Thread: 5 Tips for Successful Entrepreneurship

1. STOP MAKING ASSUMPTIONS!! I would argue that that the majority of all entrepreneurship failures are caused by making assumptions. For example: Assuming that your business truly serves a need/want/desire in the market. Assuming that everything will go out as planed. Or Assuming that the market will respond positively to the pricing of your product or service. Remember just like in investments, you need to identify variables and identify how those variables interact and affect your business. You need to do your Homework. I know we hear that all the time, but you will be surprised how many people don't. You need to think 99% of people dont think. Why? Because thinking involves effort and process. Something people don't like! When Isaac Newton was asked how he solved so many scientific problems, he simply said: "by thinking about them all the time". Think about your business, think about problems in the market place, and don't stop thinking!

2. STOP BEING A "KNOW IT ALL"!!! This goes into human nature. If you constantly think that your insights and thinking are somehow more sophisticated than anyone else's and that you are never wrong. It is gonna cost you big time. I'm not saying don't have confidence in your abilities, thats different. But we need to understand that we can easily be WRONG. SERIOUSLY ask yourself what percentage of the time are you wrong. I can guarantee you that it is not 0%. You need to be open to new perspectives, ideas, solutions, plans etc. Set your ego aside and look for facts and evidence. Not the "i am right because i just am" type of BS.

3. EMBRACE RISK!!! Thats right marry it, kiss it, hug it and love it. This is what sets Entrepreneurs from Joe Blow the store clerk or Sally Sue the store supervisor. But be careful, this ties into tip #1: Assumptions, IGNORANCE increases risk. And of course we want to decrease it, but we cant completely eliminate it. A good book i read on this is: http://www.amazon.com/Uncertainty-Turning-Fear-Doubt-Brilliance/dp/159184424X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326509489&sr=8-1

4. STOP!!! What i mean by this is to simply take 30 minutes a day to just think. Sit in a quite room or go to the park and just think about everything in your life, your plans, where you are going in life, where you are now, where you want to go etc. The reason we should do this is because we are very routine and habitual beings. Everything is fast paced these days: "pick up the kids" "go to work" then "go drop off joe blow" HURRY HURRY HURRY!!! Yes that is why we always see the soccer moms doing 90 MPH in their big SUVS.

5. SMILE!! I know im getting off topic but i think this one is important just like the previous. I know sometimes we don't feel like smiling because we are stressed, unhappy with our lives, or just plain depressed. But studies have shown that just forcing a smile will trick your mind into feeling happy! When you constantly smile you will find that your mood boosts and you have more motivation.

I also want to add, CELEBRATE YOUR WINS!

Each day take an inventory of your successes and celebrate each of them. It doesn't matter that they're small. What matters is that you were successful and this will train your mind to look for more ways to be successful.

Also, all of the little things add up. "Ordinary things, done consistently produce extraordinary results."

What is one ordinary thing that you can do each day to produce more success?

I am definitely guilty of the first two. When I come up with an idea, I want to tell everyone about how great my idea is and how many people would want to use it. For example, I came up with an idea for an e-book renting service. I was so sure that it would be a hit and I congratulated myself for thinking about it. Then I asked a bunch of people and all of them said 'No, I would not pay for that service'. I covered myself by saying 'Yeah, but you're not my target market'. So I asked someone who was in my target market, an avid e-book reader of all types, and she said 'No, I would not pay for that service because I would be wasting money just to have access to books I don't want to read. Plus, it takes me a bit of time to finish a book because of how busy I am.' I countered with tons of arguments but she basically pummeled my idea into the ground with all of the trouble I would have to go through, e.g. negotiating with publishers, competing with Amazon (who had not released their Prime service yet) and getting people to pay for a service that they probably didn't want anyway. It takes 90 minutes to finish a movie, but it takes most people many weeks to finish a book, especially if they are very busy people.

I learned my lesson and I am so glad I didn't execute on that idea. Amazon Prime now offers a similar service for their Kindle on an infrastructure already set up; and they wouldn't lose money if no one signed up for it because they already are the largest seller of e-books online. This is a prime lesson on how making assumptions based on personal feeling and thinking that you know what everyone wants when the market says otherwise can truly hurt a budding entrepreneur. That lady who killed my idea saved me lots of time and possibly thousands of dollars; if I see her again I would have to thank her.