Category Archives: Motivation Techniques

Enrepreneurs need motivation techniques that work for them. The techniques which work will depend on many factors, so we have presnted a set of expert techniques from the upcoming book. The Motivated Entrepreneur.

Starting a New Year Startup and being a Successful Entrepreneur

In January, entrepreneurs face business and personal well-being challenges due to slow sales and cold, dark weather. A business strategy should include market analysis, introducing seasonally relevant products, boosting digital marketing, careful financial planning, and seeking networking opportunities. For personal well-being, it’s crucial to maintain physical health through regular exercise and a balanced diet, prioritize mental health with mindfulness practices, establish a work-life balance, stay socially connected, and invest in personal development through learning and skill enhancement. These strategies help navigate January’s unique challenges, ensuring business success and personal well-being.

New Year Resolutions

January indeed presents unique challenges for entrepreneurs, both in terms of business operations and personal well-being. Here’s a tailored strategy to address these challenges:

Business Strategy for January

  1. Market Analysis & Adjustments:
    • Review the performance of products or services from the previous year, especially during the holiday season.
    • Conduct customer feedback surveys to understand their needs and preferences in the new year.
    • Identify any seasonal trends that can influence your product offerings.
  2. Introducing New Products:
    • Launch products that are aligned with New Year resolutions or winter needs.
    • Offer special promotions or limited-time offers to attract attention.
  3. Digital Marketing Boost:
    • Increase your digital marketing efforts, as people spend more time indoors and online.
    • Utilize social media platforms to engage with your audience and promote products.
    • Consider email marketing campaigns to keep your brand on top of mind.
  4. Financial Planning:
    • Prepare a budget that accommodates the post-holiday slowdown.
    • Explore cost-saving measures without compromising on quality.
  5. Networking and Collaborations:
    • Attend industry events (online or in-person) to network and find potential collaboration opportunities.
    • Partner with other businesses for cross-promotion or bundled offerings.

Wellbeing Plan for Entrepreneurs in January

  1. Physical Health:
    • Maintain a regular exercise routine. Indoor activities like yoga or gym workouts can be effective.
    • Eat a balanced diet rich in vitamins to combat the lack of sunlight.
  2. Mental Health:
    • Practice mindfulness and meditation to manage stress.
    • Allocate time for hobbies or activities that you enjoy.
  3. Work-Life Balance:
    • Set clear boundaries between work and personal life.
    • Ensure to take breaks and avoid overworking.
  4. Social Connections:
    • Stay connected with friends and family, even if it’s virtually.
    • Join local clubs or groups to meet new people and maintain social interactions.
  5. Personal Development:
    • Invest time in learning new skills or hobbies that can contribute to your personal growth.
    • Attend workshops or webinars relevant to your field to stay updated and inspired.

By implementing these strategies, an entrepreneur can effectively navigate the challenges of January, keeping their business on track while also taking care of their personal well-being.

Entrepreneurial Wellbeing Tips for 2024

Here are 10 tips:

  1. Structured Schedule: Establish a consistent daily routine to balance work and personal life. This helps manage time effectively and reduces stress.
  2. Regular Exercise: Incorporate physical activity into your routine. Exercise boosts energy levels and improves mental clarity, which is essential for decision-making and creativity.
  3. Mindfulness Practices: Engage in mindfulness exercises like meditation or yoga. These practices help in managing stress and enhancing focus.
  4. Healthy Eating: Prioritize a nutritious diet. Good nutrition is vital for maintaining energy levels and overall health.
  5. Adequate Sleep: Ensure you get enough rest. Quality sleep is critical for cognitive function and emotional well-being.
  6. Social Connections: Maintain a healthy social life. Regular interaction with friends and family provides emotional support and helps in stress reduction.
  7. Time for Hobbies: Allocate time for activities you enjoy outside of work. Hobbies can be a great source of relaxation and joy.
  8. Continuous Learning: Invest in personal and professional development. Learning new skills or pursuing interests can be fulfilling and beneficial for your business.
  9. Tech-Free Time: Schedule regular breaks from technology. Disconnecting from screens and digital notifications helps in mental rejuvenation.
  10. Seek Support: Don’t hesitate to seek professional help if you’re feeling overwhelmed. Talking to a therapist or a coach can provide valuable perspectives and coping strategies.

