THE FIVE PROVEN STEPS TO

  ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS

  THAT MAKE IT HARD TO FAIL

1.

BE passionate about your ideas and make them work with the help of others. This means, of course, being emotionally committed to what you’re doing 24/7. By doing that, odds are you’ll never have to solicit and recruit others to your crusade. They will see a place for themselves and gravitate there on their own.

When that happens, others’ commitments will be more solid and grounded than if you had gone out hunting for them and then had to talk them into joining forces. It’s a proven fact: When people make their own decisions about what they want to do, they are happier, more dedicated to achieving results, and they do a better job!

2.

Often ACT first and plan second. This does NOT mean rashly jumping from the frying pan into the fire. It instead suggests that over- indulgence in evaluating, assessing, diagnosing, and long-term planning (I call it “analysis paralysis”) wastes time, money, energy, and opportunities.

Entrepreneurial leaders take action, make adjustments, act again, make adjustments, and act again. Except for formal loan and investor-required formal business plans, they limit their planning to the short term — hour, day, week, month. And even those plans are temporary and flexible. Not unlike being too focused on one’s goals instead of the path that leads there, watching the finish line causes stumbling and falls.

3.

Always RESPOND instead of react. A key ingredient in the success of this pursuit is stress management. Bottom line: If you always respond instead of react, you can never over-react. If you never over-react, you will be faithfully followed. Built snugly into this thinking is this important awareness:

HOW you respond to someone who

(or something that) is out of control

. . . IS WITHIN YOUR CONTROL.

And we know this because? Because every behavior — yours, your employees’, your customers and prospects — is a CHOICE. It’s just as easy to choose to make a situation easy as it is to choose to make it hard. It may require some conscious stress management effort but, in the end, leadership is measured by ability to gain results through control and responsiveness!

4.

LEARN as much as you can about yourself –your SELF– may be the single most important determinant of entrepreneurial leadership because it is the foundation, the cornerstone, of each of the above criteria, and of any others you might add to the list. Without knowing what makes you tick, you cannot pretend to understand others enough to be a true leader. TALK TO YOUR SELF. Oh, and remember to listen!

5.

USE hands-on specifics. Keep a journal. Date every entry every day. Separate facing pages into “What Happened” on the left and “How I felt” on the right. This discipline helps sharpen your skills to separate fact and observation from opinion and feelings. Write, draw, diagram, paste photos, spit, whatever floats your boat. It’s YOUR journal.

Attend group and individual “personal and professional growth and development”-type discussion and counseling sessions. Take advantage of local adult education programs that focus on self-expression — from giving speeches and stand-up presentations to writing or painting or photography or music or handicraft courses. DISCOVER YOUR SELF!

 # # #

ENTREPRENEURIAL

LEADERSHIP MEANS…

Being passionate about your ideas and making them work with the help of others. This means, of course, being emotionally committed to what you’re doing 24/7. By doing that, odds are you’ll never have to solicit and recruit others to your crusade. They will see a place for themselves and gravitate there on their own.

When that happens, others’ commitments will be more solid and grounded than if you had gone out hunting for them and then had to talk them into joining forces. It’s a fact: When people make their own decisions about what they want to do, they are happier and more dedicated to achieving results!

Often acting first and planning second. This does NOT mean rashly jumping from the frying pan into the fire. It instead suggests that over-indulgence in evaluating, assessing, diagnosing, and long-term planning (I call it “analysis paralysis”) wastes time, money, energy, and opportunities.

Entrepreneurial leaders take action, make adjustments, act again, make adjustments, and act again. Except for formal loan and investor-required formal business plans, they limit their planning to the short term — hour, day, week, month. And even those plans are temporary and flexible. Watching the finish line causes stumbling and falls.

Always responding instead of reacting. A key ingredient in the success of this pursuit is stress management. Bottom line: If you always respond instead of react, you can never over-react. If you never over-react, you will be faithfully followed. Built snugly into this thinking is this important awareness:

HOW you respond to someone who

or something that is out of control

. . . IS WITHIN YOUR CONTROL.

And we know this because? Because every behavior — yours, your employees’, your customers and prospects — is a CHOICE. It’s just as easy to choose to make a situation easy as it is to choose to make it hard. It may require some conscious stress management effort but, in the end, leadership is measured by ability to gain results through control and responsiveness!

Learning as much as you can about yourself –your SELF– may be the single most important determinant of entrepreneurial leadership because it is the foundation, the cornerstone, of each of the above criteria, and of any others you might add to the list. Without knowing what makes you tick, you cannot pretend to understand others enough to be a true leader. TALK TO YOUR SELF. Oh, and remember to listen!

Hands-on specifics? Keep a journal. Date every entry every day. Separate facing pages into “What Happened” on the left and “How I felt” on the right. This discipline helps sharpen your skills to separate fact and observation from opinion and feelings. Write, draw, diagram, paste photos, spit, whatever floats your boat. It’s YOUR journal.

Attend group and individual “personal and professional growth and development”-type discussion and counseling sessions. Take advantage of local adult education programs that focus on self-expression — from giving speeches and stand-up presentations to writing or painting or photography or music or handicraft courses. DISCOVER YOUR SELF!

 # # #

Walking Through Illusion

A book by Betsy Otter Thompson

An unpaid-for (can you believe it?) book review

As you know if you’ve stopped by here any time over the last few years, I don’t do paid endorsements or reviews of products. services, productions, publications, or ideas.

On very rare occasions, I offer unsolicited recommendations for a product, service, person or organization if I think there’s a real value opportunity connection for small business owners, entrepreneurial leaders or sales professionals.

Even less often than rarely I entertain a review request, though never by a total stranger. But I’ve also always taught that there are no rules in business. So here, dear blog visitor (ta-ta-ta-ta-tah-tah), is a rule breaker for your consideration:  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Walking Through Illusion, her sixth book, author Betsy Otter Thompson www.BetsyThompson.com has written a unique self-help paperback (241 pages; published 2010 by O Books, Winchester, UK, and Washington, USA; $19,95US; ISBN 978-84694-292-1).

I heartily recommend this disarming series of short stories for those seeking an insightful and provocative guide and chapter-by-chapter worksheet approach to introspection, to spiritual self-development and examination.

It’s something to carry in your briefcase

or tote bag and give your business

waiting time –and your life– new meaning.

The author takes readers along a bold new path of thinking, using the fascinating premise of a series of Q&A sessions with Jesus! Yes, yes, I know — as a business owner, entrepreneur or sales professional, you turn your head at the suggestion, right?

Maybe you say something like:“I’m not interested in making time to read a religious treatise when I’m busy trying to help my business survive this economy.”  Or “I’m not even Christian!” or “I go to great lengths to keep religion OUT of my business.” Hmmm? Sound familiar? Or am I just imagining?

Well, I can only offer the suggestion that it is possible that you could be wrong.

This book is–first of all — not a religious tome as much as it is a spiritual hand-holder into the spiritual self of you, the reader, and an opportunity to see a positive new perspective of what your real self is all about.

Now if you’ve seen even a few of my blog posts, you know that I am constantly crusading about the business success importance of perpetually working to know more and understand more about what makes you tick as a prerequisite to dealing more effectively with others — in sales, customer service, operations, and in all forms of leadership.

This book can help you discover,

and take action . . . and think.

Walking Through Illusion can be the vehicle you’ve been seeking to help you explore, better understand, and motivate yourself to adjust and achieve your goals . . . to make a positive difference on this planet.

What have you got to lose? Twenty bucks? Ha! You probably spent that on something dumb this week, right?

Hey, Happy Walking!

www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!