15 Tips for a Successful Entrepreneur
-
Stay motivated
The best way to get motivated is to read success stories. The more you see people succeeding, the more you feel you have higher chances to succeed. Of course, if you read stories about people failing, that’s not going to motivate you! As an entrepreneur, you’ll pass through really hard times but if you are motivated enough they will not affect you at all.
-
Get inspired but do not copy
Don’t be ashamed to get inspired from others’ work, keep doing it every minute but do not copy anything, keep your stuff original. Inspiration is a very good way to make you sense better, learn from others’ experience and you will have a clearer vision of what’s already there and where you need to add your innovative substance.
-
Invest your own money
There are two very important reasons for you to invest your own cash in your business. At the very early phase, no one may be fascinated by your thoughts unless you have crazy links with investors. You need to deposit a good budget to facilitate your growth; otherwise the big brothers will suck you up. The other very vital reason to invest your money is to make you more devoted. When you put some liquid in your business, that’s going to help you not give up easily. I’d say US$3000 is a good amount to begin with for entrepreneurs on the web, but don’t take my words on that, businesses vary a lot from one to another.
-
Don’t be greedy
Grant ownership when required. If you feel that someone can be an added value to your company, you ought to give away a portion of what you possess because 100% of nothing is nothing and 1% of a decamillion dollars company is something. So if you believe that by giving away ownership to some experts, they will give the company a superior assessment, just do it!
-
Find a partner
Two thinking together is equivalent to a hundred times one thinking alone. This has been proven with time! Most millionaires and top founders of companies started their project with a team of 2 or 3. Finding a partner is not easy. Do you think you need someone who thinks just like you? how would that help you add value to the company? You need someone different, clever who argues with you about ideas, they might be seeing things that you are not enlightened to and vice versa.
-
Think big
If you are serious about your business you should think at the forefront about things. You should visualize your company successful and agonize about the scalability for example. Some companies, who implemented brilliant ideas, have failed because their architecture was not scalable enough to lever the amount of clients and ended up small businesses forever. It’s always a good time to reorganize your business and make it bullet proof from an early stage.
-
Failure is not an option
“Man does not attain all his heart’s desires for the winds do not blow as the vessels wish”. As an entrepreneur, do not anticipate things to occur as you always expect. At some point, your implementation will fail! That should not be the end of your business but just a selection that you need to reconsider. People dissipate so much time on a milestone that fails, most of them give up! but only wise entrepreneurs continue embracing the fact that this failure is not going to take place another time.
-
Create something you need
A business is more likely to become successful when there is a need for the services it provides. Why would you create something you don’t really need or find useful? Some people want to create just anything to make money. If you are in that category, I advise you to practice a hobby or do anything you love and with time you will experience a need for several services that are not yet implemented and that would be a great inspiration to work on. Bottom line, don’t waste your time trying to find the idea that will make of you a millionaire, the idea will come to you with time. I would love to talk more about this subject so I will write later on a detailed post on how to come up with a great idea to implement if you have the will.
-
Enjoy failures
As I said previously, failure is not an option. That doesn’t mean that you’re not going to fail! What i meant was that you should not allow a failure to stop you. I’m personally a very fortunate person as I learned to enjoy failure. Every time I failed, I tried to uncover the cause of it and get around it. You want to become an experienced person in your field? The more you fail, the more experienced you become. Benefit from failures!
-
Learn from others’ mistakes
Everyone commits mistakes! All mistakes are avoidable. It’s very imperative to watch other people’s mistakes; do not mock them, but learn from them and try to avoid it. A competitor can fail at some time because there is a mistake in their business plan, they couldn’t prevent it because it wasn’t tested. It’s your opportunity to use their experiment not to commit their mistake.
-
Listen to others’ advices
Entrepreneurs tend to think they are smarter than other people. They are definitely smart but not the smartest. What makes of you a smarter person is your experience. There are people more experienced than you are, listen to their advices. Same thing with young people; they think they know everything but after a while they discover that their parents were right. It’s not a coincidence, the parents had more years to acquire experience in life. Never overvalue your level and listen to what more experienced people say.
-
Do not hack your work, redo it
While working on your task, you will realize some architectural errors. What most people do is tweaking or tuning! That would lead to another major problem. Never say: “I wish I’ve done it the other way”, just do it all over again the other way. That will save you so much time later on. Many people do not consider modularity when they initiate their projects, but when they reach a certain milestone, they wish they’ve done it modular. Would you start again or keep hacking it? I’d say rebuild it the right way. I’ve personally thrown away thousands of lines of code every few months because I was always learning how to do things better and faster.
-
Give it the time it needs
If you expect to start generating revenue in few days, go find a real job! Entrepreneurs who own today big companies have had a very long vision. They didn’t expect to start generating income the next day. They knew that it might take them months or years. Ok! This is not motivating I know. You want to make money very early but, unfortunately, you are not an employee to get paid weekly or monthly. If you are not willing to sacrifice and give it some time, I advise you to get employed. By the way, do not expect to build a competitor project to Google in few weeks.
