Rebel billionaires, visionaries, philanthropists—these people know what they want and are out to get it. They have the freedom, vision, and influence to change the world.
Do you want to join the elite circle of successful entrepreneurs and find yourself on the lists of the richest and most powerful? While their initial struggles may be similar to yours, your path may be entirely different and up to you. It’s a matter where hard work, luck, mindset, and attitude play out.
Start acting like an entrepreneur with these tips.
1. Start a Business
They say you don’t have to be an entrepreneur to act like one. However, you can test and remember business principles when you have applied them in real life. Start a small business out of your passion for the arts, fashion, or photography. To keep the time and cost of operating the shop manageable, sign up with a platform created for sellers. Add features that will benefit your shop, yourself, and your customers.
2. Love What You Do
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish” has become a daily-motivation mantra. However, Steve Jobs’s whole commencement speech, where those lines were taken from, is worth the read. One highlight was about him starting Apple and getting fired (he managed to return, though). What kept him going, especially during those dark times, was his love for what he did. This passion will lead you or keep you on track to greatness.
3. Ready Your Pitch
What if you’ll run into a potential investor who may be interested in funding a groundbreaking idea of yours? A business plan, proposal, or similar document makes your vision more cohesive and tangible. Of course, leave room for suggestions and changes. Always ready a copy (electronic or physical), together with your résumé, as opportunities can come unexpectedly.
4. Be Sociable
Entrepreneurs believably know how to carry a conversation in a room filled with strangers. That’s indispensable when you want to convince people with your pitches. Also, business owners or executives nowadays speak in trade shows, product launches, or TED talks. You have the whole stage to conquer, so polish your skills in expressing yourself, listening, and interacting with others.
5. Network
Connections are like the bedrock of business dealings. You have conferences, networking events, meetings, and even small gatherings as venues for these. By networking, you learn insights about your industry, make your presence felt, and cultivate valuable relationships. You get to practice your social skills too.
6. Build Your Online Presence
It’s a prerequisite to be searchable online, as a modern form of verification. Utilize your e-commerce website’s “About Us” to introduce yourself as founder and, maybe occasionally, blog. Maintain profiles on professional and social networking platforms with regular updates. For consistent branding and messaging (in case you can’t personally update), adopt a social media persona.
7. Learn and Learn
Education leads to professional growth and helps you keep up with the times and trends. A wide range of courses is available online, touching on streamlined and productive ways of doing business in the internet age. Some interesting topics are the US Small Business Administration’s management courses, the University of Washington’s transaction processing for e-commerce, and RWTH Aachen University’s Thinking & Acting like an Entrepreneur.
8. Calculate Risks
Business-oriented people are known for taking risks, calculated, at that. Whether this trait is inherent or developed, the idea is to assess the situation and decide based on this assessment carefully. A risk can pay off or result in failure, whose impact you have to minimize. Risks are part of your entrepreneurial journey, so learn to master the art of making well-informed decisions.
9. Persevere
Unless you are fortunate, your start-up venture is not going to hit gold right away. There are no guarantees for success. You have to keep going despite setbacks, strategize, remain steadfast and unwavering until you reach the desired outcome. And it doesn’t stop there either. You have to sustain the momentum and aim for greater things.
The real circumstances may be far from what you have expected, and you can only act the best way you can. Keep these lessons as a guide to your journey.
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