More than two decades ago I found myself asking this very question. Sitting in my corporate grey cubicle at my job waiting for another new year to begin and me wondering what really needed to change before real success happened. I didn’t want to spend another year feeling so unfulfilled and I didn’t want to pretend I liked the holiday office parties and lifestyle.
Now that I have been an entrepreneur for more than two decades, I can answer the question I asked myself more than two decades before as I reflect back on my early days as an entrepreneur.
Here is what I found:
Know yourself-gifts and talents: This is so important to understand because when you start a business, what you like and how you operate will help you chose the right business for you. I had a degree in accounting and could have started a business in accounting, but I hated accounting. I didn’t like the tiny receipts, data entry and generating reports that were involved. I would have been miserable with an accounting firm. Building a business means building a lifestyle you enjoy working in.
Be in service to others: Over the years I have learned that if I pick a market of people to serve and open a business that solves a problem, I have easier success and I feel good about my business. Profits are important and happen with the correct mix of being in service and providing an amazing service or solution for people.
Know your self-worth deeply: Business startup is fast paced and stressful. It will take even the bravest person out of the game if they don’t know themselves and how they operate on both a positive and negative level. You have to not only manage a business, but manage your mind and self-worth because people who mean well can say horrible things that will bring you down if you don’t know your self-worth and how to manage you.
Be willing to change: I loved relying on what I had already learned and knew. I didn’t want to have to change. What I found was if I used my current beliefs and mindset to get me where I wanted to go, I was lying to myself. It wouldn’t work because my mindset had brought me where I currently was and gave me what I was currently experiencing. So, what part of me had to change in order to succeed?
My work ethic and work habits needed to change. I learned the work ethic of the average and ordinary from my parents. It’s not a bad thing, but it wouldn’t get me where I wanted to go. It’s like learning how to have a backyard garden from your parents and wanting to become a multi-acre farmer. A farm is much bigger and requires a totally different work ethic than a backyard garden. Your attitude has to be different in order to cultivate this massive dream.
The average person works a job for money and finds what they do so painful that they actually hate going to work. In order to succeed, it helped me to embrace and learn about the work ethic of someone who loved what they were doing so much that it didn’t feel like work. They were willing to do whatever it took to have success and keep on growing every day.
Know you are supported: When I embraced this new work ethic, being of service, and was suddenly willing to change, I also found a connection to something greater than myself silently supporting me and sending me whatever I needed to become successful. I call this Divine Grace.
When this Divine Grace sends you what you need in the moment, you feel the support of the universe helping you succeed and it helps you have authentic motivation because you are serving a greater cause and a greater good.
More importantly, sometimes I became the Divine Grace for another entrepreneur. This helped me create strong relationships with other business owners who were on the same business development path. We became a community of support for each other.
Manage your center & course correct: You hear that leadership is everything, and that is true for me. However, the kind of leadership I practiced most was self-leadership. The secret sauce to this was that it built influence over time, and everyone began to want to work with me. It created opportunities for me that would not have been there if I hadn’t felt supported and gave support to others.
When things are stressful and uncertain and you remain authentically upbeat and undeterred, you will stand out in the crowd. This is faith at its greatest example and it does move mountains, but mostly your mountains of doubt and fear. This is how success begins to peek out of you.
Know what your boundaries are: Success means knowing when to say yes and no. It’s knowing what your business is about and not moving off message or off brand at the first sight of something new. Having an awareness of your boundaries around most aspects of your business means that your team learns to trust you and knows where you stand. It creates safety around employees and vendors you work with. Having boundaries helps save money because you and your team know what you are about.
Skill sets for success are really personal development skill sets. Over the years what I have found is that these skill sets improve over time. No matter what, they help me be successful at business, life and connected to the Divine Grace. I feel fulfilled and have a life by co-design from this place.
Vickie Helm is a bestselling author, business and asset strategist, and the CEO of Smart Group Firm. She has improved the success of more than a thousand companies and the lives of thousands of individuals throughout her career. You can learn more about Vickie at https://thesmartlifeclub.com or https://vickiehelm.com.