Keys you need to be a successful entrepreneur

Have you ever considered running your own business, but doubts assail you and uncertainty stops you? It is not for less because only a small percentage of the new businesses that are created manage to survive: " 82% of the new companies do not reach four years of life" . This is what the economists Oriol Amat and Pilar Lloret indicate in their book “Advancing, keys to survive and grow”.

Working for yourself has a special appeal because you can be your own boss. However, the path to becoming a successful entrepreneur can be tortuous since not all of us are trained to take charge of their own business, especially those who are used to working for others and who also do not have financial notions basic. Entrepreneurship is not easy, especially if what we want is for the business to last over time and generate wealth for us.

The global economic crisis of recent years has pushed many people to undertake en masse, but am I really ready to undertake?

Through practical advice, this article addresses the main guidelines for those who are considering leaving their stable job to take the "risk" of undertaking and reinventing themselves at work:

Do I have the soul of an entrepreneur?

There are people who are excellent workers in charge of other people but who are not capable of leading a team or organizing their own work. Entrepreneurship also entails a series of dangers far from the stability of being a salaried employee and having a permanent job.

Therefore, we should ask ourselves if we are really qualified to be entrepreneurs or if we prefer to continue working under the command of others.

Franck Scipion is an entrepreneur of French origin who in 2010 left his comfortable and well-paid job to create Lifestyle al Cuadrado from where he shares strategies, tactics and digital tools to help people who want to work online obtaining an income that allow them to make ends meet. His page receives more than 300,000 readers per month. Scipion is clear that "the crisis has forced a job change and people are waking up out of obligation because they are increasingly out of love with paid employment."

Usually, the need is what makes people wake up and look for a way to generate income, but there are those who are not willing to change or leave their comfort zone and also have a particularly difficult time acquiring the necessary skills to become entrepreneurs.

For the latter, perhaps the venture does not suit their needs because, after all, to undertake you also have to take a series of risks that do not ensure stability. If we decide to undertake, it would be to improve the employment option we already have, not to force something with which we do not identify and can cause us many problems to come.

Materialize your ideas

When making the determination it is essential. Like words, ideas are blown away. If you really have clear objectives, the next most immediate step is execution .

“Ideas are useless, you have to materialize them, but with the right mindset,” that's how clear it is David Vu, an American serial entrepreneur who has created multiple businesses both online and offline and who teaches at Udemy .

Nothing ventured nothing gained

As in life and in the game, in the company if we do not bet we will never get results or we will know what we are losing or winning. What is clear is that standing idly by is when we will not achieve anything. To undertake, you also have to take a series of risks and be aware that they will not always turn out well. That is why you also have to be prepared for a possible failure.

Failure management

How will I react to a possible failure is the first thing you have to ask yourself when undertaking. Managing failure in the best possible way requires patience, attitude, and personality.

If you think that failure will weaken you, it is better not to jump in and play it safe, do not give up your stability.

Not be afraid of being wrong

Sometimes doubts hold us back and limit us, so we miss out on many opportunities for fear of making mistakes. Making mistakes is not bad, it is learning. We learn from mistakes. A positive attitude and skills to know how to get up to a possible failure are essential in every entrepreneur. If things don't go the way we expected, it's not the end. With the right attitude and knowing how to deal with certain unfavorable situations, we can overcome adversity and learn from the mistakes we have made . Fernando Monzón is a Spanish publicist and founder of the 3Lemon marketing agency who always encourages people "to make mistakes, to dare, to try, and to do it many times, because each time they will make mistakes better."

Surround yourself with good professionals

Another of the fundamental keys is to be advised by the best experts. Good entrepreneurs will always rub shoulders with people brighter than themselves to be soaked in their knowledge and advice.

Knowing how to detect the talent with which to relate is another of the skills that every entrepreneur should have or at least try to do so by dedicating the necessary time to form a team of good professionals in whom they can trust.

Get advice from the right people and better if they are people who have already succeeded doing something similar to what you want to do. This way you can take their experience into consideration. Learn to listen to different opinions to take them into account, but then be able to make your own decisions.

What business is the right one?

Sometimes we block ourselves thinking about different business options, we analyze different targets, we attend to multiple market studies ... but we forget the most important thing: our true potential, thinking about what we are really good at, what we can contribute to society and what added value we have.

Therefore, is there a correct sector or business? "There is no universal answer because each person has their own answer" as Franck Scipion told me during an interview.

Another key is to detect new opportunities where others do not see them. Regardless of the business sector in question, this is a common standard.

Finally, it is useless to follow a mass business model for the mere fact that it is succeeding because surely we are already late. In these cases, good entrepreneurs are in the right position to "wait for the next wave" as they say in surfing slang.

Use financial logic

Do not incur expenses with money that you do not have. Logically, don't spend what you can't afford… As Robert Kiyosaki points out in his successful book Rich Dad, Poor Dad , financial illiteracy can ruin our business if we don't know how to manage our money. It's not about being a financial guru but about using basic mathematical logic.

Enjoy what you do

What's the use of being a successful, high-profit trader if you don't enjoy the process? It would be meaningless torture. Therefore, whatever you do, bet on what you bet, what you decide to do has to be something that you are passionate about (or at least you do not dislike too much).

In addition, doing what we really identify with and long for good results will come more easily.

For example, for Franck Scipion the key to his success lies in the fact that he is doing what he is really born with and is passionate about: “I had a good job as an employee, I was earning very well, I was in charge of a digital team, but I I felt empty, not recognized, I did not feel valued or fulfilled ”he affirms. His case is the example of thousands of people around the world who do not feel comfortable with the job they have had to do and who have not chosen. Scipion found in his passion to share with others and to lend help the essence of his business. Now think about what you could contribute.

Keep learning, don't give up

When you already believe that you know everything and that you have reached your goal, there is always more and more to continue evolving. A relative ambition is not negative. The bad thing is to stagnate and stay halfway. Therefore, keep a pro-active attitude to always acquire new knowledge that can improve your business and also enrich you personally.

In addition, being an entrepreneur with charisma also requires a mastery of social relationships and courtesy that can always be trained.

Finally, do not forget that the beginnings are not easy and that the process of undertaking does not respond to any exact science, although taking into account these common requirements you can ensure greater viability beyond your own previously lived experiences.