Starting a Successful Business – 6 Things to Know

Ever wanted to start your own business but aren’t sure where to begin? Starting a business is one of the best things you can do to break away from the broken system and live the life you want.

Throughout my years of experience as an entrepreneur, I’ve learned a few things that might be helpful for someone on the fence about starting a business. So, here are six things you need to know if you want to start a successful business:

#1 Entrepreneurship Isn’t Easy

Many people assume that entrepreneurship is a get-rich-quick scheme. However, starting a sustainable business is a long process and may take years of consistency. If you want to succeed, you have to play the long game by accepting that good things take time.

You Will Fail

Entrepreneurship isn’t a straight shot to success. Failure is a critical part of the process. Failure teaches you lessons about yourself and your business that you wouldn’t have known if you had never failed.

Failure teaches you lessons about yourself and your business that you wouldn't have known if you had never failed. Click To Tweet

For example, I started and failed at eleven businesses before I finally figured out what it took to start a successful one. Through each failure, I learned lessons that taught me what was and wasn’t working in my entrepreneurial strategy.

Business Takes Time

As I mentioned before, entrepreneurship is a long game. It doesn’t happen overnight, despite what you see online. These “overnight successes” spent years learning and failing before they found the right business that clicked.

#2 Starting a Business Requires Discipline

Inconsistency never leads to a successful business. The only way to see results is to show up every day, even when you don’t feel like it.

Inconsistency never leads to a successful business. The only way to see results is to show up every day, even when you don’t feel like it.

Don’t Rely on Motivation Alone

Most people wait for a wave of motivation before they start their businesses. However, motivation is a fleeting emotion. The only way to keep pushing forward is through discipline.

The only way to keep pushing forward is through discipline. Click To Tweet

Build a System of Habits

One of my favorite books, Atomic Habits by James Clear, lays out the importance of micro habits and how they compound over time to produce massive results. The same concept applies to discipline. By building discipline in small things such as cooking, reading, making your bed, and exercising, it’ll be much easier to transition to larger things.

Here’s how to start developing discipline:

Set Clear Goals

Setting clear goals allows you to visualize the end result, making implementation easier. For example, saying you want to start a business isn’t clear enough. You need to be more specific, such as, “I want to start a business that helps small business owners increase their revenue.” Implementing habits will be much easier for the second goal than the first one because you know exactly what you want to accomplish, allowing you to create clear, actionable steps.

Remove Distractions

Distractions prevent you from being 100% committed to completing your goals. For example, let’s say you watch TV after work. I’m not saying watching TV is bad, but if you want to start a business, you need to eliminate things that aren’t supporting that goal.

Instead of watching TV after work, perform a task for your business, such as writing a business plan, reading business books, taking an online course, etc. Try spending an hour doing that one activity right after work. Then, after you do that activity, you can reward yourself with something you love.

Rewarding yourself for doing a hard task triggers your mind to want to repeat that task. As you repeat this process, working on your business after work becomes a habit. Eventually, you may enjoy working on your business so much that you don’t need to reward yourself anymore.

Start Small

Don’t overwhelm yourself by starting a bunch of habits at the same time. Instead, start building one habit at a time until you feel like you can add another one. You don’t want to burn out too quickly because you took on too many things at once.

Get an Accountability Partner

If you’re not great at keeping yourself accountable, find a friend, family member, or mentor to keep you accountable. Sometimes, our own self-discipline isn’t enough to keep us on the right track, so it’s important to have that support to keep you consistent.

#3 Develop a Success Mindset

You can’t create a successful business if you don’t believe you can. Mindset is a critical aspect of entrepreneurship because it can literally make or break your success.

Mindset is a critical aspect of entrepreneurship because it can literally make or break your success.

Here are some ways to develop a success mindset:

Swap Negative Beliefs for Positive Beliefs

Any time a negative thought or belief pops into your head, replace it with a positive thought or belief. Over time, your mind will learn to think more positively, no matter the situation.

Put Yourself in Uncomfortable Situations

Putting yourself in uncomfortable situations forces you to overcome challenges. To overcome these challenges, you must have a success mindset. Without it, you won’t believe that you can do hard things.

Surround Yourself with Successful People

You become like the people you hang around. So, it’s vital to spend your time with people who challenge you and inspire you to become better.

#4 Solve a Problem

To run a successful business, you need to solve a problem. The whole purpose of starting a business is to help others with a problem you might have experienced or witnessed. For example, Steve Jobs created the iPhone as a “computer that fits in your pocket.” Before iPhones, keyboards took up half the space on a smartphone. The iPhone solved this problem by negating the physical keyboard and implementing a “soft keyboard” instead. In addition, the iPhone was more than a device for phone calls and texting. You could go on the internet, play games, listen to music, and even watch movies!

To run a successful business, you need to solve a problem.

#5 Don’t Try to Sell; Build an Audience Instead

Consumers don’t want you to sell your product or service to them. They want someone to solve their problems. So, meet your customers at their level with your marketing strategy. For example, let’s say you’re a social media strategist for small businesses. Instead of promoting yourself as a social media strategist, present the problem of not being able to grow or convert on social media. Then, list the benefits of hiring a social media strategist for a small business.

This marketing strategy presents a problem to your consumers and then lists a solution. It doesn’t say how good you are at your job because people don’t want to hear about it.

Consumers don't want you to sell your product or service to them. They want someone to solve their problems. Click To Tweet

Listen to Your Customers

As a business owner, you need to listen to your customers. Your customers may give you feedback about what you could be doing better or what you’re already doing well. These analytics can help you tailor your business to fit your customers’ needs, showing them that you care about what they want. As a result, you’ll build a loyal customer base.

#6 Optimization and Outsourcing Are Your Friends

You can’t do everything by yourself as a business owner, or you’ll get burnt out. The best way to prevent burnout is to outsource tasks that don’t require your expertise to others. For example, you might get a personal assistant to answer your emails, schedule meetings, plan travel accommodations, etc. The more you outsource the non-pressing tasks that take up your time, the more time you create to work on other things.

Learn the Basics of Business; Outsource the Rest

Before starting your business, you only need to learn the basics – Finance, Operations, Marketing, Sales, etc. Try to learn a little about each of these topics and hire professionals to handle the rest. For example, if you’re not great at accounting, don’t try and do it yourself. Hire an accountant to handle that portion of your business, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Feeling Overwhelmed As A Newbie Business Owner?

If you want to begin your entrepreneurial journey but don’t know where to begin, ENTRE has got you covered.

My company ENTRE teaches everyday humans how to leverage their skills and gifts to create an online business that gives them control over their time, life, and income.

So, if you’re ready to jump into entrepreneurship and receive the proper skillsguidance, and coaching you need to create a successful online business, click here. 

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6 thoughts on “Starting a Successful Business – 6 Things to Know”

    1. You’re most welcome, Hunter! I’m honored to help. Please reach out to our community or myself if you ever have questions or need support. 🙂

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