-
Don’t give up
Entrepreneurs can give up very easily for many obvious reasons:
- They are not supervised
- They are not making income
- They are doing tough work
- They lack management
- Mistakes are most likely to occurCommitment is a must. To be committed you must:
- Enjoy what you are doing. Millionaires say they have never worked a day in their lives; they were enjoying what they were doing.
- Consume your own money. As I said earlier, when you spend your money on your project, you will think twice before giving up because you will loose.
- Do anything to stay motivated. -
Commit to perfection
You are a tiny fish in a huge ocean full of sharks. If your project is not bullet proof, the big companies will easily crash you! You are the only employee in your company. If you believe you cannot handle all the tasks by yourself (management, design, development, architecture, business…), consider finding a partner that can relieve you with that. A company cannot survive if one of its departments is malfunctioning.
Are you an entrepreneur reading this? You must have something to share with us! Leave a comment if you have something to add.
I am Elie El Khoury, from Lebanon (Byblos), Woopra co-founder & CIO, Web & Software Developer, Designer, Guitarist, Mac user and the worst blogger on earth! 
Very well written and very motivating, you just missed one point, you also need friends who will motivate you
Awesome article…It’s a continuity of what you said at LAU , using these idea i built my own definition of an Entrepreneur : It’s a person that chose to be different…
I agree with Mr.Johny friends are really needed to motivate you and also to inspire you !
Very nice article Elie.
The content is amazing and we can feel how much time u spend on the design.
I’m sure those tips will help me in my road to become a Successful Entrepreneur. (hope so
)
I really enjoy reading such articles, very good points. I already practice some and hesitate others especially when it comes to partners, it’s really hard to find the right person.
What a nice piece of art!!
Motivating, inspiring, clear, explicit, real but it lacks one word “Challenge”. The love to challenge and be challenged…
@Johnny:
I totally agree.
People who love challenge have passion for success. They are always motivated and never give up. Love of challenge is an early sign for a future entrepreneur.
All of these tips are great. Time and dedication are needed to be successful.
DONT FIND A PARTNER. Find a mentor, but for god sakes, unless you would actually marry the person you are considering partnering with, don’t do it. It can only end badly.
Only partner with your very solid spouse or long term friends. I have had several businesses come unglued – (good business plans, lots of customers etc) because the core team couldn’t come to good basic decisions about stuff. I suppose it won’t happen to everyone all the time, but for myself and most of the business people I deal with, we say, no partnerships.
Otherwise, good article.
These ade some really good tips the only one i would add is to hang arround with other entrepreneurs. They will be like a support group, they can help with motivation and idea generation even guidence.
I joined a weekley business and networking group and it gave me loads of ideas and direction!
Good work
The Editor
http://www.eventindustrynews.co.uk/
@Lucas: Partnering with a spouse is great – if you don’t value your marriage. The idea that a core team can only agree on things if they’re married or in a relationship is ludicrous. It sounds like you just want “agreement” rather than the “best decision”. The reality is that business partners can – and should – disagree. You don’t want to be surrounded by “Yes Men”.
Furthermore, it’s easy to talk about “being positive” and “living for the challenge” but the reality is that businesses struggle and most fail. That can bring huge financial and emotional turmoil to a marriage, relationship, family or friendship.
Whilst partnerships, of course, fail – that has nothing to do with the partners being married or in a relationship or otherwise. They fail because the fundamental business was inadequate.
Keep family/friends and business completely separate.
Thank you for the wonderful article! I stumbled on it just in time, so thank you double =)
Hope you wouldn’t mind if I’ll print it off and keep it at my desk =)
I almost see the tips as the chapters, no, rather books or themes for different books. As in the “stay motivated” is the little or big things we can do, “get inspired but do not copy” is the creativity (in fact, that’s the area I’m exploring more of with an excellent book I just found in the library), “invest your own money” is the lovely finance part of it all, and so on….hey, come to think of it, combine a few things & expand a little and you could have a perfect outline for a book, perhaps a future bestseller…just a thought =)
All the best!
ulzhana
Very inspiring, it’s a good reminder to all entrepreneurs…mostly young ones like myself.
Nice list! First time i’ve swung by your blog. Pretty interesting stuff round here, found via twitter, by the way.
As for your list, 5, 9 and 11 would have to rank in the tops on my list of what to do when starting a new venture. Don’t think you can do it all yourself is something that most entrepreneurs have a hard time learning, except of course the successful ones. Enjoy mistakes is also a good one. If you can enjoy them, you will end up learning a lot more from them than not. Finally, which I’m learning right now, learn from those around you. Take advice. I’m currently taking some advice that Yaro gave me on a trip through Hawaii. Hopefully I’ll put it to good use.
Here’s a great list of tips. Thank you and these are some of the motivations which will help me in my online journey.
