself to keep moving forward?
b. Multi-Tasker
In starting up, you’ll be wearing many hats…from being the CEO, to performing as the sales manager, to even operating as the trash collector. Do you have the amount of energy required for multi-tasking and shifting gears?
c. Resiliency
No one said it was going to be easy to be an entrepreneur. There’s the pressure of deadlines, of dealing with people, of the unknown …all can take a huge toll. Can you use stress as a motivator to thrive or will it wear you down?
Smart Moves Quote:
“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.”
–Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s
Do you have the mindset to be a successful entrepreneur? How well do you self-manage? A simple, assessment, the Entrepreneurial Edge Profile, can tell you if you have the right stuff. To find out contact me below!
My Motto Is:
If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got. Therefore, MOVE outside of your comfort zone; that’s where the MAGIC happens.” To bring that magic to your leadership and business, subscribe to Marcia’s monthly Execubrief: Business Edge- Smart Growth Strategies with insights, intelligence and inspiration on how to build great businesses that matter- those that do well and do good.
