Entrepreneur Extraordinaire – Do you have what it takes?

Most people I know dream of a life where they can work for themselves, set their own hours, do what they love and make good money doing it. And of course those same people believe that they can achieve this through starting their own business. If you structure things right, you can have all of the above and more. You can even work less than you did when you worked for someone else and make more. However, it’s not automatic. You can have this by setting up smart systems and processes, leading by example and the right mindset. The focus of this article will be on the mindset aspect. What are the mindset traits of a successful entrepreneur and do you have what it takes? Trait #1 Persistence Stick-to-itiveness is an essential trait for the successful entrepreneur. When things go wrong, as they will, when you start to build your business, you need to stay with it. Hang in there. Hang tight. Tough it out. This is YOUR business, YOUR baby, YOUR project and you should be damned if you let a few setbacks stop you from seeing it through to success. Trait #2 Believe in yourself This may seem like unlikely or unfitting advice for business. But you’d be surprised how much the emotional and psychological things can have an effect on business. You must believe in yourself, in your business and its success. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. If you struggle with this, affirmations come in handy here. Another great tip to boost belief in yourself, is to tackle your projects or obstacles head-on. With each accomplishment, recognize it and reward yourself for it and know that you can handle anything that comes your way. Take time to look back at each fire you were able to put out. Eventually, when you see the proof in the pudding from these self-reflections, belief in yourself will be inevitable. Trait #3 Harness the Power of Focus Focus on your tasks, your business, your goals. There is a funny thing about being able to focus when you are in a J.O.B. with deadlines and accountability vs. when you are the boss. A simple trick to help you develop more focus is to tie your activity with a positive outcome or direct income. For instance, decide on an area you need to focus on in your business, then calculate the income you will receive as a result of this, then get to work. Once you tie the activity or area to direct income, you will be more motivated to stay focused. Trait #4 Have a vision for your business “We are limited not by our abilities, but by our vision” – Anonymous Know what you would like your business to look like in the long term. Put yourself in the place of your ideal customer and think of what would motivate that customer to use your product or service instead of others. When you are crafting your business plan and make your 1 year, 3 or 5 year projections, look at this from a branding standpoint as well or growth standpoint, or facilities. Visualize your ideal successful business and work backwards to achieve it. Keep this vision in front of you always. Create a vision statement as well so that staff members know the vision and work towards it as well. Trait #5 Discipline For some reason, this is the trait that really tests the mettle of most would-be entrepreneurs. Discipline over oneself is such a hard task to achieve. It’s so easy to let ourselves down and to give up on ourselves sometimes. It’s so easy to not hold ourselves accountable. Yet we bend over backward for bosses, friends, colleagues and even acquaintances sometimes. However, the successful entrepreneur needs to be disciplined to abide by our own business hours, do what it takes, pick up the slack and be committed to our own success. A saying from Zig Ziglar on the topic of personal discipline is this, "When you discipline yourself to do the things you need to do when you need to do them, the day will come when you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them." In my opinion, when you conquer this trait, you can conquer all. Good luck and success to you on your path to entrepreneur extraordinaire!