4 valuable lessons learned from successful entrepreneurs
As an entrepreneur it can be quite challenging to run a business, it is not something that comes with ease and takes a day to accomplish. Hours of work a day is essential, drive, passion, motivation and remarkable time management skills are all needed in order to effectively run a business. However, even with all the skills listed above, many entrepreneurs still fail to bring their business to success. This can be due to their failure to avoid small unnecessary setbacks along with their inability to see what’s fundamental.
Although it may seem difficult and overwhelming at the moment, we are here to help, how you may ask? Lucky for you, in this article, we will be discussing the 4 most valuable lessons that successful entrepreneurs have learned over the years, and why you as an entrepreneur should implement these lessons into your business plan.
1. Don’t get distracted by what others are doing
In the business industry, it’s so easy to compare yourself and your company to those around you. But it’s important to understand that everyone has their own path and overall mission with what they aspire to accomplish in the long-term. No entrepreneur success story is identical, everyone faces their own failures and disappointments as well as their individual successes. With this being said, it’s imperative to note that you, as an entrepreneur should focus on your own passion, goals and what you hope to positively implement in the lives of your current and future consumers. When you do so, the passion and dedication that you have for your business will be shown through. If we are to look at Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook we can see how focusing on personal long-term goals for a company instead of focusing on what others around you are accomplishing is a large reason for success. When starting his business, Zuckerberg had one of the biggest competitors to compete with in the market, Myspace. Instead of getting distracted by what Myspace was doing, Zuckerberg dedicated his time to his passion and long-term goals for his business and from there is now known as one of the biggest entrepreneurs success stories.
2. Failing is sometimes necessary
Every entrepreneur starts their business with the core understanding that there is a chance their business may not work out as they planned. A successful business is not one that can just be built overnight, failures can occur on multiple occasions at the least expected time. As human nature is it natural to dwell on failures and fixate on what went wrong; it can create self-doubt and actually pull you away from any possible future success in the long-term, if it is not handled effectively. However, its crucial to understand that failures are sometimes extremely necessary in order to find success in anything that you do. With every failure comes a lesson, the best ideas and outcomes come from what we may think are our lowest points as an entrepreneur.
Take Reid Hoffman as a success story, the now co-founder of one of the biggest online platforms which connect professionals from all around the world. Hoffman failed multiple times with his different business plans, nothing seemed to work. After several attempts, Hoffman was persistent in achieving his goals and later came up with LinkedIn, a platform which now has over 760 million users (Kinsta, 2021).
3. Your consumers should be your priority
As an entrepreneur, it’s essential to know that each and every one of your consumers should be your priority. By focusing on ensuring that your consumers are satisfied with your service and happy with what it can offer them, secures a high chance of them becoming a long-term consumer. Through creating relationships with your consumers, customer loyalty begins to develop. This is an extremally important loyalty to acquire in the business market because it ensures that your consumers will pick your business over any one of your competitors in the industry. A key example where consumers are a priory to a business is seen with Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. Bezos ensures that all of his consumers are satisfied with what his company has to offer, by providing a 24-hour customer service line. Through this, consumers are able to contact Amazon with any issues they have and can have their questions answered within minutes. By Bezos ensuing that his consumers are a priority, he has gained an immense amount of customer loyalty through the years and continues gaining long-term consumers.
4. Believe in yourself and the work you’re doing
Although this may seem so cliché and overused, believing in yourself and the work that you’re doing is so important. Entrepreneurs are able to succeed through learning to trust and believe in themselves even when obstacles come their way. Doubting yourself and your abilities will only just hold you back from your full potential as a business and prevent you from excelling in crucial areas in the long-term. If we take a look at successful Entrepreneur Nick Unsworth, he has faced 11 failed business attempts and was $50,000 in debit (Forbes, 2017). Although the odds were against him, Unsworth didn’t give up, he believed in himself and his ability to accomplish something great. After a couple of years of giving this company his everything, he successfully sold his Facebook Marketing business and is now continuing to grow another large company “Life on Fire” (Forbes, 2017). Through looking at Unsworth’s story, it’s clear how crucial it is to believe in yourself and your abilities, besides, as Ridley Pearson stated, if you don’t believe in yourself, then who will?
The final message
Being an entrepreneur definitely does come with its challenges, but once you see your vision become a reality, it can be one of the most self-fulfilling moments. In this article, we learned 4 of the most valuable lessons learned from successful entrepreneurs that can help add value to your current or future business in the long run if implemented effectively. Remember, “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, you can achieve”- Mary Kay Ash.
