The Learn To Earn Principle
Seven out of 10 first-time entrepreneurs fail within the first 18 months. This is because they are missing a crucial element: knowledge. It's not that these new entrepreneurs don't have the passion or skills to be successful, but rather that they didn't learn enough about entrepreneurship before plunging in and making mistakes.
This article will help you avoid these common failures by teaching you some key entrepreneurial skills you need to know BEFORE starting your business. Let's get started!
1. Learn How to Sell
The difference between an entrepreneur and an employee is the desire to sell. Yes, you may have mastered the art of selling something to someone else, but have you sold yourself on a dream and vision? Have you gone out and convinced others to work with you? If not, then selling yourself on your products or services will be very difficult after starting your own business.
If you've sold products in the past while working in another job, then that's great. Now take those skills and apply them to selling yourself and your business.
Here's a simple 3-step plan for how to sell yourself and your business:
Ex. 1: Find a friend or someone you know in a different industry that works in the same type of business as your own, or better yet, someone who has achieved similar success and thanks it to the product or service you offer. Ask if they would mind working with you for free on a trial basis to prove how effective your product is.
Ex. 2: Start by asking them if they can help you with one task to try and demonstrate what type of person and colleague they are. If it goes well, then ask for another few small tasks so you can prove your product's value.
Ex. 3: Ask for a small business loan from friends, family or even small lending sites such as FundedByMe.com to prove your ability to repay the loan from the money you've already made.
Once you have proven that your product or service is effective, then ask for a larger business loan so you can expand and hire others and so on…
Not only will this sell you in the local area, but it will also make people more confident of your product or service enough to invite potential customers to try it out too. This way, everyone wins!
2. Learn How to Manage
If you don't know how to manage yourself, then it will be very difficult to effectively manage others. This is the main problem that most small business owners face. It's not that they can't handle the product or service they are selling, it's just that they don't know how to effectively organize their time and energy in order to provide maximum value for their customers.
Ex. 1: After working for a year at your own small business, ask yourself how effective you were at managing your time and what could you have done better. Then make a plan on how you will do better next year and stick with it!
Ex. 2: Do the same thing, but this time make a plan for how to manage the time of one of your biggest clients. Then do it again every year and see how successful you can become by learning how to effectively organize your time and energy.
3. Learn How to Establish Authority
This is an important skill that you will need to be able to lead others into following what you say and doing what you want them to do. This is also known as influencing people, which is another term for creating momentum and moving towards a desired goal by convincing others that it's the right action for them too.
Ex. 1: Do ONE thing every day that you can't do on your own. For example, if you're an accountant, then find a way to save at least an hour of your time every week. If you're in sales, then get rid of one sales technique that is not working and replace it with another more effective one.
Ex. 2: Learn how to be more responsive to emails and phone calls during business hours, but also outside of work hours when you are resting or having free time. This will help you increase the amount of clients who are open for business at all times, not just during "business hours".
4. Learn How to Sell Yourself
If you want others to follow you and do what you want, then they need to know that this is the best decision for them too. This is why it's so important that you are able to sell yourself first. If you can't even do this, then how can others trust that your product or service is worth purchasing?
Ex. 1: Make a list of all of your life experiences and newly learned skills. Then make a schedule for the next 6 months of how you will go out into the world and test these skills in new situations in order to expand your overall experience.
Ex. 2: Make a list of your skills and accomplishments, then take a few days to pick the top 5-10 that best represent you and your business. Spend the next 6 months expanding on those skills and working on new successes.
5. Learn How to Save
If you don't have any money to start up your business, then it won't matter how good your product is or how skilled you are at managing and persuading others… You will go broke in no time flat! You need savings before starting a business where you can use them as a safety net in case things go wrong.
Here are 3 things you need to know how to do in order to have some savings:
Ex. 1: Start saving 10% of what you make at your job, no matter how much. This amount doesn't have to be a lot, but it does need to be something that makes you feel comfortable. For example, if you are making $100 a month, then save $10 every month and invest the rest in your business.
Ex. 2: Make sure that what you save is the type of investment that gives a return year after year (like stocks or bonds). Then stick with it for at least 6 months so that the returns can count towards your business's growth!
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Conclusion
Starting a business requires the proper steps and advice to be taken, otherwise you will not be able to succeed. If you wish to start your own business, then follow the steps outlined in this post so that you can be successful too!
If you have any other questions about starting your own business from the beginning, feel free to comment below or email me directly. I'm always happy to answer any questions that people have on this topic!
Thanks for reading and I hope this helped you so that you can consider starting your own business in no time flat! 🙂 -The Cooperator
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