Zak Parker
Knowledge is power, and what better place to get knowledge from than those who have been successful in their ventures?
#1 Do. Then observe patterns
If you're a budding or hopeful entrepreneur, you just have to start doing. I've watched so many great ideas stay as just that, ideas. You don't know how to approach a particular client. Do it anyways. Scared that you'll mess something up if you make a sale before you're registered for sales tax? Make the sale anyways. You're going to mess up to some degree but you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
Once you've actually done something enough, then you need to reflect and look at the patterns that you saw. At that point, you finally have enough real information to make decisions. I had never been in sales in my life when I started doing calls for new inquiries. But the patterns showed I was having higher conversion rates. So I kept doing it and then started observing more subtle patterns to make my sales process better. Now we have four people on our sales team and I'm sitting in a hotel room writing this while preparing a pitch for a six-figure deal a year and a half after my first sales call. Because I did. Then we built based on those patterns.
Contributors: Ryan O'Neil from Curate
#2 Delegate
I wish I'd known sooner that I could, and SHOULD, delegate the things I wasn't good at and that it would actually save me money in the long run! In fact, it normally ends up making me money. Here are the top 5 things I see that most frequently get in an entrepreneur's way:
- Working in the business instead of on the business
- Not blocking out time for critical projects and instead, responding to whatever comes up next
- Delegation - not delegating enough or delegating without any follow-up or accountability
- Not having a clear answer to why you?. What makes you different from a competitor?
- Not being clear on what pain you solve for a prospective client
Contributors: Elene Cafasso from Enerpace, Inc. Executive Coaching
#3 Don’t let criticism & negativity of others affect your dreams
Starting a business as an entrepreneur is a risky venture. A great amount of time, money, and energy must be invested in your business, and there is the risk that this effort will not lead to success. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, but for those who have the entrepreneurial spirit are inspired to break out of the mold of the 9-5 and do something that they love. If you feel the call to follow your passion and build a life of your own choosing, you must not get bogged down by the insecurities of others. Believe in yourself, trust in the entrepreneurial process, and don’t let anyone kill your ambition to follow your own path.
Contributors: Erin Paruszewski from Alkalign Studios
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