Helpful, motivating friends are great but not a requirement. I started a business with my wife – we have a very strong marriage and brought two very different aspects to the business. Thankfully the business has been very successful and not come close to damaging our marriage. I found that friends often were negative – looking at what problems I would come up against etc. and not so supportive. To be honest if they were as positive and motivated themselves then they would probably be starting their own businesses anyway…
That’s a wonderful experience! Thanks man for sharing…
Great advice! I just opened a small construction company, and I am horrible with bookkeeping and such. I wish I had you here to kick me in the ass when I do stupid things businesswise (which is daily!).
[...] Elie El Khoury » 15 Tips for a Successful Entrepreneur ?. [...]
Great article, these are very important to achieve success in our life. Thanks for this great article.
But in this article i don’t like 5. Because i want to be head of all…
Great article Elie El Khoury!
#1 – Positivity Motivates!
thank you…. you have helped me turn my life around.
Thank you.
Thank YOOOO!!!
Wonderful! Very Apt! Am on cross-roads right now; I’ll bokmark this page as well as leave a trackback on my blog soon.
Bravo,Great Job,Very useful tips on NEt.
Keep it up.
Nice article and some valuable tips.. A tip from me…
Time management is a must. keep your schedule perfect.
Trust your clients
Clients are not fools.
and ya “talk less, work more”
Thanks for sharing.. Elie!
Sounds great in writing. But it really needs somebody with lots of cash to be able to succeed. Not to say cash is the only requirement but the most important ingredient.
Hello
A good set of tips but it lacks the backing of current literature. For example, “Invest your own money”. Please note that an entrepreneur doesn’t need to use his/her own money. Idea is to innovate and create wealth. One basic question you must ask, are you interested to make money or in kingship; an entrepreneur should not look for kingship rather money, and should partner with others to do so.
Thanks and regards,
Javed
Management Consultant and an Enrepreneur
Really Great tips to stay motivated. Investing our own money and finding a partner makes us to think twice our idea of becoming an Entrepreneur…
Wow very good tips..thank a lot
Cheers..
abgajoy
[...] simple. It takes a special individual to take the ups and downs that come with entrepreneurship, so here are some tips that will help you become the best entrepreneur you can [...]
Sounds great in writing. But it really needs somebody with lots of cash to be able to succeed. Not to say cash is the only requirement but the most important ingredient. Really Great tips to stay motivated. Investing our own money and finding a partner makes us to think twice our idea of becoming an Entrepreneur…Motivating, inspiring, clear, explicit, real but it lacks one word “Challenge”. The love to challenge and be challenged…
I really enjoyed reading this
How can you say you are the worst blogger on earth, and having written this wonderful post?
This was a very informative and educational article. I apprecaite the clean formatting as it made it easy and fun to read through. I really agree with the tip to enjoy failure. I always look at it with the notion that with every failure a encounter, I am that much closer to a success. That and you also have to fail sometimes to learn the most important lesson. Once tip I don’t 100% agree with is getting a partner. Partners can really add a whole different set of complexities to a project/business. What I would recommend instead is to get an accountability partner. Not someone that is directly working with you. Someone who is also doing something on thier own (project/business), that you can help each other be accountable towards hitting targets/goals. Someone to call you up and see how you are doing and get on you if you aren’t doing the best you can. That has been a big help for me on projects in the past. Overall great article and a must read. Well done.
Very nice. Your blog is very well designed, and this article has some great points. I’ll be sure to stop by more often. Great job.
Consistancy is also a big part of commitment.
I totally agree with those points. You need all of those to make it.
Thanks for pointing it out.
Good list. Can I offer my own tip? Don’t forget the 2 and 5 rule with scheduling. That is to say, you will overestimate what you can do in 2 months (or 2 years) and underestimate what you can accomplish in 5 months (or five years). So stick to whatever you’re doing!!
Oh but there are people to follow. Keep looking, reading, talking with people you admire. See a blog and write directly to the author – find out what he or she did to get so successful. And don’t focus just in your own industry – look around to find those whose success is where you want to be. Hey, we all love giving advice, so ask for some and you shall receive. And here’s one thing that has really helped me: It’s Not Failure, It’s Feeback! When things don’t go the way you first think they will, it’s feedback that what you’ve done and how you’ve done it hasn’t reached an audience in a large enough number… so keep looking around to find out how to make it work.
Best,
Charles Seymour Jr
http://twitter.com/UltimateWAHDads
Great post! I would also recommend the book E-myth, every entrepreneur should give it a read.
very nice article, and i agree with the failure enjoying …. been there … done that …. and it makes success more enjoyable ……. surely i will stop by again to check other posts …… cheerz
Don’t give up. Never quit! These lines are my favorite when it comes to achieving business success. Great list. Thanks for sharing…
Vic
Keep looking, reading, talking with people you admire. See a blog and write directly to the author – find out what he or she did to get so successful. And don’t focus just in your own industry – look around to find those whose success is where you want to be. Hey, we all love giving advice, so ask for some and you shall receive.
Great advice all! Thanks.
Thanks guys. I’m inspired by your work people
I really impressed while reading your post…..Thank you so much , it will useful to every one…