By integrating these well-being tips into their lifestyle, entrepreneurs can maintain a healthy work-life balance, leading to better productivity and overall happiness.

Entrepreneurship is a team sport

As an entrepreneur, you are not alone; you may have a spouse or partner. So here’s a 10-point plan to effectively support your entrepreneurial partner:

  1. Emotional Support: Be a reliable source of encouragement and understanding. Listen actively to their concerns and celebrate their successes.
  2. Respect Their Work Schedule: Understand that an entrepreneur’s work hours can be irregular and demanding. Be flexible and accommodating to their schedule.
  3. Help with Work-Life Balance: Encourage and help them to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Suggest breaks, vacations, and leisure activities to unwind.
  4. Offer Constructive Feedback: Provide honest but supportive feedback on their ideas and decisions. Your perspective can be valuable in helping them see things differently.
  5. Manage Household Responsibilities: Share household responsibilities equitably. This reduces their domestic burden, allowing them to focus more on their business.
  6. Be Patient with Financial Ups and Downs: Entrepreneurship often involves financial instability, especially in the early stages. Be understanding and patient during these times.
  7. Support Their Networking: Encourage them to network and offer to accompany them to events if appropriate. Networking is crucial for business growth.
  8. Encourage Self-Care: Remind them of the importance of self-care, including regular exercise, a healthy diet, and enough sleep.
  9. Learn About Their Business: Show interest in their business. Understanding their business helps in providing more relevant support and advice.
  10. Seek External Support When Needed: Recognize when external help, like a business coach or therapist, might be beneficial for them and encourage them to seek it.

In conclusion, the journey of an entrepreneur is as challenging as it is rewarding, marked by highs of innovation and lows of uncertainty. Yet, it’s this very journey that shapes the world’s most inspiring success stories. Remember, the path of entrepreneurship is not walked alone; it’s a shared journey with fellow dreamers, supporters, and mentors. Embrace the challenges as opportunities for growth, celebrate each victory, no matter how small, and never lose sight of your vision. As you continue to push the boundaries of possibility, know that your resilience, creativity, and passion are the driving forces that transform today’s dreams into tomorrow’s reality. So, dear entrepreneurs, keep innovating, keep striving, and most importantly, keep believing – the future is yours to create.

7 personality traits of a successful entrepreneur

Introduction

Entrepreneurship, often hailed as the backbone of innovation and economic growth, requires a unique blend of personality traits. While the entrepreneurial journey varies for each individual, there are certain characteristics that consistently emerge as essential for success. These traits don’t just define the capability to launch a business but also to navigate the unpredictable waters of the entrepreneurial sea, adapting to failures and capitalizing on opportunities.

From the unwavering determination of Colonel Harland Sanders, who faced over a thousand rejections, to the visionary prowess of Elon Musk, the stories of renowned entrepreneurs serve as a testament to these qualities. While it’s tempting to attribute entrepreneurial successes to market conditions or groundbreaking ideas alone, it’s often the individual’s character that plays a pivotal role.

In examining the journeys of some of the world’s most iconic business figures, we can identify seven indispensable personality traits that budding entrepreneurs should cultivate.

