7 Surprising Benefits of Writing Down 10 Ideas Everyday

By Mike Fishbein

It sounded a little hokey to me at first. Writing down 10 ideas every morning. I mean, what’s so valuable about ideas.

It was something James Altucher had recommended doing as part of his daily practice. I’ve benefited from reading about his other experiences so I decided to give it a try.

I started writing down 10 ideas every day as part of my morning routine. Right when I get to the office. Before I open my computer.

The ideas are about any one topic…usually marketing ideas for my business, new business ideas, ways to improve my life or business, connections I can make between people in my network, blog post ideas, lists to include within blog posts, ways I could help people, etc.. I write using pen and paper, as shown in the picture above.

My initial skepticism has turned to advocacy as the benefits have been unforeseen and profound. Below are 7 ways I’ve benefited from writing down 10 ideas every day like James Altucher.

1. It Strengthens My Idea Muscle

When I get to around the 7th idea, I can feel my brain start to sweat. Similar to how your body starts sweating when you’re doing the last repetition of a set of bench press. It used to be around the 4th or 5th idea that my brain would start sweating. But since I’ve strengthened my idea muscle, now it’s the 7th or 8th.

Like lifting weights at the gym, pushing yourself to come up with ideas makes you stronger. The benefit of writing down 10 ideas every day is not just the ideas themselves. In fact, at least a couple of my ideas are usually terrible ideas that I will never think about again. One of the biggest benefits is that it has strengthened my idea muscle. And as a result...

2. I Have More Ideas Throughout the Day

The ideas haven’t stopped flowing when I write down my 10th idea, put away my notepad, and open up my laptop. They keep flowing throughout the day.

I find myself thinking of business ideas, marketing ideas, and more, throughout the day. It seems by taking time to go through the process of coming ideas in the morning, it keeps happening throughout the rest of the day.

3. Some of the Ideas Are Really Valuable

(Most) ideas are a dime a dozen...but the best way to come up with ideas that are worth more than a dime is to come up with more ideas.

10 ideas per day x 365 days per year = 3,650 ideas. If just one or two of those are great idea, you can be very successful. If 10-20 of them are "pretty good," that can move the needle significantly.

By coming up with more ideas, I increase my chances of having good ideas. I don’t execute on all of the ideas, but some of them I do. For example…

4. I Wrote My Own Job Description

I had an idea for a friend that I thought could improve his business. So I gave him the idea. He liked the idea. Now I’m working with him to execute on that idea.

He’s become “beta tester” for a business I could provide to many other people.

The next evolution of my 10 ideas practice will be to come up with more ideas for other people, and then send them the ideas. It seems like an amazing way tonetwork. Providing value to people up front instead of asking for their time like everyone else is.

5. Gives Me Clarity in The Morning

I get thousands of emails per day. Everyone is always busy. It’s easy to get wrapped up in everything and never have time to think about the big picture.

I’ve found it extremely beneficial just to pause and listen to myself think. Time to be proactive instead of reactive, and to think long-term.

Often when I sit down to think about ideas about one topic, I end up having of ideas about another topic. My idea list might be marketing ideas or ways to improve my business, but while I’m writing down those 10 ideas, I’ll start having ideas about other things…like new business ideas, people I should introduce to each other, and ways other people could improve their business.

6. Builds Momentum to Start the Day

Pushing through the sweat and writing down the 10 ideas starts my day off with a win. The small win gives me momentum to start tackling bigger challenges through the rest of the day. I experience the pride of overcoming a small challenge and it re-affirms that I can accomplish larger objectives.

7. It Reminds Me that I’m an Idea Machine

Despite the sweat, I’m able to come up with 10 ideas every single day. 10 ideas per day x 365 days per year = 3,650 ideas pear year. And if I keep coming up with 10 ideas every day for the next 10 years I will have 36,500 ideas.

Coming up with 10 ideas every single days gives me affirmation that I’m an idea machine. That I will never stop being able to come up with ideas. That I will always be able to come up with more ideas. It reminds me that I have endless opportunities to create value.

10 Tips for Making Your Startup A Success

By Shawn Hessinger

The entrepreneur community has been buzzing with the story of Yahoo acquiringTumblr.

The Internet giant purchased the site founder David Karp launched from his mother’s Manhattan apartment for $1.1 billion. At only 26-years-old, Karp is expected to receive up to $220 million from the deal.  Though he eventually took venture funding, Karp launched his hugely successful social blogging platform from a simple idea.

