Skills Needed As An Entrepreneur

Polishing your skills as an entrepreneur can help you be a better entrepreneur. Here are the skills every successful entrepreneur has in common:

Doggedness.

The ability to be persistent in time of trial. Not every business will achieve that immediate success. The determination, knowing how to handle the ups and down is vital. Success does not happen overnight, some of those successful entrepreneurs out there failed again and again before finally achieving that remarkable success. Winston Churchill said: "success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm". What you need to know is that failure isn't the end but a step closer to achieving that success. This skill enables the entrepreneur to keep going when the outlook is bleak.

Stay Focused.

You have to be ready to give it all it takes, when success in the business is your priority, you will find yourself ready to tackle any kind of challenges along the way. After setting a goal, knowing how to "laser focus" on the very next step to get closer to the ultimate goal. There are so many distracting forces when trying to build a business that this skill is not easy to master.

Productivity.

This is a sensitive topic, the fact is there is no one right way to be productive that works for everybody. Learn about your peak energy times, your routines, and the productivity tools that work for you in order to create your own plan for success.

Sales.

Some entrepreneurs get stuck here, every entrepreneur is a sales person whether they want to be or not. They are either selling their ideas, products or services to customers, investors or employees. They work to be there when customers are ready to buy. Alternately, they know how to let go and move on when they are not. If you're always nervous about selling, try enrolling in a sales workshop to learn this much needed skill.

The ability to manage people.

You need to know how to manage people well. Early on in your business, you will be everyone's manager, so it pays to be effective. Entrepreneurs should know how to motivate and encourage the employees. Only by learning to leverage employees, vendors and other resources will an entrepreneur build a scalable company. They need to learn to network to meet the right people. Entrepreneurs strive to guarantee they will get honest and timely feedback from all these sources.

Adapting to change.

Change they say is constant! Successful entrepreneurs realize they don't know everything and the market is constantly changing. You have to be willing to go with the trend or change. You know what brilliant entrepreneurs does? They stay up to date on new systems, technology, and industry trends.

Strategy implementation.

You need to dedicate your time to simply dreaming about what you want for your business. Where would you like to take it? What's your vision for it? Now, how can you get there from here? Set your goals, and then develop an actionable plan to make them a reality. Then, don't forget about those goals. Keep them at the front and center to everything you do.

Take your time.

You don't need to rush things. Most entrepreneurs are not patient; they sometimes focus only on what comes next, rather than where the company needs to go. Overnight success may take 5 years or more. Entrepreneurs need to stop, pause and plan again at several intervals. Take a step at a time!
Don't be discouraged, you can learn some of these skills. Your eventual success depends on it.
See you at the top!

Femi Adefioye is a financial consultant. He is also an Analyst. He has a wealth creation blog http://entrepreneurship-skills.blogspot.com where he writes life transforming articles on entrepreneurship and wealth themes.

Notice - You are allowed to publish this article in its entirety provided that author's name, bio and website links must remain intact, active and included with every reproduction.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Femi_Adefioye/271306

Overcoming the 6 Biggest Fears of Business Ownership

1. Sailing the Ship Alone 
 
I'm sure you have seen the Honest cleaning products in recent commercials, but did you know Jessica Alba, famous actress, founded it? During the 2015 Forbes Women Summit Jessica commented on how people saw her as only being capable of acting or endorsing products, not creating them when she commented, "It took three and a half years of condescending nods and pats on the back of 'good luck,' or 'go back to endorsing things' or 'go do a perfume'." Had she decided to rely on any fear-based assumptions that she wouldn't be successful because of non-support, she probably wouldn't now own a billion dollar company. What she did do was seek out business people and manufacturers that could help make her dream come true.

2. Not Being At the Master Level 

Whether you think you're not good enough at your craft to start your business, or that your product or service isn't at the professional level of others in your line of work undermines your goal of business ownership. Start small with your best item and improve upon it over time while continuing to introduce new items or services. All start-ups experience learning curves. Progression leads to perfection, most businesses don't start at the top.

