8 Ways Entrepreneurs Craft Strategies That Work

It’s a thing of beauty to watch an entrepreneur build a successful business from an idea on a chalkboard to a viable company generating great profits. It is not an easy thing to do to build a successful business. Statistics show that 90% of new startups fail. The successful ones share some common threads and it doesn’t matter if you are producing paper clips or building 15 bedroom mansions on the beaches of Florida.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

Some people believe you have to be born with the entrepreneurial spirit before you can unleash the characteristics that will ultimately lead to a successful product and business. Still others believe one can be taught and inspired to become an entrepreneur regardless of one’s predisposition to having the ability to do so. The reality is most successful entrepreneurs fall somewhere in between those two notions. The one thing almost all entrepreneurs have in common is an intense desire to create something of their own.

8 Ways Entrepreneurs Craft Strategies That Work

If you find yourself filled with that intense desire to create but aren’t sure how to focus your energies, all you have to do is look around you and start asking questions of those who have succeeded before you. What you will most likely discover is there are several common ways your fellow entrepreneurs crafted strategies that ultimately led to their success. Eight of these would commonly be:

  1. Develop Something You Believe In – While you’re building your business, there will be times when your passion and commitment will be tested. When those times come, it will be your belief in what you are doing that is going to give you the drive to keep going. Without this belief, your conscious mind will choose flight over fight when things get rough.
  2. Learning to Go for It – If you are going to invest the time and money to develop something meaningful, don’t settle for taking another person’s idea that may not reflect your passions and interests. You need to commit yourself to coming up with a radical or new idea that both motivates you to move forward and others to show an interest in what you are developing. The big ideas lately are coming from the “disruptors” that find or create new markets.
  3. Getting Over the Fear of Competition – If you lack the desire or fortitude to fight your competitors for what you want, you have no business being an entrepreneur. If your idea is truly great, others will borrow it and try to make it better. You need to be prepared for the fight and show customers why your products are both original and better.
  4. Secure Enough Working Capital – By hook or by crook, you need the capital reserves in place to allow you to fully develop your idea and get it to market. Costly mistakes will be made along the way and you simply can’t let money be the reason you had to pull the plug on your endeavor. If traditional bank loans are not available, there are many resources in the crowdfunding industry. Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Gofundme are the top sites, but there are others.
  5. Own Your Company – While you’re building your business, others might be drawn to your concept and want to come in for piece of the action. Don’t give up control of your passion. You wanted to build something meaningful and you need to be prepared to see it through to end, or at least until you are prepared to sell the company and walk away. But don’t be too hooked on your equity stake when circumstances dictate it’s time to bring others into the deal who can take the business further. It’s better to own 10% of something really big, than 100% of not much.
  6. Run a Lean Business – You have to learn how to develop a lean budget and be willing to adhere to it. Runaway expenses are the number one nemesis for entrepreneurs who are just starting out. You have to control your expenses in order to make sure your capital is secure.
  7. Don’t Be in a Hurry – Starting your own business is exciting and it gets the juices flowing. However, this is a long-term endeavor that requires careful planning and patience. You will make fewer mistakes by taking your time and letting it all come together naturally.
  8. Enjoy the Process – The chance to build your own business is a privileged, one that many would die to have. If this is going to be your life’s goal, stop and smell the roses. Celebrate the incremental successes with family and friends and take great pride in your accomplishments.

It’s a great achievement to create your own business from a simple concept to the marketplace. No one is expected to be a preeminent entrepreneur without the requisite experience. The above concepts are intended to provide the framework for creating a viable business with a minimum of frustration.

Brad Smith
 

Bradley Smith is the CEO and a Co-Founder of Rescue One Financial, headquartered in Irvine, CA. Rescue One is a full service financial entity and recently ranked #12 in the Inc. 500. Rescue One Financial helps individuals with unsecured debt and advises them on all of their options. Rescue One Financial employs over 75 Financial Consultants and is also a Licensed Finance Lender. Smith writes a twice-weekly blog which appears on the Rescue One Financial web site, has authored a number of published articles and is a regular guest contributor to US-based radio and television financial programs. Smith started his 18 year financial services career on Wall Street where he worked with the largest retail advisory group at Merrill Lynch. His team was responsible for the largest Rule 144 trade in history selling more than 5 million shares of Walt Disney stock. They also managed over $2 billion in concentrated stock positions. Smith later helped pioneer the restricted stock diversification business at Morgan Stanley. Brad and his wife Carrie have three children and enjoy living in Southern California. Brad holds a BA in Economics from the University of Southern California.