Category: Entrepreneurs

I’ve seen pretty much every size, shape and flavor of entrepreneur over the past 20 years while living and breathing all things business.  Companies come and go.  They succeed and fail.  Inevitably, the entrepreneurs that start these companies also come and go because, they too, succeed and fail.  So what motivates successful entrepreneurs? Many I see move on to their next business, others take a break to lick their wounds, and still others seem to leave startup life permanently.

The  light of failure shines brightly on those who aren’t in business for the right reasons.  When the going gets unbearably tough, and it will, these types are done.  Game over.  In fact, they were done before they started – a self fulfilling prophecy if you will.  Those that start off wrong don’t always end up that way, but they sure don’t help their cause much.

So what are the “right” and “wrong” motivations you ask?  I’d suggest the following:

– Solving a problem you are so passionate about that even if the solution doesn’t result in wealth, you are still thrilled you “solved” it.  A fun surprise? If you really do solve a big problem, wealth will almost always follow anyway.

– No real exit strategy.  The best entrepreneurs automatically attract options. Large scale success creates buyers.  Starting a business so you can sell it can certainly be in the back of your mind, but it had better stay there for awhile.  The best investors (should you have any) love entrepreneurs that think big and aren’t focused on how they can sell the business.  Focus on how you sell the product.

– Moderate to light desire to be well known or famous. Some entrepreneurs I know are more focused on their personal brand than they are on their company brand.  The best ones reverse that entirely.  If your business rocks, you will get all the notoriety you’ll need.

– They definitely aren’t doing it because it is the cool thing to do.  Many fall into this category even though they won’t admit it.  When they have their first failure they’ll see just how “cool” entrepreneurship is.  Doing something because it is cool might work as a teen, but don’t let it influence you as an adult. Dance to the beat of your own drum.

– Love, love, love people.  This doesn’t mean they are an extrovert.  They just love working with, hiring, sharing and learning with their team.  If you can’t handle the ups and downs of working with all kinds of employees, you are pretty much DOA.

I’m not saying you have to eliminate and/or add all of these things to your motives.  I’ll be the first to admit that money was often a motivator for me.  However, it was never the primary motivator.  I did not lay awake at night thinking about money.  I laid awake at night thinking about my customers, my employees, and – most importantly – how to make my product or service that much better.  I wanted everyone to try my product or service, and I wanted them to love it as I did.  That’s really what it comes down to; an almost unquenchable passion for what you are doing for others.

Being a great entrepreneur really means you delight in the service of others, I suppose.  What a pure and meaningful motivator after all.

Source: forbes.com ~ BY: Alex Lawrence ~ Image: pixabay

Each of us respond to different drives and motivations, but there are many drives we can choose from that not only make our careers more fruitful but also more enjoyable. Those people who experience the “Sunday Blues” are in careers which may provide security and certain freedoms, but they lack joy and fulfillment. Sunday comes around and many of us immediately begin dreading our work week; thereby, ruining the rest of their weekend for ourselves and those we are close with. There is no point in staying in careers that make us miserable. There is so much opportunity in the world. We have to find the correct motivations to go out and make these opportunities happen.

1. Money

Initially, the main thing we view as the most worthy motivating force inspiring us to work hard is money. Making money is a noble and necessary motivation which directs us into our careers and motivates us to stay in them. Money is a tool we all need for survival, but earning money also provides us with feelings of status, success and achievement. Money provides us the freedoms we crave in terms of the lifestyles we want to live. The one thing money doesn’t’t bring is happiness, as we can see from the many well-known people in our society who appear to have it all, but the decisions they make clearly show us that money is far from the only motivation that drives us to work hard and to feel happy.

2. Purpose

To live a truly fulfilled life we need to have a sense of purpose. Those without purpose live with more depression and feelings of aimlessness than others. When we have purpose we feel directed and more certain about our lives and the directions in which we’re heading. Purpose brings us deeper feelings of security than money could ever offer because money comes and goes. While positions and or circumstances wax and wane creating uncomfortable uncertainties, having purpose keeps us moving forward motivated to reach our bigger picture.

3. Making a difference

There is nothing more fulfilling than knowing that what we contribute in this world makes a significant difference. There are many careers that provide us with the money we desire but that also may come along with a ton of unrewarding stress. Ultimately, we spend the majority of our time in our lives at work so we may as well find a way to make our career meaningful for ourselves and others. The greatest gift of working in careers which give back to our communities is the way it changes and impact our own lives. When we see that what we contribute makes a difference, it makes our careers and our purpose feel that much more rewarding. When we are inspired we are more motivated to get back to the grind each new day.

4. Responsibility

Our career may be stressful, but being irresponsible is even more stressful. When we are irresponsible we dig ourselves into holes that are impossible to get out of; whereas, when we have a solid career and sense of responsibility we trust we can pull ourselves out of just about anything financially. Scott Peck is his book The Road Less Traveled makes the point that there is no such thing as an irresponsible psychologically healthy person. Self-management brings personal development and self-actualization. Being responsible brings us to a sense of balance, feelings of success, motivation and self-trust.