3. Not Knowing Where to Start 

There are so many people that want their own business but just don't know where to start. They look at others successes and feel defeated before they begin. Instead, follow those you admire who are doing what it is you want to do. Read up on them. Research their beginnings or better yet, reach out directly via Twitter, Facebook or see if they will do a Skype interview.

4. Fear of Failing 

We all fail, but the key is getting back up and dusting your self off. It took Thomas Edison 1,000 unsuccessful tries to invent the light bulb, but he pressed on and didn't give up. He's been quoted as saying, "I didn't fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps." "Great success is built on failure, frustration, even catastrophe." What tenacity, what great faith he possessed!

5. Not Attracting Enough Loyal Customers 

It's common to think, "What if people don't buy my product or value my service?"
Being in business for your self is a risk, but seasoned business owners wouldn't have it any other way. Keeping a job is a risk. Focus on delivering exactly what you are promising and overtime the customers will come.

6. Not Having Enough, or Running Out of Money 

I'm willing to bet that almost everyone would be a business owner if all it took were to walk into the bank and say, "Show me the money," and the banker hands you a check for $100,000 and no terms for the payback. But, it doesn't work like that and entrepreneurs oftentimes use their own savings or depend on friends and family members to finance their business ventures. Losing a close friend or family member's money can be scarier than defaulting on a bank loan. If personal investment loss is stopping you from starting your business, consider alternative funding, like business credit cards. The application and qualification process is less stringent from traditional banking, and you can get a funding estimate within 24 hours of applying.

In Conclusion 

Being an entrepreneur isn't just for the courageous. It's for those who are willing to embrace their fears and work through them. Knowing that obstacles lie up ahead, but victory, aka the sweet spot, is just a round the corner on the road to success.

Access the link below for further information on getting business credit:

https://mwcc.wufoo.com/forms/janine-herrera-prequalification-form/

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Janine_Herrera/2328775

Five Solid, Powerful Tools for Entrepreneurs and Lightworkers to Turn Up Your Light

Shining brighter doesn't show up like you think it will. Shining brighter starts inside and flows outside, and it does not depend on the actual medium. It can show up with a multitude of media. These five tools for generating more buzz, shining brighter and attracting more people into your business are easy to start and initiate, today.

#1 Commit to a much larger result than you have been thinking about. Whatever you've been doing, it hasn't gotten you to where you seek to be. So notch it up.

#2 Look across media and see where you shine brightest. Is it writing, singing, blogging, creating videos, creating audio recordings, or is it something like Facebook or Twitter? Build on what is the most natural and comes with the most ease.

#3 Expansion is delicious. It is also painful. Then delicious. Then painful. Then delicious. Then different. If you've never had a virtual assistant, then suddenly you do, it is both delicious and you also have to change it up for things to work.

#4 Vet new ideas and run with the ideas that charge you up the most. If it is so charged your body tingles, it might be big enough. If it's like "of course, I can do that" and it feels like taking a nap it's that easy, it might not take you someplace new. This is a relatively difficult concept because it is this fine line of "what do I do next," and going where you sense the energy will give you extra easy play - but it may be also uncomfortable at the same time.

#5 Take it easy around results. You might get immediate results. You might not. You might have to measure your results differently. So, in starting a new podcast, you might watch your sales and client interactions for measures of success as opposed to focusing intently only on the download numbers and stats that show up on the dashboard. You can self-moderate and kill totally beautiful projects by mutilating them before giving them a chance to shine.

Here's more on committing to a larger result and what messes up entrepreneurs and light-workers. Let's say you desire 70,000 listens or #1 bestseller status. Now, it's your first day out of the gate, and you anxiously look at sales or results. As you look at the results (and they may be dismal), you suddenly lose all enthusiasm for the project. So, that is not actually the best way to get insanely ridiculous successful results. Instead, ask the results questions. What inspired action can I take today to move me in the direction of the results I desire right away?

