Being right keeps us in place. Being wrong forces us to explore. A great quote from Steven Johnson. And the more exploring that you do, the more you learn. Often much that can be applied to your stack of lessons from successful entrepreneurs.
But life can be tough at times tough. Life as an entrepreneur is tougher.
Your safety net is you. No health plan with 47 sick days. And no paid vacation. No sabbatical after 10 years of mind-bending effort.
The other day one of my readers commented I was the oldest person she knew creating social media content all the time.
Then she said it was a compliment.
We both laughed.
Then there was an awkward pause.
Whileher statement clearly wasn’t true, being relatively seasoned in business means I HAVE learned many valuable career lessons that would have been great to know when my business career started.
The more experience we have, the more mistakes we’ve made—and that’s a good thing, according to many business innovation experts.
That’s how it has always been
Great people learn hard lessons.
Sigmund Freud was booed off stage the first time he presented his theories to a group of scientists in Europe. He went on to win the Goethe Award for his work in psychology.
Henry Ford failed at farming, being an apprentice, and as a machinist — going bankrupt five times. He went on to modernize mass production.
Leo Tolstoy flunked out of law school and was labeled “unable to learn” by his professors. He went on to become one of the world’s greatest novelists.
But it’s not about them
It’s about you. About what you are prepared to do in order to be successful. Here are my 10 top lessons for all entrepreneurs … the ones I wished I knew when I started:
Successful entrepreneurs … put people first
Learned this one quite early in my management career. Your people are your business. No question about that. And your business will only go as far as your people will take it. So put them first on your list and take good care of their welfare.
Be a talent hound.
Talent hound
Be the best talent hound you can be in searching for the best employees. Know this … surrounding yourself with the very best is the top and quickest way to success.
Value propositions
There is a tremendous amount of competition in any market that you chose. And it is continually growing. Your success depends on your business is better than the competition.
Knowing what those advantages are and putting them into value propositions is what will put and keep you ahead.
Successful entrepreneurs stories … marketing
Know this simple fact about marketing. Everything is marketing and everyone is a marketer. It takes a while to really appreciate this lesson’s true meaning. Stick with it long enough and you will understand.
Customer experience
Your customer’s experiences in your shop are the new marketing, pure and simple. The better the experiences, the more the customers will remember you and return. Work hard at creating WOW experiences as much as possible.
Exercise sociability.
Sociability
Make friends with as many customers as you can. Customers would always prefer to do business with friends. Start with a smile and positive conversation in engaging customers. Selling is something to be strictly avoided. Substitute just being as helpful as possible.
Change agent
Be a change agent in everything business. Anticipate and embrace change in your market. Adapt is the name of the game, as soon as possible. This is a hard lesson to learn as often change is required while things are still looking good.
Continuous learning
Now more than ever, things are changing at blazing speed. There are only two ways to keep up. They are continually learning and applying what you learn.
Simplicity
Keep everything you do as simple as possible. No exceptions.
The customer
The last and most important lesson. Know, understand, and care about your customer. Your rule 1.
Learning from this list of successful entrepreneurs
Want some inspiration? Start following inspiring people. And when I say “follow,” I am not referring only to Twitter, although that is an excellent starting point. I mean follow as in study, investigate, hear, heed, sit at their feet, and absorb the lessons.
Here are seven thought leaders (in no particular order) that are worth following.
Tony Hsieh
The CEO of Zappo’s is so much more than a shoe salesman. Hsieh is the model for how corporate executives can stay firmly connected to the real world. His Tweets alone are worth his reputation.
Related: The ‘Aha!’ Moments of Famous Inventors (Infographic)
Travis Kalanick
OK, I admit my bias as a sold-out fan of Uber, but Kalanick’s story is quite remarkable. I will continue to follow this young genius to see how he navigates an endless stream of obstacles. Kalanick’s lessons for entrepreneurs are invaluable.
Marie Forleo
There are those who make things happen and those who wonder what happened. Count Forleo in the former category. The term “self-made woman” is more than appropriate for her.
This energetic, brash, and straight-talking success guru has fashioned an amazing company with a vast following.
Guy Kawasaki
I first read How to Drive Your Competition Crazyroughly 20 years ago and I have never looked at competitive positioning the same way again.
The former chief evangelist for Apple is a serial entrepreneur and investor with an eye for success. His Tweets are solid gold.
Related: 10 Movies Every Entrepreneur Needs to Watch
Daniel Kahneman
This Nobel Prize-winning founder of behavioral economics won’t blow you out of the water with flashy presentations, but he will make you think about life in entirely new ways.
His masterpiece book Thinking Fast and Slow took me forever to read because every page provided content that demanded I pause, reflect on the application, and change my thinking accordingly. Watch his videos on YouTube, Ted Talks, and Big Think.
Gary Vaynerchuk
You can read his books or his blog, but you really need to experienceGaryvee (Google it) to get the entire, unfiltered flavor of Vaynerchuk’s brilliance.
His enterprise provides a blueprint for entrepreneurial success in the digital age. Garyvee’s unending approachability has endeared him to millions.
Malcolm Gladwell
If Malcolm Gladwell wrote nothing but knock-knock jokes, I would read every one of them. Of course, his version would go something like, “Knock-knock. Who’s there? An observationalist with an uncanny knack for seeing things that everyone else overlooks.”
Gladwell is deeply cerebral and yet easily readable — a great combination for the ADD entrepreneur. His study of human nature is spellbinding.
So, those are my suggestions. Who is on your list?
What your customer perceives about your company is what determines whether they will stay with you. And their perception is built one contact at a time. Even one bad experience can taint their perception of you. So make sure every contact they have is a great one. Create customer evangelists by caring about your customers and showing it with everything you do.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn new lessons.
The question is:
“What lessons are you learning today?”
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Is your business devoting enough energy in each of these areas?
Do you have a story about learning lessons and business adaptation you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
Want to learn more about Digital Spark Marketing?
Check out these additional articles on business lessons from our library:
