I’ve learned a lot of things along the way both good and bad that have impacted my productivity and effectiveness as an entrepreneur. Some have cost me thousands of dollars of revenue lost while others have earned me literally thousands of dollars as well. I figured if I had known some of these little techniques from the beginning, it would have saved me from a lot of trial and error.
- Make quicker decisions. This probably sounds incredibly simple but just bear with me while I explain this a little more. When you start out as an entrepreneur it can be really hard to not want to have everything done exactly right and perfectly planned and executed. I get it, you want your business to reflect your brand as best as possible. However, the longer you think and mull over every single detail the further and further you will fall away from your goal. Don’t have a logo you love? Find one you like most and roll with it. It can be changed later and you could spend days wasting time moving forward because it’s not perfect. If you are a blogger worried about your niche market or how to incorporate your vision into the box of a specific category – just write the post and move on. Even if you wait to have it all perfect, you will probably evolve as a business and end up changing things as it matures. So, make decisions and have confidence that “okay decisions” are sometimes better than perfect ones.
- Read every single day. I used to not love reading, mainly because I didn’t have time for it and because I couldn’t get into a story that I loved. However, if you’re reading this and you’re likely an entrepreneur, you will love reading about things in your wheelhouse – like, uh being an entrepreneur! Truth. I began reading books written by successful business owners who had paved the path for all us newbies and it was life-changing. My attitude for my business increasingly grew more positive and I was motivated to keep going on the days where all I could see was failure. Since then, I have read dozens of books on business, personal development and marketing that has transformed the way I plan my workdays and build my company. For a list of outstanding books, be sure to check out this post on 10 must-read books for business owners.
- Get up early. Yeah, I’m going there. This one is a hard one for so many people, regardless if you’re a morning person or not. Getting up early is tough, especially if you have trouble going to bed early or you have kids (like me!) and look forward to that evening time to decompress and watch some TV or just kick back and relax. The truth is that morning hours are when it’s quiet and you can spend time drinking coffee and being alert for your day ahead. You are usually more optimistic in the morning and have the mental stamina to put out your best work. For more information on how I started making the most of my mornings, this book has been transformative for me.
- Delete social media apps. You may be asking isn’t social media a vital part of growing my business? Absolutely. However, it can also be a vital part of the decline if you are distracted every time you sit down to work on your computer for work. If you have an iPhone, you already know the love/hate relationship you might have with Apple’s new “screen time” counter. It’s convicting and humiliating see how much time you actually spend on your phone – and the majority is from endless scrolling on social media. Not only is it a major time drainer, but it also tends to feed the negative doubting thoughts you might have with comparing your business to someone else. I would advise deleting social media apps off your phone entirely OR keeping a time limit to your usage of them. You can download various apps and browser plugins that will keep the social media notifications and site disabled for “X” period of time so you can focus and not be distracted.
- Dream. Spend time revisiting your crazy, wild hopes and dreams for your future and your business success. Imagine yourself having already achieved them and just settle on that mentality every day for at least a few minutes. The more ownership you can take to believe those dreams are real and attainable, the more likely you will be to actually keep believing it for days, months and years to come until one day – it comes to fruition. Don’t stop letting your creative juices flow, this is where your business will evolve and take on character and unique attributes that will make you successful.
- Don’t tell everyone about your business. Ahh, how I wish I had learned this one long ago before learning the hard way. Building a business is so personal, it’s hard not to be excited and tell everyone you know about it. And in time, people will know. However, as you begin to build your business, keep it to a few close and supportive friends and family until you get your feet off the ground. There is nothing worse than getting more than 2 cents of everyone’s opinion about your new endeavor early in the game leaving you confused, doubting or wondering if you’re doing it the right way. The best thing you can do for yourself and your company is to put your head down and work hard to get it off the ground with the loving support of the friends and family who will encourage you. As your business evolves it’s also really smart to keep tight lipped on all the things you have coming down the pipeline. Keep these to your close circle and you won’t have to have your head muddied with a thousand different opinions.
- Find Accountability. If you don’t take anything but one tip from this entire list, this would be the one I would recommend you not skip at any cost. You must, MUST find at least 2-3 people who will hold you accountable and work alongside you in pursuing their goals at the same time. This is not your spouse! You need people (they do not need to be in your business industry or interest) who get your struggles, your questions and your drive to succeed. You need to find these people and then meet with them weekly. I have both an accountability person who I check in with every day and a mastermind group whom I meet with every week. Without these people, I would not have the help, drive, ideas, support, encouragement and heart to keep moving forward. If you don’t know where to find these people, MeetUp is a great site to find local business groups that you can attend. Also if you are in a Facebook group with other similar entrepreneurs (even if they are miles away) post in the group asking for a few people to have a conference call together to discuss ideas and keep each other accountable. You can read this post here to view all the ideas I have on finding your mastermind accountability group.
I hope this list gives you some tools on new things to work on. If you can’t squeeze these all in right away, start with the easy ones (like deleting social media, dreaming and finding an accountability friend) and work your way to all 7 practices. I guarantee these will be pivotal in your success and will set you apart from the rest. If you have questions on how to instill some of these ideas into your busy life – please drop me an email and I will help you! Also, If you have other ideas of life-altering practices you think should be on this list – comment them below! I would love to hear what works for you as well and what I might be missing out on.
