March Into a New Business. Unfurl Your Dreams
March bounds into our lives with fresh air, singing birds and the lure of spring. It adds a bounce to our step and takes our focus off the drudgery of shoveling snow or raking leaves. It is indeed a time of rebirth. It serves as a time to re-evaluate January’s goals, tweaking them into laser-sharp focus. Seasonal businesses jump out of the starting box or broaden winter’s services to generate consistent income. This month it’s all about these new beginnings, new changes.
Serial entrepreneurs enjoy some of the same characteristics:They love new ideas. They sleep less than their tamer counterparts. They exudeconfidence. They stare risk in the eye with clenched fists. A calendar and ateam of one (two or more inspire rhapsodies of joy) are like manna from heaven.Their goals reach upward. They are hopeless romantics, always optimistic. Did Ijust describe you? Or a version of you sometimes? I hope so, because strikingout is part of the American dream. No one hits the dusty trail in a Conestogawagon these days, but a new business becomes the vehicle for our inward andupward expansion. We are the new pioneers in American’s lives.
Investopediarecently took note of the top five characteristics of successful entrepreneurs.The article focused on an interview with Presidential hopeful Michael Bloombergand how he amassed his fortune, extrapolating five tips:
Take risks and don’t waste time avoiding failure.
That’s right. Inherent in starting a business are days ofsuccess as well as days of failure. The goal, of course, is more in onecategory than the other. Yet failures serve as important fenceposts for keepingyour growth in line. Think of a tree, balancing the new growth of leaves withthe matrix of roots beneath. From this vantage point, failures become part ofthe growth process.
Be persistent. Make your own luck.
Do you remember the old Newberg sketch where Carlin goesdoor to do selling vacuum sweepers? Newberg wants to coach him on where hemight be going wrong.
The therapist asks, “What do you do?”
“Well,” Carlin replies. “I get out of my car. I get out myvacuum. I go to the door.”
“Do you ring the doorbell?” Newberg asks.
“Oh no. I don’t want to bother them.”
We laugh, but rarely in life will opportunity tap you on the shoulder with flashing neon lights pointing at the magic step of “success.” Most often we find ourselves breaking down the door when no one opens it immediately. You must be the genesis of your own success. It sounds gutsy, doesn’t it? Entrepreneurs euphemistically call it being proactive. Yes, it's kind of gutsy. Make your own luck.
Find an audience to serve.
Talk to successful people, and a familiar litany begins to emerge. “I serve others.” Newborns are egocentric because they rely on a parent for everything. Entrepreneurs master the process of servanthood. Think beyond the stereotypical service industries to becoming necessary. A world of too-busy people may benefit from your services, but you must find and serve them to become successful.
Never stop learning and give back.
Living and learning became a catchphrase of life because it is true. If you are living, you better be learning some new trick. Every. Single. Day. And the older you are, the more incumbent it rests upon you to be giving some of that back to others. The old picture of Scrooge counting his wealth became popular because it arose from a time of disproportionate wealth, and while some still think of it as a picture of capitalism, the reverse is actually true. The successful always find a way to give back.
Hire a pro.
An entrepreneur is a whiz at cutting costs, but a successful entrepreneur knows which costs should not be cut. Outsourcing is huge. Find ways to put some of the reins into the hands of someone you trust. Believe me. You are not a whiz at everything.
While these five characteristicsloom as a barometer of the fledgling entrepreneurial business, I hope they alsosignal latent whispers in your own heart. Today’s economy requires a dabblingmindset. Many successful business owners operate two or more businesses. Forone thing, it puts bread on the table. For another, one often complements theother. Starting a side gig is just as much a part of the entrepreneurialmindset as founding a business on Wall Street. Magnitude and intestinalfortitude may vary, but the principles of success remain the same.
What’s more, these are thecharacteristics we see in so many Chamber members. We applaud you for allyou have accomplished and all the dreams waiting to unfold.
