Successful Entrepreneurs Do These 5 Things Daily

There is a saying that there are only three types of people in the world: those who watch what happened, those who wonder what happened and those who make things happen. 

Entrepreneurs fall into the last category, of course. They are change agents, people who don’t see the world as it is but as it could be. Entrepreneurs don’t sit on the sidelines and wish for a better world. Rather they go out and create it. They don’t wait for things to be different. They are the difference.

Being forward thinkers, entrepreneurs continually push themselves to become better and do better. They are game changers. They ooze confidence and inspire greatness.

Today is a great day to become an entrepreneur because the price of admission into this elite club is free and yours for the taking.

Do you really want to succeed as an entrepreneur? Follow these five steps and you’ll be well on your way to developing the leadership qualities it takes:

1. Willingly fail and reflect. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better,” goes Samuel Beckett's line. It's not always easy, the trying again part.

Another important thing is taking time to reflect on what went wrong. In the book The Call of Solitude, Ester Schaler Buchholz says, “Others inspire us, information feeds us, practice improves our performance, but we need quiet time to figure things out.”

In his book, Fail Up, radio broadcaster Tavis Smiley recalls lessons he has learned through reflection. He sheds light on these so-called failures that were, in hindsight, his best teachers.

You’ll only learn by failing over and over again. When you do this, you’re able to grow. And in spite of life’s inevitable setbacks, you’ll come out the victor.

2. Embrace and confront your fears. According to author Brendon Burchard, fear can be categorized in three ways, which all relate to pain. The first is loss pain, which happens when you’re afraid to move ahead because you fear you’ll lose something valuable.

The second is process pain, which inevitably occurs every time you try something new. You have to go through the process of learning to deal with it.

The last is outcome pain. This involves not getting the outcome you desired.

Burchard insists that people need to overwhelm their fears. Just as an army invades its enemy from every side, a person should do the same with fear, attacking it from every side, as if going to war. 

For Shark Tank host Barbara Corcoran, public speaking was her Achilles' heel. But she overcame it by going to war. She volunteered to teach a real estate night course in front of a small group of students to overcome her fear.

3. Practice self-discipline. This is the ability to delay instant gratification and the ability to work hard now to reap benefits later. When Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx was a boy, his grandmother routinely made him take piano lessons even though all he wanted to do was go outside to play. He had no idea that those lessons would lead to his eventual success. To this day, he continues to hone his craft and disciplines himself to practice playing the piano for two hours many a day.

No one sees the years of hard work you might put into an endeavor. They only see the outcome. If you want to reap the rewards of tomorrow, you must put in the work today.

4. Get some sleep. Shortly after the debut of her eponymous news site, Arianna Huffington collapsed from exhaustion and lack of sleep. She’d been working 18-hour days because she was so committed to growing her company. When she collapsed, she hit her head against a desk and found herself lying in a pool of blood.

In her book Thrive, Huffington details the ordeal and says it was a painful wake-up call. She knew she had neglected sleep and took steps to correct it.

When you get the sleep you need, you’ll feel more energized, charged and ready to tackle any problem entrepreneurship throws your way.

5. Give to others. In his book, Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success, Wharton Business School professor Adam Grant teaches the idea of generosity in a professional setting. 

For centuries, people have focused on the individual drivers of success: passion, hard work and sheer will. But things have changed. Success is increasingly dependent on how we interact with others and how much we give them.

According to Grant’s research, the most successful people are those who consistently give. Grant takes this to heart so much that he not only puts in long hours as a professor, but also as many and sometimes even longer hours giving and helping others. 

That ancient book, the Bible, was right all along: Happiness comes from giving.  

From Entrepreneur

Want to Change the World? Maybe Try Being an Intrapraneur.

A growing number of young people are eschewing university studies in favor of pursuing a career as an entrepreneur. It’s hard to argue with the decision to avoid crushing student loan debt in pursuit of an education that often leaves graduates with poor employment prospects and little career direction.  

Aspiring entrepreneurs point to the likes of Steven Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg who managed to amass fortunes after dropping out of college. Unfortunately, for every Jobs, Gates or Zuckerberg, there are hundreds of thousands of failed entrepreneurs living in their parents’ basements.

The difference between success and failure is more than just luck. While many universities do a poor job in preparing individuals to be entrepreneurs, prospective new business owners need to learn how to be successful somewhere. And the place to best place to learn may be inside a traditional workplace, by becoming an intrapreneur.

An intrapreneur is an individual who works for another but one who treats his or her job as if he or she were running a company within a company.