And let's say it's a book, you might get the idea of a Kindle 99-cent day special to run four weeks from now. So you then have four weeks to amp up your plans for the morning rush of a bestseller campaign around a 99-cent day special. Boom! That is very different energy from looking daily at your book sale numbers and experiencing some kind of self-judgment around them.

It is a discipline to see the light beyond the tunnel. So that's really what this first tool is about. Commit to something bigger, and then take inspired action in the direction of that result, each day.

Choosing the appropriate media for you is like choosing a shoe, a style, a dress, a look. Some of you might pick up a pair of tight jeans, put on a cowboy hat, buy the best and most unusual boots you can find and have your look. For the rest of the people on the planet, this would be a ridiculous choice. When you choose your medium - print, video, social media, audio - choose for you. No one outside of you can say what makes you light up. Only you know this. You can get help from energy workers and lightworkers to see where you seem to flourish the easiest - and also, at the same time, if someone says "create a TV show," and that makes your stomach turn, don't do it even if that person is amazing. If someone says "create a podcast" and you start doing cartwheels inside of joy, that's a key to choosing it.

A new year is a great time to get inspired and get into action. Whatever you chose that didn't let you shine in the past, ask yourself to release that now and step into the light of your brilliance as an entrepreneur and light-worker.

Subscribe to the daily podcast "The Erica Glessing Show" featuring 8-minute inspirational interviews with entrepreneurs and lightworkers for more tools on shining brightly. Erica Glessing is the CEO of Happy Publishing with more than 100,000 followers on social media and 18 #1 bestselling books. For her complimentary video series "Build Your Book as Brand" go to http://TheEricaGlessingShow.com and look for "free stuff."

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Erica_Glessing/1419296

Why You Are Limiting Your Small Business

It's difficult to see the picture when you're in the frame. When you are so focused on your business you don't see what holds it back. Namely you! When all the decisions are based on your knowledge and experience, you are probably working from the same knowledge you always have. This means that unless you are constantly improving yourself (in terms of business) you are likely to fall into the trap many owners do.

What are your decisions based on and who do you go to for help? The problem with owning a business is that there is very little help available in your immediate circle for most people. Unless you are surrounded by other entrepreneurs, it's more than likely that you look to help for people who are fall less qualified than you.

The Self Fulfilling Loop

The ability to work in your business and work on your business are two very separate things. You may be the best at working very hard, doing long hours and motivating your staff, if you have any. But this doesn't translate to growing your business. Growing your business is something different. It takes a whole new skill set.

If you're stuck in the process of being a 'worker' in your business, you're not moving your business forwards. You must step out of the roles which worked when you were an employee. Things which make a good employee are: turning up on time, working hard, delivering to deadlines and thinking of ways to achieve the maximum output for your boss.

Things which make a good business owner are entirely different. Knowing how to grow your business is about marketing. You need a whole new skill set and new ways of thinking in order to do this.

The Skill Set Of Online Marketing

Online marketing is vital to grow your business. Whatever kind of business you have, you need some kind of marketing engine driving it forwards. With new technology comes a new type of marketing. Before the internet there was traditional advertising: yellow pages, newspapers, flyers, billboards, television and radio.

Online marketing is a fantastic opportunity for business owners. But with it comes a few problems. The main one is not just learning the skills to create online advertising, but rather our mindset, or more importantly our industrial age thinking.

Industrial Age Thinking

We have been brought up with a lot of baggage. Our minds hold ideas which our forefathers embodied in their lives. Many of us are limited by old thinking patterns which no longer serve us. This is true in many areas of our lives but none so much as with growing a business using online marketing.

A poverty mindset always thinks of reasons to cut back and avoid spending. It is based on a presupposition that 'there is never enough' - a self fulfilling prophecy! Of course this is often well founded based on the past. But as a business owner this can be your biggest limiting factor to forward growth.

If our very thinking is based on our past and what it has taught us in terms of our income, we hold back and tend to be careful with our money. This is for good reason of course. But with online marketing your long term plan should be to be spending more and more on advertising, not less and less. This is a major roadblock to business growth.