The 7 successful entrepreneur personality traits

  1. Resilience: The ability to bounce back from setbacks and keep going in the face of adversity.
    • Example: Howard Schultz of Starbucks encountered numerous bank rejections before finally securing funding.
    • Reference: Schultz, H. (1997). Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time. Hyperion.
  2. Adaptability: The skill to pivot and change direction based on market feedback or new insights.
    • Example: Reed Hastings’ Netflix transitioned from a DVD-by-mail service to streaming, revolutionizing entertainment.
    • Reference: Keating, G. (2012). Netflixed: The Epic Battle for America’s Eyeballs. Portfolio.
  3. Vision: A forward-thinking perspective, seeing beyond the present and anticipating future trends.
    • Example: Elon Musk’s ventures, such as Tesla and SpaceX, stem from his forward-looking perspective on energy and space.
    • Reference: Vance, A. (2015). Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. Ecco.
  4. Determination: Unyielding commitment to one’s goals, even when faced with obstacles.
    • Example: Colonel Harland Sanders pitched his chicken recipe over 1,000 times before it was accepted.
    • Reference: Ozersky, J. (2012). Colonel Sanders and the American Dream. University of Texas Press.
  5. Risk-Management: Courage to take calculated leaps, even when the outcome is uncertain.
    • Example: Richard Branson’s diverse ventures, from airlines to space travel, epitomize his risk-taking spirit.
    • Reference: Branson, R. (1998). Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way. Crown Business.
  6. Perseverance: Consistency in efforts, undeterred by failures or slow progress.
    • Example: Thomas Edison’s countless experiments before perfecting the light bulb highlight his perseverance.
    • Reference: Baldwin, N. (2001). Edison: Inventing the Century. University of Chicago Press.
  7. Networking Ability: The talent to connect, collaborate, and build meaningful relationships in the business ecosystem.
    • Example: Oprah Winfrey’s vast network of influencers and experts across fields showcases her networking acumen.
    • Reference: Kelley, K. (2010). Oprah: A Biography. Crown Archetype.

Summary

Entrepreneurs often exhibit a set of distinctive personality traits that greatly contribute to their success. These traits — resilience, adaptability, vision, determination, risk-taking, perseverance, and networking ability — serve as foundational pillars in the realm of business. Resilience ensures they bounce back from failures, while adaptability allows them to navigate the ever-evolving market dynamics. Possessing vision equips them with a roadmap for the future, whereas determination ensures they remain focused on their goals. Risk-management emboldens them to explore uncharted territories, perseverance ensures tenacity during challenges, and networking ability helps in building strategic relationships.

These traits, when harnessed effectively, not only lead to prosperous careers and thriving businesses but also positively influence personal aspects of life. For instance, resilience can teach family members the value of perseverance; adaptability can promote a flexible mindset in the face of life’s uncertainties; and determination can inspire loved ones to pursue their passions with unwavering commitment. In essence, these entrepreneurial traits not only chart the course for business success but also foster an environment of growth, adaptability, and resilience in personal life, cultivating stronger family bonds and life satisfaction.

5 places to run your startup business, on the cheap

What places to run your startup business?

When starting out, you only seem to have costs and they keep coming in. The five set of fees are:

  1. Office space
  2. Utilities
  3. Incorporating and legal fees
  4. Accounting costs for the first year in business
  5. Payroll for employees

So one of the main costs is office space and if we can reduce that we can survive for longer and hopefully last until we start making more money than we spend.

  1. Run your startup business from home. This won’t work for every business, but if it will work for yours it can save you a pile of cash on utilities and rent.
  2. Coffee Shop’s are happy to have you and have good wifi. You also get to meet like minded people and can invite people for meetings in the coffee shop.
  3.  Look out for a business incubator which helps startups by providing them space, mentors and events. These are normally free for a set period.
  4. Spare desk in someone else’s office. A lot of businesses have space and if you can use one or two desks in return for some form of payment, even your manpower it will be cheaper and more flexible.
  5. Find a co-working space where you can rent space as-needed for much less than the cost of a traditional commercial office which is normally looking for 3-5 years.

Just remember when looking for office space its “Location, location, location.” , which drives home just how important location is when choosing a space for your startup business.

The Guitarist Entrepreneurs

What if I tell you that, there are more than five British people who have made more than $1.1 Billion dollars between them by just using one (maybe the greatest) entrepreneurial tool, the guitar.

If there was a group of people who have a way of making money using a simple formula, you would imagine that there would seminars on how to do it, the internet would be full of adverts stating this get rich scheme. Every school would tell young people that this is a career option, but no, because its rock n’ roll.

