Entrepreneurs are bold, courageous and confident individuals. They have a mission, a vision and a plan in mind. They are prepared to overcome any challenges that come their way and ready to take on the world.
Becoming an entrepreneur isn’t a task so easy though. Lots of hard work, time, energy and planning is required. Moreover, there are high chances of failure and a great amount of uncertainty. When beginning a journey of developing your own business, especially from scratch, you need to be ready to face all kinds of situations.
While entrepreneurship offers a variety of success stories and learning outcomes from failures, there are certain tricks to help minimize risks. This article presents five secrets to success for striving entrepreneurs.
Curiosity is a prerequisite
Being curious about anything and everything around you is a great starter. Curiosity helps in asking questions and beginning investigations. An entrepreneur needs to identify problems, pain points and market gaps. All this should stem from curiosity and observation.
The 5 W’s should be researched upon and answered. Curiosity leads to questions such as what is happening in the relevant industry, how is it being done, where exactly is it happening, when does it happen most frequently and why does it happen all the time? Why does it happen a particular way and can it be done differently are other basic questions that can be asked.
Once this prerequisite is fulfilled, tenacious research begins. A striving entrepreneur should not just ask questions in the start, but maintain the habit of curiosity all their life. Questions should be asked every step of the way, before, during & after each process and while continually trying to improve an offering.
Effective task management
Task management is a life-long hack. Anybody who wants to live a successful life, should religiously follow it. Task management is not only related to job roles or work tasks but also applies to household chores, family life and personal tasks.
Effective task management is a broad term that incorporates planning, scheduling and managing time as well. In the modern world, where digitalization and technology have taken over, there are several applications and software that help in effective task management. Week Plan is a great, easy to use software that provides lots of features.
Ambitious people can use Week Plan as a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly planner. A planner is really important as it helps one decide all the things that need to be done, highlighting what is most important and what is super urgent. Week Plan also shows High Impact Tasks, so entrepreneurs keep track of what tasks are not to be missed.
Entrepreneurs have so much to do that it may get difficult to manage everything at times. This is where Week Plan jumps in and provides solutions such as time tracking and calendar integrations. Every entrepreneur should ensure they plan and execute their tasks well.
Learning & exploration
A striving entrepreneur needs to be an avid learner. For any business to progress and grow, learning should be an ongoing process. Learning can be done through several platforms and in different ways.
The world’s top CEO’s have developed the habit of reading every day. There are various books and corporate magazines, available for different business functions and fields. Pick a book relevant to your field and read it, with the aim of enhancing your knowledge base through it.
A superb book, recommended for all, especially entrepreneurs and businessmen is “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” written by Stephen Covey. Apart from reading books and magazines, an entrepreneur should also read articles on relevant, leading websites. These articles will help them understand the current scenario, prevailing situation and the market performance.
It is important to explore what is happening in the industry and who the major industry players are. Learning about direct and indirect competition is also very important. Constantly learning about the evolving customer base and other key stakeholders is also a vital requirement.
In order to explore and find opportunities, travelling is also suggested. When an entrepreneur travels, they get a wider perspective. Their way of looking at things changes and they start looking at a story from multiple viewpoints. Traveling also helps in recognizing and observing the bigger picture.
Exploring traditions, languages, history and culture also helps widen ones understanding of the world around them. A striving entrepreneur should have an open mind and wild thoughts. Ideas for disruption and innovation stem from deep learning and extensive exploration of situations, people and places.
Prioritization is key
It is important to plan a strategy and define end goals before starting a business. Week Plan is a recommended OKR (Objectives & Key Results) Software for entrepreneurs and businessmen. It helps in setting up objectives and associated key results that you want to achieve each month, quarter or year. Once solid & well detailed plans are in place, the entrepreneur is clear about where they want to reach.
A hurdle faced by most striving entrepreneurs is that they have too many tasks to do, in a restricted amount of time. In order to avoid over-working yourself or procrastinating all the time, a good entrepreneur should learn to prioritize. They need to divide tasks according to their importance and urgency. Some tasks may also be delegated or outsourced.
In order to work productively and efficiently, entrepreneurs need to prioritize their tasks and plan their schedules accordingly. More time should be spent on high priority tasks, which also require more focus. Low priority tasks can be done at day ends, when an individual usually starts to feel tired or produces less creative fluids in the mind.
Future orientation
A final secret to success is being future fit. An entrepreneur should be aware of the past, present and future scenarios. Predicting all possible future situations, helps to take necessary measures in advance.
Every striving entrepreneur should have contingency plans ready. Plan B, Plan C & Plan D should be developed, according to multiple future possibilities. Any mishaps, changes or emergencies that may possibly happen should also be considered beforehand, and solutions should be devised in case of unfortunate events taking place. The right amount of extra cash should also be spared for contingent plans.
It is also important to remain updated with current and future technologies and the kind of research going on. A futuristic approach and long term perspective can help plan ahead and think across the boundaries of time. Futuristic mind set also helps to minimize risks and unpleasant surprises.
The secrets to success have been revealed, aiming to help maximum number of businesses and start-ups grow. It’s now time for entrepreneurs to make bold moves and progress forward. They need to implement the tricks mentioned above and work towards their goals. If you know of any further secrets and are willing to spell them out, mention them in the comments below!
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