One industry where an intrapreneurial spirit is especially valuable is the rapidly growing field of environmental, health and safety and sustainability consultancies. A good consultant in this field need to be able to manage clients, work independently, make sound business decisions and have strong personal and business ethics and vision.

In short, he or she needs all the things it takes to be a good entrepreneur. But the nature of the work -- travelling to remote areas conducting environmental-impact studies, conducting health and safety audits in many, geographically diverse, industrial settings or meeting with top business leaders to discuss plans for sustaining their business far into the future -- can make it tough for a young entrepreneur to succeed. But intrapreneurs, on the other hand, can enjoy the advantages offered by an existing company's global footprint, while retaining many of the perks of being an entrepreneur.

There are some strong advantages to being an intrapreneur before striking it out on your own. Intrapreneurs do the following:

1. They earn while they learn. Every employer is capable of teaching you important lessons about what to do and what not to do. Learning how to market, sell, govern and run a business while earning a salary not only allows you to gain valuable business skills but also allow you to save up much needed capital.

2. They tend to be top performers and excel in the corporate environment. Because intrapreneurs are successful at their jobs, they tend to be promoted quickly and are allowed to bid on other jobs within the company to keep them happy. Companies want to retain intrapreneurs and will often invest more to develop and hone their business skills.

3. They face far less risk. When you are an entrepreneur, even a seemingly small failure can cause catastrophic fallout that tarnishes the brand and may even destroy the company. Intrapreneurs have the opportunity to fail inside an environment that is more forgiving. An intrapreneur who makes a bad decision may get fired but seldom risks long-term career consequences.

The keys to being a successful intrapreneur include having the following qualities:

1. Patience. Intrapreneurship is not a shortcut to success. Just as an MBA takes six years (or more) to earn, gaining real-life work experience takes time.   

2. Ambition. A successful intrapreneur has to crave success and see every assignment as a step toward an ultimate goal.

3. Humility. Just as you wouldn’t walk into a college course and inform the professor he or she doesn’t know what he or she is talking about, a good intrapreneur expects to start at the bottom.

4. Political skills. Everyone you meet in the workplace -- whether you like them or not -- is potentially a key contact when you launch your company. The person you meet in the mailroom today may well be in the boardroom tomorrow. When it comes to connecting with people, everyone matters.  

Many young idealistic professionals are drawn to the environmental, safety and sustainability profession because they see it as a way to change the world. That’s tough to do as an entrepreneur but its far easier as part of a team of intrapreneurs. 

From Entrepreneur

More Women Leaders and Entrepreneurs? What a Wonderful World It Would Be!

"Women in business supporting other women, who support men, who support their fellow women... what a wonderful world it will be!" -- Betsy Myers, Speaker, Public Servant, Advocate, Mentor, Author: Take the Lead

"I do this because I think about my daughter, and what it will be like for her when she grows up." -- Vince Cirianni, Chair, Women Leading the Way Symposium, Member, RVCC Foundation Board; Co-Managing Partner, Preferred Client Group

The world of business is changing; something we are all seeing and hearing. Especially at this time of year when summer is upon us. As Americans gear up for college graduations and the end of the school year, there are many lessons to be learned by startup and seasoned entrepreneurs alike. Some lessons are conveyed in commencement speeches, such as this one given by Tory Birch. Some are conveyed through childhood experiences, such as selling lemonade.

Some are conveyed at professional conferences, such as the Women Leading the Way Symposium I just attended in New Jersey, at the Raritan Valley Community College campus. Distinguished, disciplined, determined, and diverse women from all walks of life and professions, came together. They came together to learn, collaborate, troubleshoot, and network. To discuss the power and pitfalls of women leadership in business. To converse about its purpose, and implications for mentorship, entrepreneurship, work/life balance, and social reform.

This was a different kind of conference, with a different kind of overall message. One that really resonated with me as an educator turned female social entrepreneur and advocate of women entrepreneurship. One that really hits home a week after President Obama spoke at Ground Zero, to dedicate the 9/11 museum.

I came to this event to meet "movers and shakers" and learn. I was inspired and moved by the different keynote addresses and talks the excellent speakers/panelists gave. I was especially impressed with the practical, timely, and well-rounded psychological advice I got on a variety of topics, some of which I want to share.

