The entrepreneurial adventure is NEVER devoid of challenges, many of which as statistics show, cause most business startups to fail. What will ensure success for virtually ANYONE who starts a business will be their ability to PERSEVERE in the face of marketplace rejection, and daunting obstacles they will encounter.
This article spells out philosophies you can adopt if you wish to achieve long term, sustainable entrepreneurial success.
1. Cut-Off ALL Sources Of Retreat: In his classic book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill uses the analogy of a General who had his soldiers burn all their boats upon arrival on the shore to face a much larger and formidable army, so they all knew they had to win the battle or die trying. This kindled a determination in the men to put forth their best efforts – and against all odds, they won.
Hill stated that to in order to succeed in any endeavour one must be prepared to burn one’s bridges. If you really want to achieve your ultimate entrepreneurial goal, you need to ensure your circumstances are such that no matter how hopeless the situation becomes, you leave yourself no “escape” route leading back to the comfort of your previous life. This is one sure way of keeping yourself fired up UNTIL you achieve the inevitable reward of success.
2. Be Convinced Enough To Risk Financial Ruin: The ability to be honest with yourself is an important requirement here. Before you launch out, ask yourself WHY you want to become an entrepreneur. You need a reason that is compelling enough, a need that is felt deeply enough, to keep you going, refusing to stop or accept failure/defeat UNTIL you achieve your intended objective. Without this, you may find it difficult continuing the journey during the inevitable periods of pain, and adversity that most entrepreneurs have to endure before arriving.
Robert L. Shook in discussing lessons from the lives of great entrepreneurs, pointed out that a startup needs to be strongly convinced about his/her business concept. Your conviction he said, would be so great that even when loved ones tell you it cannot be done, you would be prepared to invest all you own – and risk losing it all – to implement the idea. Most importantly, you would never give up regardless of how many times you failed.
3. Remember That Your Struggles Develop Your Strengths: Napoleon Hill explained that even though many of us see people who tirelessly persist in their pursuit of cherished goals till they succeed, few ever notice the role played behind the scenes by certain “irresistible” forces which ultimately come to the aid of such individuals.
It should also be noted that people who have to struggle long and hard to achieve success, always tend to use the lessons they learn from failures to subsequently build on their successes, resulting in even greater achievements, sustained over long periods. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s words are relevant to the foregoing:
“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
4. Master The Art Of Intelligent Mistake Making(TM): If you are scared of making mistakes or failing, then forget about becoming an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are people who HATE failing. But they DO NOT fear failure. The former implies they dislike having the experience of NOT succeeding at something, and because of that they WILL go after it again and again, UNTIL they succeed. On the other hand, the latter statement(i.e. they DO NOT fear failure) implies that ALL the failures they experience prior to the eventual success would not discourage them, because they have healthy levels of self-esteem. To them, failure is only Temporary Defeat, which can always be overturned to achieve success.
So, you must strive constantly to extract the equivalent benefit from every adversity. Get into the habit of working hard to extract a useful lesson or benefit from every setback, disappointment or other negative experiences you have in the pursuit of your goals. Focus on analysing every experience of failure for the “equivalent benefit” hidden in it, and then USE it in your next plan, to increase your chances of success. As I put it in my ten ways manual on Self-Development, “Don’t rationalise your negative experiences or failure, analyse them!”.
“I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity” – John D. Rockefeller
Success tends not to go to the person who is error-free, because he also tends to be risk averse. Rather, it goes to the person who recognises that life is pretty much a percentage business. It isn’t making mistakes that’s critical; it’s correcting them and getting on with the principal tasks.” – Donald Rumsfeld, US Public Official and Business Executive.
5. Think So BIG, That Others Question Your Sanity(TM): Many times, people who know us – friends, relatives, and spouses – and who feel they know all there is to know about us have the greatest difficulty believing we can do anything more than they “think” we can, even when we say so. That’s why an entrepreneur needs to nurture and guard her self-esteem jealously. It is also why you must be willing to think VERY big, in a way that challenges others, and forces you to commit yourself the more.
