Let’s face it – the 40-year career is dead and gone. If you’re like many people these days, you’re looking for something better than a life spent hopscotching from one temp job to the next..
Thinking about giving entrepreneurship a try? Congrats, as this mode of working will provide you with more job security than many people working for corporations these days. However, you have to be prepared to plunge into the pool headfirst with a winning mentality.
To achieve the track record of success Mark Stiffler has enjoyed (which eventually got him into the Philadelphia Business Hall of Fame), there are principles you can emulate that will help you get there.
By implementing them everyday without fail, it is only a matter of time before you achieve your own version of success.
Want to avoid having to go through the slow process of trial and error that scares away from trying their hand at entrepreneurship? Let’s learn some solid business tips below…
Follow your heart
Before starting out, you need to be honest with yourself, as hokey as it sounds. At the risk of making you roll your eyes, listen to what your heart is telling you before making a decision on a business opportunity.
If you go after biz ops based solely on monetary considerations, you will get chewed to bits by the grind necessary to make it work.
While following your passions has its risks (you may end up hating a beloved hobby if you don’t achieve an acceptable life/work balance), if you get pumped thinking about your work after waking up on a Monday, you will be better off than you ever were in a job.
It won’t always be easy, though, so make sure your work provides you with the motivation you’ll need to keep going on the rough days.
What does victory look like to you?
Found an opportunity you can’t wait to get started on? Before you start grinding out work, take a second to sit down and envision what your ideal life will look like five years from now.
This isn’t namby pamby hippie BS: if you don’t have a road map to success, chances are your business will become just another J-O-B instead of the springboard to personal freedom you once saw it as.
When you begin working for yourself, write down what you want to achieve in a notebook, and make time to see what progress you’ve made once every three months. As such, you’ll be able to correct course if you start to slip into habits that take you away from your goals.
Figure out what is truly important
Everyday, there will be plenty of competing priorities vying for your attention. Those who do not take the time to manage them will unconsciously assign an equal amount importance to each, leading to lowered effectiveness and heightened stress.
To avoid this, establish your top three objectives for the next day before retiring for the night. This way, rapid progress can be made towards the completion of massive tasks.
Most ‘urgent’ matters that threaten to distract you should be handed off to an employee or to outsourced help. If you don’t have a team or an assistant, fix this problem as soon as you have the funds to do so.