Women are good at using trauma/tragedy to grow from that... to find a mission larger than yourself to heal yourself and others. To build a model of corporate and social responsibility so change can really happen." -- Edie Lutnick, President and Co-Founder, The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, Author: An Unbroken Bond- The Untold Story of How the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald Families Faced the Tragedy of 9/11 and Beyond

"Women are good at forging authentic, disruptive, emotional connections with others, who will then advocate for you: your service/products, your values, and your attitude. So be yourself, and have an atttitude that you're here to make someone's day better!" -- Eileen Holmes, Senior Vice President, TD Bank

"Women don't brag enough about their accomplishments, and that's wrong! It's not bragging if it's true... these are the facts of your story; use it!" -- Tracye McDaniel, President & CEO Choose New Jersey

There were other takeaways I got from this terrific, insightful, and well organized symposium. Lessons that go beyond sharing which successful traits leaders, especially women leaders, need to hone.

In a nutshell, here's a succinct list of seven tips I gleaned and filtered through my NICE lens, my entrepreneurial philosophy re: best practices, for today's professional woman. For today's woman trying to multi-task and have it all, over the course of a 7 day week that feels shorter. For the busy woman at work, trying to create a legacy. For the aspiring woman entrepreneur, and the current female leader in historically male dominated industries such as banking and technology, trying to make a difference.

The Care and Feeding of Women Leadership Involves:

1. Acknowledging and then eradicating Impostor Syndrome from your vocabulary.

2. Finding the positive in things, as a way to both manage stress and increase your joy quotient.

3. Forgiving yourself for your foibles, failures, and going with your own "flow" and gut.

4. Becoming a mentor and mentee so that you are constantly learning and giving back.

5. Being a public collaborator so that you are truly problem solving, innovating, and orchestrating sustainable change.

6. Crafting and updating your Story by engaging in various life experiences to build up your Theory of Mind, your relationships with others, and your capacity for growth.

7. Understanding that technology is taking thought leadership to new heights and arenas, and that you have an "in". Digital citizenship is not just an agenda for curricula development for the 21st century student in school.

There is an art and science to women leadership. It involves teaching and supporting other women, and letting men in, to actively support and engage women leaders. It also requires a change in perspective about the strategic nature of having more women in leadership in all arenas, not just entrepreneurship.

Why?

• We are the lubricants of the shared economy, connecting others socially and globally

• We get to shift paradigms and problem solve every day, keeping us all feeling renewed and sharp

• We leverage our passion, giving us staying power, and keeping our collective childish wonder alive

• We combine EQ & IQ to think "outside the box" and propel ourselves and others to question, learning about ourselves/others, and promote change by forestalling inertia

Lead the way, I'll follow! I'm ready for a more wonderful world!

Are you?

From Huff Post

If I Were 22: The Wisdom of Uncertainty

At the outset of my medical career, I had the security of knowing exactly where I was headed. I loved medicine. My future was open. Soon I would marry the woman I loved and go to America. This may sound like an enviable position. Yet what I didn't count on was the uncertainty of life, and what uncertainty can do to a person.

In particular, I thought security was my friend and uncertainty my enemy. If only I knew then, as I know now, that there is wisdom in uncertainty - it opens a door to the unknown, and only from the unknown can life be renewed constantly.

It's not possible to have a map of the future, and in my case, as in countless others, I viewed the unpredictable as a source of anxiety. How could it possibly be good when the following setbacks befell me?

I wasn't prepared for losing my fellowship. Or for being blackballed from my chosen medical specialty. Or for being totally broke with a wife and baby to support. Or being looked at sideways for being Indian. When I became fascinated, many years later, by the mind-body connection, how could I know that I would make myself a lightning rod for ridicule and vitriolic attack?

It's understandable that I would want to fend off these bad things and exchange insecurity for certainty. Now I know that would have been a catastrophe. The first principle in the wisdom of uncertainty is that everything happens for a reason. This has become a cliché, yet in the Vedic tradition of India, there's a deeper explanation.

Imagine that you have an invisible thread in your hand, and you will be holding it all your life. This thread is your lifeline. It leads where you need to go for your greatest fulfillment, not where your mind, your fear, your expectations, and your insecurity tell you to go. In India the thread is called Dharma, which derives from a root that means "to uphold." In other words, the invisible thread, fragile as it looks, is guiding you in the best possible direction. But being invisible, it guides you in unexpected ways - out of seeming uncertainty, there is hidden wisdom.

So the best way to live - which I didn't know when I was 22 - is to embrace the wisdom of uncertainty. How is this done? By attuning yourself to the following:

The feeling in your heart.

Your highest sense of purpose.

A worldview larger than yourself.

A sense of empathy with others.

A desire to be of service.

An understanding that you are unique in the universe.

An understanding that you deserve to be happy and fulfilled.

By being in tune with these things, which exist in everyone, you can escape the stress and pressure, the insecurity and doubt, that causes people to become stuck. Becoming stuck happens in various ways. You might find yourself settling for something you know isn't ideal or what you really want or what is best for you. You may choose dull conformity, giving into opinions and beliefs that aren't your own. In extreme cases, your inner light may fade until you feel like a victim or the pawn of circumstance.