Gently Does It

I'm not saying you should spend all your cash on an online advert, just to see how it goes. Far from it. You can start an online advertising campaign for very little daily expenditure. Set your budget as low as you like. That's one of the benefits of online advertising. One of the other major benefits is the ability to test and measure each of your adverts.
By testing and measuring the response of your adverts, you can determine, very accurately, how effective they are in making you a profit. However this should be based on your return on investment, not instant return. Think about the worth of a customer over the years of your business. How much is a customer worth? Not a sale, but a customer?
Looking at the long term benefit of a happy customer who buys from you again and again can give you a different perspective on your advertising costs. Write down a number which reflects the cash value of a long term, loyal customer. Now match that against what you were prepared to spend on your advertising.

Testing and Measuring - The Power Of Pay Per Click

Pay per click advertising is an amazing form of advertising and available to any business owner. However, I recently spoke to a business owner who claimed it was a waste of money, despite other people in his business niche using it. Perhaps, he thought that they were about to discover what he already "knew"!

Most people start an advertising campaign on pay per click, lose money and decide it doesn't work. But this is a mistake. The real power lies in the ability to test and measure your paid advertising. There are many variables with pay per click. You can target people very specifically by their keywords using Google AdWords advertising. You can also target by location - which is ideal for a local business. By testing and measuring the responses of different target audiences, with varying keywords, landing pages and advert content, you can eventually determine the most profitable advert for your business.

Once you have discovered a way to spend half of what you stand to get back, you are in a very strong position to increase your daily expenditure and scale up. This is how to grow your business. By adding other paid advertising methods to your growing 'portfolio' and testing and measuring each one over time for maximum efficiency, you can scale up your business for maximum growth.
Depending on your business model, it is also possible to lose money initially on advertising, and make it back over the long term for the customers you have literally "bought".

Fear, Greed and Panic

Obviously you should be careful enough to test and measure advertising before scaling your budget up. Paid advertising can consume your capital as fast as you allow it to! Be very careful in the early stages to test and measure every aspect of your advertising. Don't scale too quickly but also you can't be afraid to spend money first.

Only spend money you are prepared to lose initially. You might lose money in the short term. But the long term gain of having a profitable advertising campaign which can be left running is worth the initial loss. The main job is testing and measuring until you have a campaign which is profitable. After this there is very little to do. Simply leave your campaign running at a comfortable cost and slowly increase it over time.

Equally don't just run a campaign, get a profitable result, and then panic and turn it off. Your business will just fall back to your comfort levels again. Look for the long term, keep testing and measuring and expect to pay out first before you see a return.

Learn how to grow your small business or website. Access two free eBooks Niche Blogging For Profit and The Ultimate Guide To Online Marketing at http://tim-halloran.com

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Tim_Halloran/488644 

3 Rules for 2017 Success in Business

As I close my third year in business, I reflect on 2016 with a lot of lessons learned. Now I don't want to bore you with lots of writing (and hence lots of reading on your part) but I do want to start by saying, if you want to be successful in your business in 2017 you will need to ask YOURSELF these questions RIGHT NOW!... and be honest with your answers.

Do YOU want to be out of DEBT?

Do YOU want to STOP struggling in BUSINESS?
 
Do YOU want more clients/customers?

Do YOU want more visibility and recognition for YOU and YOUR business?

Do YOU want to increase your income 10 times or MORE?

If you answered yes to one or more of the questions above like I did then you will need to MAKE UP your MIND that serious work needs to take place in 2017 and from the jump.

I will be the last person to fool anyone into thinking that running your own business is easy. Trust me it's not... but the old adage is TRUE! The risk is worth the REWARD because it is ALL YOURS.

Here are my TOP 3 RULES:

1. Set your mind that you are going to succeed no matter what.

The biggest hurdle in business is overcoming the limitations in your head. One of my biggest limitations was believing I could do everything by myself. 2016 was the year I brought in 3 new professionals into my business to help keep me on track and to help me increase my bottom line. With the addition of each new person I could visibly see progressive movement in my business... milestones being reached. But the biggest benefit has been in the renewed energy I feel.
Stay inspired and keep your thoughts focused on your dreams and why they are important to you.

