Welcome to the world of entrepreneurship, where things don’t go as planned and failure is the path to success. As an entrepreneur, your success depends on your ability to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Here are a few key things you’ll need to embrace along your journey.
Embrace Trial and Error
Sometimes, you’ll work for months or even years to launch a new product or service and it falls on deaf
ear. Business is about trial and error. One of the best ways to get through this period is to learn and move on quickly. A failed launch isn’t an end to your business, it’s an opportunity to not only understand how to run a business better, but also what to avoid.
Know Your Numbers
Don’t get so wrapped up in the passion for your work that you fail to understand the economics behind your business. This
includes everything from knowing what it takes to acquire a new customer to understanding how much you need to sell each day to meet your yearly business goals. You need to know your numbers to track potential issues early on and grow your business.
Get Feedback
Although difficult to hear, getting feedback from your customers as well as your employees, must be a critical part of your growth strategy. Entrepreneurs should get comfortable with not only receiving feedback but also asking for it. If you want to take your business to new heights, you may have to pivot. Feedback can help you refine your products or services.
Prepare to Hear “No”
The reality is, you could go through months of rejection without landing any sales or profitable partnership. Just think, Blockbuster CEO laughed at Netflix’s partnership offer, passing up a chance to buy Netflix for only $50
million. Now, Blockbuster is out of business, and Netflix is now worth $70 million. And My Space CEO refused to Buy Facebook For $75 million. Now, MySpace is worth considerably less than Facebook. Get my point? Sometimes no means not right now or not with you. Keep pushing. Learn how to keep yourself motivated and surrounded by positive people who have experienced a similar entrepreneurial path.