The greatest thing about being 22 is that none of these traps have closed. The instinct to be free is very strong when you're young. The flame of discontent is still fueled by idealism. If you consciously attune yourself to the best in your nature, you will be holding tight to the invisible thread. The world's wisdom traditions declare that Dharma is real and can be trusted. Uncertainty isn't something to fear. It's an absolutely necessary prerequisite if you want to kick-start the age-old process known as the beginning of wisdom.

Written by Deepak Chopra MD

Don't Just Embrace Failure -- Learn How to Manage It

“Fail fast” is an overly used and loaded adage. Entrepreneurs don’t wake up and ask themselves “How can I fail today?” What’s important is not to embrace failure, but to figure out how to manage it.

As an educator at Launch Academy, one of the hardest things I deal with are students grappling with failure. Our program attracts and admits overachievers, who, like entrepreneurs, are very hard on themselves. What’s unexpected about our program and in entrepreneurial endeavors, is that failure is expected. How we face it is what defines us. Below, I share the recipe for failure we convey to our students.

Try. Theodore Roosevelt, one of the toughest and most interesting executives of our history, tells us that, “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."

Akhil Nigam, Founder of MassChallenge said during a panel during National Small Business Week that “As an early stage founder, you must will your business into existence.” If you do not act for fear of failure, how will you create anything of meaning?

Own your failure. While willing your creation or your new skills into existence, you will stumble across the way, and those that follow you will struggle as well. Take ownership of your part in failure. If you make excuses for yourself or blame others, no good can come of an already concerning situation.

Forgive yourself. For many of us, this is the hardest part. For me, personally, it helps to acknowledge that failure is a part of the human experience, and that I can grow from it. It also helps to have others to relate to. Dani Dewitt, an alumna of the Launch Academy program, shares “I think being around a group of people that were also fighting through the same kinds of things at night helped me realize I just needed to keep looking at things from different angles until I could solve the problem.”

Apologize authentically. As part of owning your failure, be authentic to those you may have wronged. There is nothing more infuriating for your customers than the corporate “we apologize for any inconvenience.” As an example, if your email service went down, it would be better to hear, “We know email is critical to your business, and we feel terrible for the disruption. We’ll update you as soon as we resolve the issue to get you back up and running.” Always acknowledge the problem and stress you understand the importance of solving it.

Perform a transparent retrospective. In corporate sillyspeak, one might call this a post mortem. This term needs to go away. Unless you’re in the healthcare business, it’s unlikely anyone died as a result of your failure. In software development, we use the term retrospective when we refer to a meeting where we look back at what went well and what went wrong in the management of failure. Involve stakeholders in this process, and be transparent in sharing what you’ve learned with your employees and your customers.

Teach others. We have a saying at Launch Academy, “to teach is to learn.” Take the insight you’ve gleaned from your retrospective and share your tribulations. It will benefit others in that they can learn from your experience, and it will provide you with closure.

As entrepreneurs, our businesses move too quickly to dwell on failure. Use this framework as a means to learn and move on, having benefited from the experience. Let’s not be confused anymore; failing isn’t fatal.

From Entrepreneur

Why Entrepreneurs Need To Think Outside The Box

Becoming a successful entrepreneur is easier if you have a certain skillset which includes passion, drive, and innovativeness. Thinking outside the box is crucial, because there’s nothing new under the sun (unless you happen to be an entrepreneur). Why compete in the market when you can build your own industry, providing consumers with something they need or want but never had before? That was attorney Mark Bogen’s thoughts when he started thinking about just how costly and challenging putting on a Las Vegas show is.

How did a lawyer from Boca Raton Florida go from practicing law to producing a highly rated sports show at a major Las Vegas hotel in the 1990s? It was all about delivering something brand new to Sin City’s offerings. Now as the face of the American Organization of Professional Athletes, Bogen is getting ready to launch a program connecting millions of sports fans around the country and giving them a space to interact with legends, meet and mingle with each other, and of course engage in their sport of choice.

Filling a void

No matter what direction you go with a startup or small business, sheer love, experience and knowledge are critical. Bogen says, “We have devised a sports marketing program allowing customers of any company to interact with legendary athletes at no cost to the company.” “Free” is a very appealing word and ties in with the money troubles many people face today. For Bogen, he made this work by working with credit card companies and airlines to secure partnership.