2. Devise a comprehensive plan.. (and write it down)

Imagine you are throwing a baby shower for a friend and you want it to be an event that she will remember fondly years after. Imagine that you will have one of a kind games, serve great appetizers that your guests will rave about, the great decorations and atmosphere, and the wonderful conversation. Now think of putting that all together without a plan. You need to "plan" who is coming, what they will be eating, who is bringing what etc.
A business plan ensures that you:
Have clarity and helps to define your purpose.
It keeps you accountable.
It solves problems.
It lets you know what you can and can't do financially and helps you schedule your activities.
It helps you devise a PLAN B... just in case your PLAN A doesn't work out.

3. Stay in gratitude

I love this quote:
To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kindness that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude. -- Albert Schweitzer

Everyday that you are given life give thanks. Not only be thankful for the big things but give thanks for the smaller stuff. I say thank you EVERYDAY for parking, my car, the internet, my students, places to teach, a choice of shoes to wear, mentors, family and friends. Nothing is too big or small to give thanks for and when you get to a space of gratitude your life becomes more abundant.

We need to WAKE up, SHOW up and DON'T GIVE UP! My factors for success are not complex and they have worked for me. You need to be serious about your business in 2017 if you want to see it grow. All the best for 2017...

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Debbie-Ann_Jollie/2307107

Everything You Need to Know Before Starting a Pressure Washing Business

Are you fascinated by the idea of starting a pressure washing trade? You must have perhaps heard that pressure washing is a decent and worthwhile business, low investment and easy to start - and that's what must have inspired your decision. Decent? Well, it is, but when it comes to providing quality services - the business is not just about purchasing and installing a pressure washer. In fact, there's much, much more to the pressure washing business. Before you actually make the buying decision for a washing kit - there are a few questions you should ask yourself.

What if you lose interest in pressure cleaning?

What if you failed to survive amidst competition?

How will you get a license, insurance, and customers?

Learn the trick of the trade

Before you go on to invest money in a power cleaning business, try your hands on power cleaning, and not just cleaning - but cleaning like a professional. Analyze yourself during that trial run - does power washing keeps you interested? If it doesn't then obviously, no point taking things further. But if you do, then master the art like a [pro to ensure you clean the objects without harming your surroundings like tiny plants, flying debris, etc.

How to learn power washing

While there are volumes of how-to guides and videos readily available to help you learn the ropes, the best is to practice it over and over again. You can rent or borrow a pressure washer from somebody for a week or two and start practicing on house siding, boat, car, fence, drive, tile patio, or on just about anything that can be cleaned with jet water. Though this exercise won't turn you into a pressure washing pro overnight, it will for the least offer you a platform to build things up and launch from there. Keep a note of your mistakes and rectify them gradually.

Calculating profit

Ever wonder why the majority of startups are software/digital companies? That's because they need very less investment upfront. As a business thumb rule, (Profit) = (Money in - Money out). For a service-based startup like pressure washing, you need a significant amount of investment upfront. Therefore, you need to think about the following points in order to assess Profit scope for your business.

Money Out 
 
The expense of running a startup power washing business can be broadly categorized as below:
• Power washing kit, including surface cleaner, nozzles, pressure washer, chemicals and trailer or something similar
• Business permit, contractor license and insurance costs
• Advertisement and user acquisition costs (Pamphlets, ads, flyers etc.)
• Transportation cost for power washing kit (truck, van, cab, etc.)
• Ongoing marketing, fuel and maintenance costs

Money in (Revenue)

