Success does not come by chance. You need to plan and work hard to achieve your goals. If you want to become a website creator, for example, learn how to. If you want to invent a new way to connect people, why not do it?
A lot of successful young entrepreneurs had visions of what they wanted to do, and succeeded in doing it. Take, for example, some of the most successful entrepreneurs of 2013 according to Forbes Magazine:
- Mark Zuckerberg — co-founder and CEO of Facebook
- Larry Page — co-founder of Google
- Evan Spiegel — co-founder of SnapChat
- Howard Schultz — CEO of Starbucks
- Travis Kalanick — co-founder of Uber
Many people want to follow their footsteps, and own and manage billion-dollar companies themselves. While it’s not easy to be them, young entrepreneurs can be like them by starting a small business first and building on from there.
Here are 15 success tips that aspiring and young entrepreneurs can follow in order to start their journey to start-up success.
1. Be ready to take calculated risks
Pierre Corneille once said, “To win without risk is to triumph without glory.”
Well, you need to take calculated risks. Without it, you will maintain the status quo for the rest of your life. Try something new and you will definitely discover more.
2. Believe in success
For an entrepreneur, failure is not an option. You must learn to juggle all ways and opportunities at your disposal to get what you want in life.
Do you remember the well-known quote by Vince Lombardi? He said: “Winners never quit and quitters never win.” That is the spirit you must have always.
3. Have a vision
You must have a vision, a desire for something. This alone should keep you going no matter the obstacles you encounter in life.
4. Passion should be your driving force
What do you love doing? Steve Jobs loved graphics and dropped out of college to pursue what he loved most.
Apple products (e.g., iPhones, MacBook, iPads) are envied due to their quality graphics. Identify what you enjoy doing and improve on it.
5. Overcome your fears
Fears will only hold you back from achieving your entrepreneurial objectives. The biggest fear most people have is a failure.
It shouldn’t be. It doesn’t matter how many times you fail, all that counts is the lessons you learn from failure.
6. Go with the right company
People around you will influence progress you make in life — either directly or indirectly.
Get a mentor or a role model — someone who inspires you to go the extra mile to achieve your objectives. It is important to avoid people who see impossibility in everything they do.
7. Time is a valuable asset
Time management is an important asset to any entrepreneur. You will know when:
- To introduce a new service or product in the market
- To take risks and when not to
- The best time for financing loans, e.g., through crowdfunding
Time waits for no one. You should make good use of the limited time available at your disposal.
8. Learn to manage money
Money is like emotions; to keep your life on the right track, you must learn how to manage them.
Learn when to spend and when not to. Plan when to expand a business and when to focus on value-added production.
You need to balance all these at any given instance. Always account for every penny you spend.
9. Always learn from your mistakes
Your journey won’t be perfect and since it will be your first time in a new venture, you will make some mistakes.
Strive to learn from them. You have no time for regrets. The past is history just focus on what is ahead of you.
10. Do research on your industry
Product differentiation is vital in a competitive and dynamic market. You need to bring something new in the market that your business will be associated with.
This implies that you need to understand your industry well. Do not venture in a market simply because you see other people doing so.
11. Always learn from complaints
As an entrepreneur, you should learn from unhappy customers. This will help you improve on the quality of services or products you offer.
12. Have a plan
You must plan for everything you intend to do. This will minimize wastage of resources such as time and manpower.
With a good plan, it will nearly be impossible to fail on any project.
13. Build a team based on character
You can train people on some skills, but you cannot change their character or values. The two will determine the image of your business.
14. Always be ready to take action
This should be done at the right time when it’s considered necessary. When you delay to take action, the business may be overtaken by events.
15. Strive to solve problems
The need for a new product or service is to bridge a gap that exists. You should learn to take advantage of this.
A good example is Facebook. There was actually a need for people to connect across the globe, and Mark Zuckerberg found it.
You cannot become a successful entrepreneur, e.g., a million-dollar website creator, if you don’t take action. You need to change your mindset and have a positive attitude in everything you do.
The successful young entrepreneurs mentioned above, as well as hundreds of others like them, didn’t get to where they are by just lazing around. Adopt these 15 important tips in your business life and you may be able to enjoy the success they did someday.
Ready to take your business online? Use Bookmark’s sitebuilder to get you started.
Originally published at www.bookmark.com on May 31, 2016.