5. Challenge

We grow the most in our motivation when we are optimally challenged. Being in careers which feel like groundhog day every day do not provide enough challenge for us to make any new efforts or changes to our behavioral patterns around working hard. In his book Resilience navy seal Eric Grietens discusses how when we are optimally challenged it is natural for us to rise to the occasion. We want to see and prove that we can leap over whatever hurdles are placed in front of us to glean the satisfaction of having a win at the end game. These wins may be tough to come by and we may fail along our road of challenge, but this is exactly how we develop the resiliency that keeps us motivated and striving for what is next.

6. Community

The work environment, no matter the field we’re in, connects us with other people. Success is never a one-man-job. Being connected individually or to a team brings us into relationships that are meaningful and also to mutually satisfying goals to strive for. As humans we are designed for connection and communication. Community brings us a sense of belonging, the satisfying purpose of our role and increased communication, problem-solving and negotiation skills.

The greatest reward of all is acknowledgment. We all need, desire and want to be acknowledged when we have performed well and/or when we haven’t. The work environment is the one place that can motivate us from deep within. Acknowledgement can come in the form of a compliment, a raise, a promotion, club trips, bonuses, or support and encouragement. Personal growth and higher visions of what we’re capable of achieving cannot come without the all important ingredient of acknowledgment. Acknowledgment gives us something meaningful to work for or towards. in my book Success Equations: A Path to Living an Emotionally Wealthy Life I explain that acknowledgement is our yardstick for success.

8. Duty

Having a sense of duty, a place to go, things to accomplish and achieve is a great motivation. Having a sense of duty is necessary for the development of a strong identity. Having a career provides us an important role to fulfill that is backed by strong values. When we live our lives motivated by strong values we are given the opportunity to build and define our character. Having a sense of duty is what motivates us to be good to ourselves, honest in our approach to relationships and to develop a positive reputation. There is nothing that will speak more highly of us than our character and what we stand for.

Source: entrepreneur.com ~ By: Sherrie Campbell ~ Image: pixabay

When you’re an entrepreneur, your business is like your baby. Delegating or outsourcing tasks can sometimes be difficult because no one can do things as well as you. Right?

Wrong, says Jordan Cohen, a productivity expert at PA Consulting Group, a London-based management consulting firm: “At some point, every entrepreneur will hit a point where they can’t do any more and do it well,” he says.

In a study for Harvard Business Review, Cohen and Julian Birkinshaw, a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School, interviewed executives at 39 companies in the United States and Europe and found that 41precent of their day was filled with activities that could be competently handled by others.

“We’ve been socialized with the idea that completing a task is an accomplishment,” says Cohen. “But in today’s business world, an entrepreneur’s time can be better served by doing the tasks that matter most to the success of their business and delegating the rest.”

Finding the right people and trusting them with your brand can feel risky. Cohen offers these three easy steps to become a better delegator:

1. Put outsourcing infrastructure in place before it’s needed. 
Entrepreneurs often look for help when they’re time crunched or overwhelmed, but this is not the best time to find an outsourcing option, says Cohen. Instead of making decisions under stress, research good alternatives for delegating or outsourcing before you need them. For example, train staff members to take over new tasks, or find and interview consultants that you can call upon when needed.

“The more time you are able to invest in setting up your options, the more robust the solution will be,” says Cohen.

2. Put delegating on your calendar. 
When you review your calendar and to do list, Cohen says to look at meetings and tasks with a critical eye.

“What tasks do you have to do yourself and what could you have others do?” asks Cohen. Tasks that have low value for your customers and are time-consuming — such as bookkeeping or administrative tasks — are ideal tasks to outsource.

“You are in the best position to determine what you have to do,” says Cohen. “Use good judgment, but don’t get caught up in a way of working that isn’t productive.”

3.Then test the waters. 
Once you identify tasks that are good for outsourcing, start small. Cohen suggests starting with something that isn’t complex or urgent. Instead, experiment with low importance things. For example, hire a graphic design firm to turn your presentation into a PowerPoint presentation — but don’t start with your most important sales pitch.

“Things rarely work perfectly the first time,” he says. “The idea is to get comfortable with delegating. It takes practice, but it gets easier over time.”

Source: Enterpreneur.com ~ By: Victor Cheng ~ Image: pixabay.com

When you build and lead a business, you’ll be wearing many hats. You’ll have to play the role of a salesperson, an innovator, a financial manager and leader while you still have to deal with routine micro-tasks throughout the day. It can be fun at first, but eventually, this will start eating away at you. You’ll start working long hours, nights and weekends, and you’ll never seem to make a dent in the ever-growing pile of tasks to accomplish.

