Many of you reading these words have excellent business ideas tucked somewhere deep inside. In fact, I bet many of you have million-dollar ideas. Maybe your dream is stuck inside a notebook, or resting in your iPhone notes. It’s time to launch that business idea. It’s time to make those millions. And it’s time to win in the business world.
Sometimes it’s easiest to learn to win when you know what not to do. So, in this post, I will share a list of ways you won’t win in the business world. Follow these steps and you won’t see success. Do the opposite and succeed.
How NOT to Win in the Business World
1. Let fear hold you back.
If you never take a step toward your business dream, you will not win in the business world. Sometimes it just takes telling someone else about your idea. Or maybe you need to invest some money and fear is keeping you from taking the leap. Instead of letting fear win, put on courage.
Courage is the ability to face difficulty, danger, or pain without fear. Another way to say it is that courage is bravery. It’s going to take courage to talk to investors about your business plan or to switch on the “open” sign of your new storefront. But a good entrepreneur controls his fear and steps forward to face the difficult climb ahead. This will allow you to win in the business world.
2. Forget the basics.
There are some components to running a business that will seem simple and straightforward. Don’t forget to come to the basics and review these simple tasks! In fact, come back to the basics often.
Another facet of this cleverly disguised mistake is the following. Chances are that if you are taking the initiative, you’ll meet a lot of people with a lot of ideas. This is good, but it can easily throw you off course. Once you’ve made up your mind about the business and/or product you’re going to develop, you’ll need to consistently come back to the original dream so that you won’t get pulled in the wrong direction – the direction of what others think your dream should be. Don’t be offended. They’re usually just trying to help, but stay focused.
3. Ignore conflict.
Ignore conflict and your business venture will fail. Why? Well, if you’re not dealing with conflict, you’re either 1) perfect (no one is perfect) or 2) not engaging with those around you. It’s tempting to shy away from having a difficult conversation with an employee or co-worker, but a successful entrepreneur knows that dealing with conflict will always help the team move forward.
Instead of ignoring conflict, seek to listen, communicate effectively, and own your part. This is the recipe for a big win in the business world.
4. Fail to maintain low overhead costs.
A crucial component to the success of an entrepreneur is the ability to be frugal. Monitor and check expenses, forego needless and flashy items, and work at bringing down overhead. If you’re unable to maintain low overhead, your business will spiral downward quickly.
If you need help creating a budget, sign up for the free library of resources at the end of this post and you’ll gain access to budgeting worksheets.
5. Ignore the successful people around you.
Look around. Who is achieving the kind of success you hope to achieve someday? Have you asked this person to dinner? Sought out their counsel? I truly hope so, because in order to win in the business world, you must gain knowledge from those who have gone before you!
Ask business winners questions about what they were feeling, thinking, and seeing on their journey to success. Find out what they believed at the beginning. Determine what kind of questions they asked themselves. If you ask successful people the right questions, you can discover their recipe for success! Then, do the wisest thing you can do and imitate them.
6. Forget to invest in yourself.
It may seem too obvious, but it’s worth mentioning. If you are not continually investing in yourself and your education, your business idea will flop. The venture is only as a good as the captain, and the key to bettering yourself is investing in your understanding and knowledge. Maybe you need to head back to school, but that is not for everyone. Instead, consider online courses, free podcasts, books, and local seminars or conferences.
Also, download my free handout about three ways to invest in yourself every single day. It’s in the resource library. Sign up at the end of the post.
Remember that you may be holding a million-dollar idea. Take note of this tips about what NOT to do, and do the opposite. Invest in yourself. Maintain low overhead. Remember the basics. Strike up conversation with winners. Choose courage.
Win in the business world!