There are lots of these people around the world but I wanted to focus on just five, so selected these five, who past retirement and still making money, just to emphasis the long term viability of this global self employment opportunity.

This group of people found a secret formula in the 1960s and created such an incredible demand for their services that the world continues to consume it decades later. They made so much money that some governments created special taxes, just to try and get into the act.

Below I have shown you, just five “Guitarists”, each very successful from the same age 67-71 years old.

So what’s ‘secret’ formula and how can five people be worth $1.150 Billion?

Jimmy Page

Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven Live
Aged 71
Net worth: $170 million
PRACTICE – While still a student, Jimmy Page worked as a session musician and doing a lot of busking. He states “I had to come to grips with it and it was a good schooling”, and this practice provided an opportunity to get feedback from real customers and also build a solid product which could then be taken to mass market.

Eric Clapton

The Yardbirds / Cream – Cocaine
Aged 70
Net worth: $250 million
INDUSTRY INFLUENCE – Eric Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. This is why successful people still go on TV or write blogs, you can never underestimate how this influence can provide limitless opportunities.

Pete Townshend

The Who – Quadrophenia
Net worth: $105 million
SIGNATURE MOVE – If there was a move which every person knows, its the windmill swing when playing the guitar. On stage, Pete Townshend developed a signature move in which he would swing his right arm against the guitar strings in a style reminiscent of the vanes of a windmill. Others have followed since, e.g. Michael Jackson with his backward walk, that signature move is the most powerful marketing tool available.

Keith Richards

The Rolling Stones – Out Of Control
Aged 71
Net worth: $340 million
LUCK – If there is one person on this planet would has luck on their sides, it’s Keith Richards. Every entrepreneur knows if you have some luck then it makes a big difference.

Besties : Steve Jobs and Bill Gates

I recently watched a few videos featuring Steve Jobs, the first one was his launch of the iPhone (1.0) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hUIxyE2Ns8) which is such a classic. In one hundred years it will be on every history curriculum, but today is a must for how to present a product launch. Then I saw a video “Steve Jobs and Bill Gates Together at D5 Conference 2007” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvhW8cp15tk )  which demonstrated the incredible long term relationship between the two tech entrepreneurs.

They needed each other and understood this from the very beginning. The symbiotic relationship starts with Mircosoft developing a competitor to Lotus Notes on the Mac and supporting Apple with their version of Basic. This allowed Mircosoft to create a well proves et of products which could then be translated to DOS and subsequently Windows. It follows through with Mircosoft providing $150m when Apple needed it the most and Steve Jobs makes the phone call, your dealing with me now.

They worked together throughout their careers and had direct access to each other. As two CEO’s they knew there was only one other person who could stamp on their legacy, so building a supportive relationship was the only way for their legacy to be timeless. You may not like Mircosoft but they moved our technology forward to such an extent, Bill became the rich man on the planet. There is only one technology company which you want to hold their products in your hand, and Steve created this timeless vision. A global army of open source technology geeks have still not stake Bill out of the park. Sony the only real contender hasn’t got close, while Samsung with multiple products is just missing it, the shame is I have tried their products and they work but, … its just not right, to the extent I had to spend £600 and buy a iPhone. In fact a Nokia/Microsoft phone is better.

Our double act understood the power of software. When they started out the world was running on hardware and they changed this to software (more importantly now called apps) running on any hardware. Software was the business model which was much more scaleable than hardware. You can sell someone several operating systems.

They both also understood the power of apps before the rest of the planet know what apps were. Mircosoft Office and Apple iMovie are just apps. You can sell someone several hundred apps which extends the sales cycle and more importantly builds a closer relationship with the customer.

This is a case of when great entrepreneurs understand that being alone in a global competitive field is not the ideal situation for continued market domination.

So what should we entrepreneurs learn from this?

You always need competitors, the stronger the better, local competitors are better that those the other side of the world, competitors whereby the sum our parts is greater that the whole and competitors who you can call by the first name and know if the credit hits the fan they will be there to bail you out. After all, we start businesses to work with people and supplying goods to people.