Pinpoint a new way for your future customers to fulfill a need. Generally, airlines miles and credit card points are a company liability, and when they’re redeemed it’s usually a loss for everyone except the person with the points. However, Bogen realized how to design a program that gives consumers something they want without costing the credit cards or airlines anything. This gave him leverage to create a symbiotic relationship for all (himself included).

The luxury appeal

If an entrepreneur can find a way to give an average consumer a luxury experience, such as meeting a famous athlete, they’ve secured the ultimate selling point. Before Bogen’s latest endeavor, you’d have to spend at least $5,000 and probably much more just to go to a fantasy camp. Meeting a legend may involve waiting in line for hours for nothing more than an autograph scrawl. According to Steve Garvey, a former professional All-Star for the LA Dodgers, “We believe this program will give sports fans the unique opportunity” to meet their idols.

Not all entrepreneurs have a sports background, but everyone has some insider knowledge to bolster their startup. If you have a background in high-end retail, you’ve probably done some great networking and know exactly what kind of goods customers with money to spend want. Use this to your advantage, tap into those old connections, keep up with networking and find a way to deliver something brand new. Bogen’s idea to let customers trade in points means zero cost for the company and the customer gets to attend an event with a favorite athlete, which means everyone wins.

From Forbes

Why Female Entrepreneurs Should Stop Procrastinating and Make Their Ideas Happen Now

Let's face it: The startup field is still a boys' club. From founders and CEOs to investors and acquirers, we often see men in leadership positions. Women start fewer companies and raise far less in venture capital, but some of that is starting to change. There is more support for female founders than ever before, and they and their ideas are finding more paths to success. Here's why this year will be the best yet for entrepreneurs who happen to be women.

You can afford it now. 

Quitting your job to launch your big idea requires fewer tough choices in 2014. You're probably hoping to test your ideas without spending your life savings. Fortunately, business accelerators and incubators exist in every major city and many smaller ones, too, offering sizable investments in new companies. In Los Angeles alone, there are more than 15 accelerators. From 2006 to 2011, the TechStars network expanded from one U.S. city to a network of 25 accelerators around the globe. And some of these backers are dedicated to growing female-led companies. Non-traditional sources of startup capital are also available through strategic activities of large companies such as Target, which offers lucrative prizes for breakthrough ideas that support its businesses.

You can also better keep your day-to-day expenses in check. More affordable co-working sites means more cheap and flexible workspaces for companies on the rise. Just 20 percent of U.S. computer science students are female, meaning that the chances of a female entrepreneur being able to do her own initial programming are lower. Free services like Wix help you program a basic site to give your idea higher visibility. In addition, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the days of relying on your employer to provide health insurance are over. This year's plans include free services for women such as Pap smears and well-woman visits, and no one can be denied insurance based on pre-existing conditions. Assuming you'll take a pay cut to start your own company, there's a good chance that going forth on your own will actually lead to lower health insurance premiums, since with a lower income you may qualify for government subsidies. Goodbye, expensive COBRA!

Barriers to funding are coming down. 

According to research by Google, women-led companies have a 35 percent higher return on investment and are 12 percent more profitable than male-led companies. This may be why smart investors are backing increasing numbers of female entrepreneurs. There are also more female investors in 2014 and more female-led venture capital firms, including newly formed Aspect Ventures and Cowboy Ventures, each with veteran female VCs at the helm. Given the tight network of mostly male funders in Silicon Valley and beyond, new networks forming around these female investors may offer more opportunities for women to successfully pitch their companies.

Dread the idea of pitching to angel investors? Good news: Even though women still have a small piece of the angel investment pie -- 13 percent -- their share has more than tripled in the past decade, up from 4 percent in 2004. The number of female millionaires is growing twice as fast as that of their male counterparts, and angel networks like Astia's Angels are cropping up to invest exclusively in women-led companies.

The country is getting behind you. 

From the appointment of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to the multiple initiatives to advance women's economic interests, the current administration is arguably the most female-friendly yet. President Obama is focused on supporting women in the workplace, and what's followed is an atmosphere of female inclusion like never before -- which means better opportunities and a level playing field for female-driven startups.

Academia is also stepping up to provide more study of female leadership. Harvard Business School, a leader in global business leadership education and resources, has committed to doubling the number of cases it publishes with female leaders as protagonists.

All that's missing is the next big idea. 

So what's stopping you? If it's funding, the horizons are broadening. If it's support, don't fool yourself into believing that you're alone in a sea of men. Check out Springboard Enterprises, Beehive Holdings or Golden Seeds -- all organizations focused on funding, training and cultivating women-led businesses.

Do you have the next big idea and the guts to follow it through? If so, 2014 may just be the year you make it happen.

From HuffPost