When you have a BIG goal, that is likely to impact on a large number of people, when achieved, the thought of making it happen for so many others is likely to drive you to work harder(It does me!). Of course those who think they “know” you will be quick to say you cannot do it, but the thought of proving them wrong, and showing that you CAN, will further boost your efforts.
6. Understand That New/Unique Ideas Will Get You Money: Understand that being able to come up with new unique variants of ideas/services will increase your chances of making money as an entrepreneur. Not having money to start with cannot stop you from earning money. Your creative skills/thinking ability properly nurtured and channeled effectively, will ultimately lead to financially rewarding relationships with persons who value them.
“Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two – and only these two – basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and Innovation produce results. All the others are costs” – Peter Drucker
Napoleon Hill reassures the reader of Think and Grow Rich, that most rich persons he studied had amassed their fortunes through receiving compensation for personal services or ideas they provided to others for a fee.
I can still recall two particular instances when I had absolutely no money on me. After sitting down and feeling sorry for myself, I got into my car and drove from office to office, making cold calls, with my mind fixed on meeting someone who would be ready to pay – immediately – for work I would do for him/her. Some hours later(in both instances), I returned home with a cheque/cash as advance payment for at least one of my custom services!
7. Ask For Help Without Acting Helpless(TM): A true entrepreneur will not need “samaritans”. James Cook was quite right in making – what amounted to – the foregoing assertion in his New York Times best selling book titled “The Start-up Entrepreneur”. This is because a true entrepreneur will be offering to ADD value to what a prospective client(or investor) is doing for a profitable fee(or investment). The relationship will be mutually beneficial, hence neither party will be doing the other a favour!
Cook further admonishes that, being unwilling to let others give him/her “handouts”(e.g. money for free) will help the entrepreneur develop qualities that will eventually enable him/her achieve sustainable success. He warns against trying to get something for nothing, which incurs “hidden penalties”.
To raise capital for instance, Cook suggests taking practical steps like: Seeking out (and offering to sell a part of your venture to) equity investors and/or strategic partners; mortgaging your assets to raise money(I would add “if realistic in your society” i.e. going by my personal experiences in my part of the world); BUT strongly warns against taking zero-interest government grants, loans etc(for reasons earlier enumerated).
8. Know Enough About ANYTHING That Can Help You: Be prepared to acquire ANY and EVERY bit of skill/knowledge that will help you achieve your goal. You are not likely to be able to pay to have someone else do things for you every time, especially when starting up. Even when you’re not starting up, it would be financially imprudent to incur recurrent expenses on tasks you could easily learn to do yourself, via self-tutoring for instance. Read my article titled “How To Be A Jack Of Many Trades(TM), And Why It Can Make You Succeed More Often?”
9. Understand That Having Inadequate Capital Can Teach YOU: The discipline you learn(due to lack of adequate capital) in using little money to get many things done, will ultimately help you record impressive successes using a little MORE money in a way that will increase your business’ profitability.
Cyrus Hall McCormick explained that a person who starts small due to lack of adequate capital, will be forced to learn the rudiments of his/her business so as to be able to ensure survival on a low budget.
Harvey Firestone expressed similar sentiments, adding that without THAT experience, he would never have learnt to study closely how to promote efficient operations in his organisation in the way he did, to the extent that his company became as big as it eventually did.
James Cook, author of the bestseller, “The Startup Entrepreneur” and a successful entrepreneur in his own right, admonishes that lack of capital forces the entrepreneur to toughen up mentally, and learn how to survive on little, while at the same time discovering alternative sources of capital.
Dan Kennedy, in his book “Succeeding In Business By Breaking All The Rules” was quite categorical in saying that having enough capital to work with can result in negative consequences similar to those that would arise from being cursed. This is because it can deny an entrepreneur of crucial learning obtainable from struggling to survive frequent shortages of cash: Learning, that when applied, would increase one’s chances of success.
Bottom line is this: Inadequate capital CANNOT kill your business or you, except you let it. It will often turn out to be more of a blessing in disguise.
Read my article titled “If You Lack Capital, Intelligent Multipreneuring Can Increase Your Chances Of Succeeding.”
