Becoming a better entrepreneur is not only about growing a stronger company but also becoming a better leader. This can be a pretty difficult challenge, as it brings about a level of studying and engagement which can be hard to balance. However, with the right plan in place, this can be an efficient system, which doesn’t take a ton of effort to learn.
Start Reading Works By Thought Leaders
A simple trick, reading the works of more successful entrepreneurs can help out tremendously with becoming a better entrepreneur. According to Impact Bound, 94 percent of leaders share articles because they feel it will help others, which goes to show how much they would’ve found this advice useful earlier in their career. No matter what they’re looking to learn more about, there’s always an entrepreneur willing to teach it.
Making a list of learning objectives, as well as another list of admirable entrepreneurs to keep up with can be a smart strategy. Being successful with this method, however, requires a balance between analyzing those the entrepreneur wants to learn from versus those they admire for leadership traits or philosophy. For example, Peter Lowy could teach someone quite a bit about running an international retail company, while Tim Ferriss can share excellent advice on marketing and productivity. Of course, the most important rule for anyone looking to take on such an important education is to have fun with it, as that’s the cornerstone of learning and growing.
Always Be Studying The Audience
As any great entrepreneur will relay, being in touch with the audience is a crucial step toward growing as a business. After all, this is one of the most direct ways of receiving feedback, highlighting what’s good about a business as well as what can be improved. This is something that should be a daily practice because whether it’s a seasoned entrepreneur or someone new to the industry, this is a vital piece to continue growth.
The first step someone should take on studying their audience is figuring out where those people spend their time online. For example, as noted by Sprout Social, there are over 600 million active users on Instagram, which if that’s a primary hub for my audience, then utilizing hashtags and certain themes of conversations will be useful in honing in new users. The more they find themselves commenting or engaging on relevant posts, the better feedback they’ll receive, especially if this engagement is genuine. Studying a few different mediums or methodologies that can help bring on more conversations with users about the company’s product or service, as this should become the primary source of feedback to improve.
Be Willing To Grow With The Times
Although it might be tough to admit, it’s easy for some entrepreneurs to become one-trick ponies. The biggest cause of this is usually figuring out what route to success and continuing to utilize this as the main cursor for what’s going to work every time in the future. However, this could be further from the truth, as almost every business needs to change and adapt over time. And as noted by Entrepreneur, with 82 percent of businesses failing due to cash flow problems, it’s smart to think ahead when it comes to new revenue streams.
Make it a habit to check in on the financial earnings and what’s working week-by-week (at the very least). Additionally, being on the lookout for new partnerships and innovations happening in the industry, which gives a better scope on how to implement new solutions. The name of the game here is to increase the value of the business consistently, which is what new tools are designed to do. Remember, an open mind can take a leader quite a far way when it comes to acquiring new revenue sources, so make it a core value of development over time.
Don’t Be Afraid Of Failure
Finally, as any leader from Steve Jobs to Bill Bowerman has stated before, failure is one of the greatest teachers to becoming better. In fact, as noted by StartUpBros, 78 percent of entrepreneurs reported they learned the most from failure, as it’s much easier to learn what not to do than anything else. And while failure isn’t something to plan for, it’s also nothing to be embarrassed about. These are the battle scars, the items that fellow leaders and entrepreneurs look at with respect, which anyone should be proud to show.
What’s the number one thing an entrepreneur can do to improve their this business?
