entrepreneurship

Being an entrepreneur can be very difficult. It means you control your destiny, but that also means you have to “control your destiny.”

That might sound a bit strange, but what I mean is as an entrepreneur you are the one that decides what you do each week, day, even hour. This means you could spend all day doing productive things that get you closer to your goals or, well… not.

In today’s world of instant gratification, it is very easy to lose focus. There are so many things out there that are constantly bombarding you and trying to pull your focus away from the important things.

Don’t let things like Instagram, LinkedIn or the next shiny new idea distract you!

Shiny object syndrome is a real thing. The spirit of an entrepreneur is always looking for the next challenge. And I don’t know about you, but I see opportunities all over the place. One of the hardest things is to stay focused on the current project and push away the ideas that continue to pop into your head.

Stay Strong, Stay focused!

Here are a few tips to stay focused.

1. Set realistic goals

Set real measurable goals for what you want out of your business and life. It is very important that your goals align with your life goals.

2. Say no more often

This one is huge! It is too easy to keep saying yes to things that sound interesting. Often even opportunities that sound very interesting end up not matching your overall goals and will just be distractions.

3. Create accountability

Something that employees have that you don’t is accountability. They have a boss, or they may have a board. You need to create a support system that creates accountability. This could be a mentor, a friend, or a group like a mastermind.

4. Ignore the shiny objects

This one sounds obvious and easy. But we all know this is the worst one. Ignoring shiny objects can be sooo hard! The fact is that evaluating new opportunities can waste hours or even days of your precious time and take away from the work you should be doing that will really help you reach your goals.

“It’s always about timing. If it’s too soon, no one understands. If it’s too late, everyone’s forgotten”

Anna Wintour

I came across this quote this morning and hit home with me. I’ve recently been working on a new project and I’ve been faced with a lot of people not understanding what I’m doing.

The project is working with investors to help them invest in profitable online businesses. The challenge is this is a more abstract investment type. I’ve spoken with a lot private equity people, private investors, angel investors and they can’t wrap their heads around the idea. It’s just too abstract for them.

If the Majority of People Don’t Understand You, You Just Might Be On to Something

The reason the quote caught my attention is because the fact that so many “investors” don’t understand the idea of investing in online businesses, makes me believe that I’m on to something. I know it is not a new concept but it is still not mainstream. That means for those of us that are getting into it now, we still, have a chance to get in at an early stage. That bodes well for the future. 🙂

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently is being a successful entrepreneur/business person and even for life, in general, is all about relationships.

This thought struck me again this morning when I was in the middle of a “catch up” meeting with someone I did contract work for probably 10 years ago. He was working at a large agency at the time and contracted me to do some SEO work for their Fortune 500 clients.

The way you handle yourself with every business interaction could have positive or negative effects.

Since that initial project, we’ve both been through a lot of changes, and we may have spoken less than a handful of times since then. But there we were discussing ways that we might be able to collaborate.

This is not the only time I’ve experienced this in the last few months.

A few months ago a contact of mine reached out to recommend I work with a company in South Africa where he now sits on the board.

This one was particularly cool because way back in 2004, so 15 years ago, I worked for a German company in the US. At the time there were only three people there that spoke German: The CEO, the President and, you guessed it, me.

This was a starting point for a relationship with the CEO. I worked there for only a short time, but over the years we’ve stayed in casual contact. And it was the former CEO that reached out to me with the recommendation. The company is now a client.

Neither of these “relationships” was the type where you invite them over for dinner or spend a lot of time outside of work. It was simple mutual respect and understanding of the value of each other’s business ethic.

It sticks out to me because it really drives home that you never know where a connection will come from. The way you handle yourself with every business interaction could have positive or negative effects. This carries over into the rest of your life too.