When you get to this point (or ideally, before you get there), you need to think about delegating some of your work. Delegation is a key factor in entrepreneurial success, on both a personal and professional level, so be sure to follow these seven rules to do so effectively:

1. Force yourself to delegate.

Most entrepreneurs have a natural sense of ownership in their work. They want to do anything and everything they can, and they want to do as much of the work themselves as possible. For the most part, this is an admirable trait, and one that lends itself to better overall startup performance. However, eventually you’ll have to force yourself to delegate some work away—even if you don’t want to. Even if it’s a task you actively want to be doing, it may be better for you to delegate it away.

2. Be proactive.

The second rule is to be proactive in your delegation. If you wait until you’re overwhelmed and on the verge of burning out, delegating a few tasks may end up stressing you out—and it may be too little, too late. Instead, you need to recognize when your work is piling up too high, as early as possible, and take measures to address it before it becomes too much. That might include hiring someone new, organizing your tasks into lists, or helping someone develop new skills to take on a section of your work.

3. Know your team’s strengths and weaknesses.

Before you start assigning tasks, you need to be aware of your team’s strengths and weaknesses. Each individual is going to bring something different to the table, so if you want to make the most of your delegation process, you need to cater to those individual quirks. For example, one of your workers may be slow and methodical, while another is a little sloppy, but very fast. To the former, you can delegate important, yet non-urgent tasks, and to the latter, you can delegate tasks you need done right away.

4. Invest time in teaching.

When you’re delegating, it’s easy to say to yourself, “I have to do this, because I’m the only one that knows how.” Undoubtedly, there are tasks on your list that only you know how to do, but that doesn’t mean you can’t teach someone else how to do it. You may not like this idea, since it will take more time to teach someone than it would to just do the task yourself, but think of that training as an investment. You only have to teach someone once, and at that point, they can take on that task indefinitely.

5. Make your expectations clear.

When delegating, be as specific as possible about your expectations. Let your teammate know exactly how you expect the task to be completed, and when you expect it to be done by. If there are multiple teammates working on a project, establish clear responsibilities, or at least designate one person on the team to serve as the champion for the project. Take a moment to address any questions or points of confusion early on to prevent problems down the line.

6. Trust, but verify.

Obviously, you trust your workers to do the best job they can; otherwise you wouldn’t have hired them. Once you assign a task and establish a deadline, it’s fair for you to trust that they’re going to get the job done. However, it’s also a good idea to verify that the process is underway. Establish open lines of communication so you and your teammates can update each other on progress, just to ensure that the deadline is going to be met, and that there aren’t any further points of confusion.

7. Give and receive feedback.

Finally, take a moment to give and receive feedback once the delegated task is complete. Let your employees know if they’ve handled it improperly in any way (so they know for next time), and ask what they thought of your assignment and instructions. You’ll learn much about the delegation process this way, through experience, and you’ll be able to carry these takeaways through to the next time you need to delegate something.

These rules are about making sure your delegated tasks get done effectively, but even more than that, they’re about maintaining a healthy workload (and your sanity) as an entrepreneur. You need to learn to delegate effectively—it isn’t optional. Otherwise, you’ll end up spreading yourself too thin, your tasks won’t be completed satisfactorily, and you’ll end up burning yourself out in the process.

Source: Entrepreneur.com ~ By: Anna Johansson ~ Image: pixabay.com

And for those who don’t make the shift at an early stage, it gets more and more difficult as the company grows in size. Here are seven leadership skills every entrepreneur needs to learn.

How to build a support network

Good leaders surround themselves with advisers who can provide mentorship, counsel or simply a sounding board to run ideas past. Such relationships can be formal – a business coach, say – or structural – chief executives often get great benefit from working with the right non-executive chairman. They may be external – the right professional advisers will provide crucial perspective – or come from within the company – as part of a broad management team, for example. Be open to a broad range of ideas and to be able to take the best of the advice offered in order to synthesise it into action.

How to recruit and retain talent

Good leaders invest time in staff. Business leaders commonly credit their employees as their companies’ greatest asset, but too few follow through on that. They don’t always get involved in recruitment, for example, and they don’t build structures that will keep staff motivated, enable them to develop their skills, and ultimately encourage them not to look for new opportunities elsewhere. Employment engagement isn’t something fluffy – it’s the key to attracting and keeping the best people.

How to delegate

Good leaders empower their staff. Leaders who learn to delegate have more time to concentrate on leadership – rather than spending every moment managing day-to-day issues, they have space to stand back from their businesses and to plan for the future.

How to relinquish control

Good leaders deliberately hire talented people and then give them the freedom to deliver on those talents: they recognize there’s no point in delegating to employees if you don’t then trust them to get on with the task in hand. It can be difficult for entrepreneurs who have often built up businesses single-handedly, undertaking every task themselves, to learn to let go. But micro-managing staff is counter-productive: it wastes the leader’s time and demotivates employees who don’t feel that you have faith in them.

Source: forbes.com ~ By: David Prosser ~ Image: pixabay.com