SHARE
There are 582 million entrepreneurs in the world as of 2021. That’s a lot of people, all around the world, who run multiple businesses to help others live an easier lifestyle. As of 2020, 27% of Americans started their own business simply because they were fed up with “corporate American” jobs
Now female entrepreneurship is a smaller figure but is still growing at a rapid pace more than ever. As of 2019, there are 252 million female entrepreneurs. Of the 252 million female entrepreneurs worldwide, more than one-third (36.4 percent) operate as solopreneurs. Furthermore, the highest percentage of female entrepreneurs are in Sub-Sahara Africa and Latin America!
Given how easy it is to start a new business in the US, it should come as no surprise that there are hundreds and thousands of entrepreneurs launching new ventures there every single year.
What is an Entrepreneur?
Everyone wants to be an entrepreneur nowadays, but many don’t realize what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. One factor of being a successful entrepreneur is profit. If the business you are running isn’t turning over a profit, you can’t consider yourself a successful entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurship is an attractive career and in today’s society, entrepreneurs are being represented by more younger individuals more than ever. You probably scroll down your Instagram feed or your TikTok and see so many individuals sharing their business success, their financial success, client testimonials, and more.
An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards.
Entrepreneurship is the freedom to build and create something to help others and in return, watch your business grow. It’s a very empowering and enticing career but, going about it the wrong way will determine if you will be a successful or unsuccessful entrepreneur.
Things to Know Before You Become A Successful Entrepreneur
Everyone’s entrepreneurship path is different and there is no right or wrong way to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Before I dive into the 10 ways to become a successful entrepreneur, here are 5 things you need to know before you dive into entrepreneurship;
- Be passionate
At the end of the day, if you don’t have passion for the business industry you are in or don’t have the passion to really change people’s lives, you will fail. Passion is the fuel that will drive you to keep going once things get in touch. Yes, things will get tough in entrepreneurship, but passion is the foundation of why you started and will be your ultimate motivator.
- Have a purpose
Why do you want to become an entrepreneur? This question is very important to assess before you dive into entrepreneurship. Running a business is all about your end customer, and less about you. You have to have a purpose to serve the community you feel will benefit the most from your service or product.
- Find your niche
You are probably tired of hearing about having a niche but, narrowing down your exact client avatar is important in business. Serving everyone is very hard…unless your Amazon haha.
However, when you have a niche, you will find it easier to communicate your brand to them and even easier to sell to them. Find your people! Find communities on Facebook, Blogs, Instagram, and more.
Find out who you connect with. Figure out who will benefit the most from your product or service. Write down their frustrations and have a reason your service or product could help them overcome those frustrations. Offer solutions they can’t pass up. Show up online where they are and become an authoritative figure.
- Believe in yourself
If you don’t believe in yourself, why should anyone else? Confidence plays a huge role in entrepreneurship and people can smell an insecure person from a mile away. Most entrepreneurship journeys fail because the person never truly believed they will be successful.
Get in the right mindset shift and surround yourself with positive people. Write down what makes you different and how you are going to use that within your entrepreneurship journey.
- Set realistic goals/have a financial plan
It’s important to be realistic if you want to be a successful entrepreneur and always have a financial backup plan. You will probably not make any money in your first year of business but, no worries this is very normal. Make sure you have savings for unexpected bills and regular bills in the meantime.
Never create your goals based on someone else’s success because that’s not realistic.
What’s your six-month, one-year, and 20-year plan? If you want to grow and scale your company, you have to think short and long term. Now make a critical path on how you’re going to achieve these pillars.
Setting goals for yourself as an entrepreneur is a great way to keep track of your own personal milestones, as well as keep you motivated as they continue to grow.
10 Ways To Become A Successful Entrepreneur
Here’s the part you’ve been waiting for! So how exactly do you become a successful entrepreneur? Well first, once again everyone path will be different. However, there are certain characteristics you need to possess to become successful among your competitors and for personal financial gains.
- Be a Go-Getter. You can’t wait for opportunities to come to you if you want to be a successful entrepreneur. You have to chase what you want!
- Challenge yourself. Entrepreneurship is challenging already but you also need to challenge yourself in order to grow.
- Take risks. Taking risks is in the definition of what an entrepreneur is so this is inevitable. The most successful people you know took risks to get to where they are right now. It may not be financial risks but could be personal risks, educational risks, community risks and more.
- Ask for help. Asking for help isn’t a sign of failure. It’s actually a sign of strength. You will come to a part in your entrepreneurship journey where you simply can’t do everything yourself and you’ll need a team to help you further your success. Another way to ask for help is through education. It’s ok to hire a coach or mentor to help you run your business proficiently. It’s ok to purchase courses or webinars to teach you something new that you never thought you would need to know. Always ask for help!
- Listen to your complaints. This is a tip that I think is the most important for entrepreneurs to learn. Your customer’s complaints are how you identify your business’s weaknesses. Successful entrepreneurs listen to their customers complaints to change their business efforts. Remember, your business first concern are the people you help!
- Don’t be afraid to self-promote. If you don’t promote your business, who else will? It’s ok to talk about yourself! Get to know your business down to a T! Know some key stats, and have your 15-second elevator pitch polished and ready to go. Then, when someone asks you about your business, you can promote it factually and quickly.
- Network. Networking can be scary, that’s understandable. However, you never know who you may run into! Start conversations in a room. This doesn’t even have to be at a business event. Going to the grocery store? Make small conversation with the cashier. Grabbing a drink at Starbucks and there is a long line? Make conversation with the people in line with you. You never know who you may run into that can be your next client, business bestie, team-member, investor, supporter and more! Sometimes, it’s who you know, not what you know.
- Keep learning. Successful entrepreneurs never stop learning. It’s important to catch up with new technologies, theories, practices and more. You have to be fast paced. I recommend finding a business article website and read it daily to see what’s new in the business industry you are in. Take time once a week to learn something new and share the information you learned.
- Deliver, not sell. Honestly, no one likes to be sold to. I mean seriously, who enjoys going to the car lot and buying a new car? We all know what we’re getting ourselves into and dread it. Instead of selling to your potential customers, deliver. Offer them a free trial, free download, free course and deliver a great product or experience. When your company delivers a great product or service, you’ll build customer loyalty faster than you can say, “successful entrepreneur.”
- Take time off! Successful entrepreneurs work smarter not harder. It’s ok to take a break. Sometimes it’s needed for creativity and ideas to flow naturally. I think this is the most challenging for entrepreneurs because they often see themselves as invincible or believe that they must be invincible. This just isn’t true; we’re all humans and we need time off. Time off allows your brain to roam, to rest, and to think. Ever wonder why you think of so many ideas in the shower? It’s because your brain has free range to just think and roam. The hustle culture is overrated, and the most successful entrepreneurs only work a few days to a few hours a week! Self-care is very important within entrepreneurship.
Are you on the road to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
There were a lot of tips shared in this blog post that I hope you take the time to consider. Of course, these aren’t all the tips to becoming a successful entrepreneur. First, define what success means to you. Then, come back to this blog post and narrow down on the tip you would like to focus on the most this month! Have an extra tip you’d love to add? Comment your tips in the comment section below. Let’s start a conversation and help the next entrepreneur become a successful entrepreneur.