10. When There’s Nothing To Do, Work!(TM): Sound contradictory? Well, it’s not. The truth is that there will be downtimes during your entrepreneurial adventure. Those will be times when you make no sales, have no clients or customers asking for your business etc. And if you will ensure that you emerge from those dark periods unscathed, you need to understand how to control your state of mind. In fact, this aspect is probably the one that most people are least prepared for – hence the frequent cases of failed businesses.
The quotes below offer time-tested wisdom, that you can use.
“Work, work, always work is the only talisman” – Thomas Lipton
“To banish depression, worry and fear, go to work” – Anon
“I have always found, when I was worrying, that the best thing to do was put my mind upon something, work hard and forget what was troubling me.” – Thomas Edison
During my early start-up days, some of my most productive periods were the times when I was severely cash strapped – or as Burt Dubin would put it – “maxed to the hilt”. It was during such periods that I delivered 8(eight), more or less FREE one-hour talks in various parts of Lagos between May and July 2002.
I went round them even though I hardly could buy fuel into my car! But guess what? Because I truly enjoyed what I was doing – sharing with people – I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and no one knew better! And, I got to polish my public speaking skills plus got rave testimonials.
It was during those lean periods that I wrote the entire 87 pages of my Ten-Week Email autoresponder course titled Ten Ways You Can Use Self-Development To Create The Future You Want (based on self-development principles I have successfully used to achieve goals I set for myself) – which today is now available for purchase in print as a self-help manual from Cafepress.com and Lulu.com( ebook also here).
Add to this a 70 – page manual titled “Practical Livestock Feed Formulation Handbook” – also written during a rough patch I went through(drawing from my background as a graduate of Agricultural Extension Services, and a member of a Farm Research Foundation), and you will agree that tough times can indeed bring out the best in a person!
How did I do it you ask? Well, I knew from reading Think and Grow Rich/other books, that during periods of hardship, the best thing to do is to bury oneself in work – instead of worrying. So I went ahead and did just that! That way, I knew I would at least have something new to show for it by the time things improved.
No matter how bad things get, just go to a quiet place, sit down and THINK. Napoleon Hill’s book title(Think And Grow Rich) was not an accident:You Have To THINK! Add James Cook’s plea in the last pages of his own book – The Startup Entrepreneur – where he repeatedly implores the read to pick up a copy of Napoleon Hill’s book and read, before taking the decision to quit.
Before you know it, you’ll be ready to go back out and give it another try. Take it from me – This works! I have done it. It CAN work for you too, if you do it. The discipline you learn from maintaining such focus will subsequently set you apart from the crowd when things are going well.
One more thing. Just in case you don’t already own them, I urge you to go out and get yourself a copy of each of those two books mentioned above. They are an entrepreneur’s best friends. I have personally referred, in my writings, to James Cook’s book as “The Missing Chapters In Napoleon Hill’s Think And Grow Rich”. I believe you’ll agree with me, when you read it!
11. Procrastinate When It Comes To Spending(TM): When you’re starting-up, and even after you get up and running, develop the bad habit of putting off spending – for as long as reasonably possible – till your’re convinced it is inevitable.
While starting up in particular, I suggest you cut down on ALL your personal expenses by at least 90%(I know this sounds a bit extreme, but based on hindsight, I am convinced that the process of doing it will clear one’s thinking faster/better). As James Cook said, you will find what you really need to spend to get through each day, is much less than you think you do.
Gradually, over time, you will discover the appropriate level to operate in terms of spending.
Let me reiterate. When you want to do any heavy business-related spending, stay off “doing it ” for at least another 24 – 48 hours, or as long as possible. Brood over it, challenge yourself to think of any other way(s) you can get that “thing” done without spending that much – or without spending ANY money at all. Herman Holtz (now late) – widely regarded as a “Consultant’s Consultant”, hammered on this quite a bit in his book “The Concise Guide To Becoming An Independent Consultant”(John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 1999). If Holtz thought it was THAT important, I think you should too:-).
Starting Up As An Ex-Employee? Read This!