Set your price tag for cleaning by keeping in mind two important factors
1. The cost should be significantly high than your investment for you to make profit
2. It should be significantly low or equal to that being offered by your competitors to stay in business
Make your call: Add remove any expense you think necessary and calculate the profit you can make based on the formula given above. If it makes the profit, get on with it, else you'll need to devise a plan to cut down investments.
3. Keep things legal
Before starting up a pressure washing business, it is highly imperative for you to get a relevant business license, insurance, and permits since they can save you from running bankrupt in case something goes wrong and you end up hurting someone or damaging private property.
Depending upon your location and jurisdiction, the legal formalities may vary: you can reach out to your region's clerk office for details. However, in general, you will need to obtain:
• Business document
• License
• Bond
• Sales tax registration
• Contractor permit
• Environmental permit
4. Insurance
Insurance is a critical part of this business which you should take sincerely and get all documents registered with utmost liability and sincerity.
• Liability insurance which covers damages you may induce while cleaning
• Workers compensation cover for injuries to you or your employees while practicing on the job
• Equipment insurance covers damages and theft
Why invest in expensive equipment
Business, service business, in particular, is more about perception than just quality. It's human psychology, customer buy what they see! Here're a few points to highlight the use of industry-grade equipment:
• When you put in wealth in something, it shows what it means to you, it reflects your seriousness, trust, and professionalism, too
• Branded equipment and carry truck are long-term free marketing
• Industrial tools last long and need less maintenance cost
How to entice customers
Well, there's no clear-cut formula to get customers flowing into your doorsteps, while you may for sure start with door-to-door marketing - if that goes fine by you. Other marketing approaches and conventional methods to market your services and fetch customers are listed below:
• Newspapers and local listing ads
• Word of the mouth
• Appointing salesperson, if you have the budget
• Flyers and pamphlets
• Broadcasting ads

Once you're off to a good start, make sure you provide professional and standards-based service to facilitate word of the mouth marketing at no cost. Look to retain customers, as it is far more profitable than investing on marketing processes for new leads - keep a balance and good luck!

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Fakrul_Islam/2325787

Competitive Advantage

Napoleon Hill told a story in the book "Think and Grow Rich".
He told of a long time ago, when a great warrior was faced with a situation where it was necessary for him to make a decision which will ensure his success on the battlefield.
He was about to send his army against a powerful enemy whose men outnumbered his own. He loaded his soldiers into ships, sailed to the enemy's country, unloaded the soldiers and equipments, then he gave a order to burn the ships that had carried them there.
Then addressing his men before the battle began, he said, "You see the boats going up in flames. That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice. We win or we perish." As it was told, they won.

Our case as entrepreneurs is much like this story, we either succeed in our business or we perish. One of those factors that "kill" businesses is the COMPETITION.

It will not matter how good you are if your competitor is better, so you need to find out what your competitor is offering. Find out your competitor's advantage over you and how she goes about it.
Everyone has competitors. Do you know yours?
You will need a visit to your competitor to have a deep feel of her offer. You need to understand what gives her an edge over you. It's probably just customer service, a better knowledge of the product or service, promo given to customers etc.

You can achieve this by paying a visit to your competitor as a potential customer. You can order for the service or product being provided and then you can criticize or make a complaint as a customer to see how they respond.

Sometimes it's about a visit to their online store or website to rake in ideas that will eventually work for you.

Sometimes, you could even ask directly if you have relationship with your competitor.
If the idea works, you can replicate it in your own business.

Now you must learn to focus on your own advantage eventually.

There is something that other business is doing that you are not doing, locate it and focus on it.
Some people tend to get jealous of big businesses and wish they fold them.
Recently, the NCC wanted to force communication giants to have a high data rate. That means that data we used to buy for #1,000 might now go for #2,500. They claimed they want to do that so that small businesses can have a chance to succeed.

Small businesses fail to compete against bigger firms because they want to compete with the bigger firm on what the big firm is known for. They do not have to do that, they will continue to fail if they do that.

It's not about wishing the big company folds up, it's about you focusing on what you can do to beat them.

There are things the big firms have as advantage over the small firms; same goes to the small firms over the big firms.

For example, the big business can run a TV commercial but a small firm cannot. However, a small firm owner is close to his customers in a way big firms cannot try.
Find what gives you advantage and FOCUS.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Tade_Ayodele/2372118