1. Be able to change your mental state at will. It’s too easy to let
your emotions and overall mood dominate your every thought and action. You
could wake up to a rainy day and let the weather be the deciding factor of
how you’ll feel for the next twelve hours. In fact, that’s
what most people do - but remember, you're not most people.
You're someone who has taken
charge of your own life: you're an entrepreneur. You need to make the conscious
decision, every day, that you will have a great day. Nobody cares about what
you’re going through. Nobody cares about the petty things
that are bothering you. Flip on the switch of positivity and spread goodwill
everywhere you go.
"A professional is a person who can do his/her
job when he/she doesn’t feel like it. An amateur is a person
who can’t do his/her job when he/she does feel
like it." –
James Agate
2. Wake up early. This should be a given, but it is not. I can’t
count the times acquaintances who "were in business" called me
at 12:00pm saying they were just waking up. That won’t
work. Not only will waking up early give you more time to take care of
business, the morning is also the best time of day to catch the people you want
to do business with.
Learn from the best: Jack
Dorsey is up at 5:00am. He meditates, works out, makes coffee, and checks in.
He is also able to run not one, but two publicly traded companies. Gary
Vaynerchuck is up at 6:00am. Every minute counts. Don’t
be one of those people who wakes up late and doesn’t
know why they can’t get much done.
3. Take care of business first. As an entrepreneur, before fun, you need to take care
of business. Before going out on the weekends, you need to take care of
business. Don’t ever be the person who is always leaving things for
later, for tomorrow. Be the person who gets definite about things, and is known
for getting things done. Take care of business as soon as it comes in. Don’t
leave the house before you have finished your sales calls and quota for the
day. Know your priorities. Push yourself.
Remember that mediocre people
will do mediocre things, and put fun before business. Ideally, you will want to
reach a point where business is fun.
4. Divide in order to multiply. Delegation is the name of the game. Realize you
cannot do everything on your own. You will only be able to grow your business
once you start delegating responsibility to others. To that end, it is
imperative you know your strengths and focus on them.
If you’re
bad at organization, let someone do that job for you. If you’re
bad at following up, let someone do that job for you. Whatever it is you’re
bad at, hire someone with complementary skills to do that job.
5. Work smart and work hard. More than ever, you need to work smart. But you also
need to work hard. There is nothing easy about starting and growing a business.
It takes countless hours and effort; it takes phone calls; it takes making
meaningful relationships; it takes sales; it takes interviewing; it takes
growing; it takes studying; it takes strategy; it takes delegating. So please
don’t believe people who tell you that you can live off of
your passive income and chill on the beach all day.
6. Be your awesome self. Authenticity is key. If you want authentic
relationships, you must be authentic. If you want an authentic and positive
audience reaction when you give a talk, you must be authentic and positive.
Being authentic pays off tremendous dividends, as people are able to see B.S.
from a mile away. Don’t be afraid to be you.
7. Be a leader.
If you have to remind people that you are the boss, and that you’re
the one who calls the shots, then you have already failed. You are nothing but
a manager. A leader doesn’t have to ever remind others of her title. A leader
works through influence. Management is recognition you get from the bottom,
while leadership is permission you get from those below you.
The best way to motivate
employees is by being a great leader to them. Put them up, give them praise,
smile, communicate well, have high standards and create a culture where it is
safe to fail and to try new things.
8. Know you won’t please
everyone. When you stand up for what
you believe in, when you put yourself out there and start to go after what you
want, some people will inadvertently stop liking you. Truth is, they never
really liked you in the first place. Or perhaps they just wrote you off as
'safe'. But the moment you started doing something that they didn’t
have the courage to do themselves, they panicked. That panic translates itself
into, "I don’t like that guy/girl". Don’t
let that get to you. Don’t internalize it. It’s
a perfectly normal reaction, and it happens at all levels.
9. In everything, give thanks. Just the fact that you wake up every day is
something to be thankful for. Being thankful will not just allow you to better
function, but it can also have lasting effects on your health. "It can
lower blood pressure, improve immune function and facilitate more efficient
sleep," says Robert A. Emmons, professor of psychology at UC Davis. People
who are thankful exude a different vibe and energy to which we are all
attracted.
10. 2016 will be the same as 2015 if you don’t change. No
matter how good the intentions, your 2016 will be the same as your 2015 if you
don’t make the effort to change it. Take a good look at
your daily habits, at your relationships, and ruthlessly change anything that
doesn’t fit a paradigm of success and
accomplishment. In the words of Jim Rhon, "change begins with a
choice."