In the Entrepreneur’s Survival Reference Manual that I wrote back in 2003, I made the following observation, based on my experiences as a person who left paid employment to start a business:
If you plan to(or have already) entered into entrepreneuring from a similar background to mine, this is the first thing you have to watch out for – your spending habits. With very few exceptions, most people who go into business after having being in paid employment – especially where the pay was relatively comfortable – often lack the “discipline” needed to preserve the “lifeblood” (i.e. cash) of their new businesses.
This often results in the early demise of the new business, and their subsequent scampering back to the safety of paid employment. When asked afterwards, they vehemently insist other factors made it impossible to continue in business – when in truth, it was they who were not prepared to modify their habits/lifestyles to allow their new businesses come out of the woods!!” – Tayo Solagbade(25 Avoidable Mistakes No One Will Warn You About In Starting Your Own Business)
12. Pretend You’re Already Successful. The success philosophies I subscribe to, teach that one needs to ALWAYS Think And Act Like A Success In Order To Become One.
Jim Donovan in his best-selling ebook (titled “This Is Your Life, Not A Dress Rehearsal”) that I bought from http://www.asamanthinketh.com in 2001, described a technique called Fake It Till You Make It. He explained it by saying that without mis-representing him/herself, the person who seeks success must act as if (and BELIEVE) s/he has already become the successful person s/he wants to be.
You would speak in the present continuous tense about the value you intend to deliver. For instance you would say “I Help People Solve Their Business Financing Problems” and NOT “I Hope To Help People Solve Their Business Financing Problems”. Your apparent self-belief is what will convince persons sincerely interested in having THAT kind of problem solved to engage you.
The foregoing is why in everything I do, I work hard to create an image for myself that reflects where I want to be/how I want to be perceived.(My multi-site website presence for instance is proof of this). Success is a continuous process – you’re going to always reviewing and re-focusing to achieve a higher goal, modified vision etc. At every stage, you MUST speak – with conviction – as if you are already where you intend to be.
13. Choose Work That You Would Enjoy Doing EVEN If You Did Not Get Paid: An entrepreneur who does not truly enjoy and get great fulfillment from doing his chosen business every time s/he has the opportunity, WILL fail when things get tough, and monetary rewards fail to come as expected. S/he will be unable to persevere. The logic is quite simple, but the application in the moments of trial can be tremendously difficult.
If you truly desire to succeed in your business, make sure you choose one that you would gladly do twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and longer if necessary – regardless of whether or NOT you get paid! Find that thing that you love doing THAT much, and nothing – no setback, disappointment or delay – can EVER make you quit. And since you can only fail when you quit, it therefore follows that you will NOT fail, but instead, ultimately succeed.
As I said in my article titled Should You Quit Your Job or Start Your Business Part-time?, doing what you love WILL also eventually bring the ONE benefit(money!) that many people always seem to want to get first. That’s why Marsha Sinetar said:
“Do what you love, and the money will follow” – Marsha Sinetar
14. NEVER Act Based On What You Think Others Will Say! If you do, you will very likely regret it, and it might cost you your dream. People, especially those who lack the courage to pursue their own dreams will – usually out of envy and resentment – gossip about anyone they see doing so with single-minded commitment. As an entrepreneur, you will have to get used to being talked about by such persons(s), and focus on your ultimate purpose.
Most entrepreneurs who succeeded in the past had to endure similar undue attention, and survived by simply refusing to be bothered. An inability to deal with this problem can cause you to become discouraged, especially during times when you experiences failures, to the point that you give up and quit. You simply cannot let ANYONE do that to you! Remember that an entrepreneur CANNOT fail except s/he decides to quit.
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you will be criticised anyway. You will be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Either do wrong or feel guilty, but don’t do both; it’s too much work.”
– Rudolf Dreikurs (1897 – 1972) Psychiatrist
Summary
This list is not exhaustive. It is just a collection of philosophies I have personally found very useful over the years as an entrepreneur. You may find you do not agree with some of them. That would be okay:-). Take what you need, and leave the rest for others to consider. Add some that you discover along the way to what you take from here. Then use YOUR resultant personalised guiding philosophy to keep yourself going till you achieve your purpose.
Good luck!