His story is an inspiration to others seeking to start the next big thing. Here are 10 tips from the business blogging community for creating the next big startupsuccess story, from a simple idea:

Start with a great product. - Erica.Biz

Twitter and similar Silicon Valley startups gained momentum with support from the so-called “digerati.” However, you don’t need the support of top tech bloggersor trend setters to launch a great startup. All you need is a really great product or service and a customer base that loves it. Blogger Erica Douglass gives us a look at the “Macklemore Effect” and how it can rocket your startup to success.

Pick the right startup name. - Entrepreneur

Picking the right name for your startup is also important. Gary Backaus and JustinDobbs of Memphis-based ad agency Archer>Malmo gave a presentation earlier this year at the South By Southwest Interactive Conference. The presentation looked at how to pick the best name for your startup. Here are their five best suggestions for picking a business name that will take you from startup to success.

Pay attention to your business plan. - SBA.gov

Entrepreneurs may differ on the importance of a business plan or on what form it should take. But a good business plan is key to startup success. Here are five fundamental principals of good business planning from business planning expert and startup founder Tim Berry. Look at Berry’s suggestions as a best practices list to aspire to when creating the business plan for your startup.

Make sure the price is right. - Startup Professionals Musings

Investor and blogger Martin Zwilling gives us an overview of the kinds of pricing decisions startups must make. These are not simply decisions about how to price a product or service competitively. They are also decisions about the kind of pricing model, for example, free product or service monetized by ads, freemium service et cetera.

Change your approach to recruiting. - The Verge

Startups have been evolving their approach to recruiting for quite some time. Plain old want-ads were replaced by  online job boards and replaced by recruitment via LinkedIn. Now there’s yet another way to hire workers. TaskRabbit, a site dedicated to contractors, is moving toward offering more long-term work.

Make your startup an attractive acquisition target. - Business Insider

Tumblr wasn’t the only Yahoo acquisition last week. The company also bought online gaming company PlayerScale for a price not yet disclosed. Sometimes the key to success is to build a company, product or service other businesses can use. Create something other companies could build into their model then sell it to the highest bidder.

Generate some buzz. - Small Biz Viewpoints

This is basically the art of getting people talking about your brand, and it’s not confined to the Internet. Consultant Harry Vaishnav offers 15 creative suggestions including everything from placing ads on billboards to giving away some of your products. Don’t stop with these suggestions. Come up with some creative ideas yourself.

Learn two simple tips for viral marketing. - Small Business Trends

Viral marketing has become the holy grail for those seeking to get their message out and have it spread. But once you create an infographic or other piece of content that goes viral, what’s your next step? Tech and social media blogger Drew Hendricks teaches us how to capitalize on that initial success. Create infographics and videos that pick up where your initial viral marketing message left off.

Understand social media marketing — for real. - Social Steve’s Blog

Social media and social media marketing are not the same things, says social marketing director Steve Goldner. Just because you have a Facebook or Twitter account you update regularly, does not make you a social media marketer. Goldneroutlines a list of considerations that go into real social media marketing. Have you developed a serious social media marketing campaign for your startup?

Think about your mobile customers - About Us

No matter what kind of startup you are launching, getting your message to mobile customers is more important than ever. In this post, Simon Phillips discusses some of the questions you should ask when thinking about your mobile presence. A website is no longer enough unless it can be viewed easily on mobile devices, for example. How might the mobile revolution affect your startup?

Save Time and Money; Research Your Potential Markets

By Tracy Fieber

When it comes to ensuring your company’s future success, customers are key. Without them, you don’t have a business – at least not for very long.

The biggest problem facing many start-ups is that they simply don’t know what they customers want. They may have their own ideas of what they think the customers want, but those assumptions aren’t always the most accurate. In order to truly be successful and develop your small company into a steadily growing organization, you need to be thorough and diligent with your market research.

Researching your potential markets entails a number of different aspects and processes, from understanding exactly who your target customers and what they’re looking for from your product or service, to knowing how your existing competitors are already fulfilling those needs. Extensive and complete market research can be a hefty goal to aim for, but one that will ultimately save you from wasting precious time and valuable resources pushing your company and marketing efforts in the wrong direction.

The five most important areas of market research to focus on include:

1. Who is your ideal customer?

Effectively marketing your product or service requires knowing exactly who your customers are – what is your target customer’s age, sex, income, and level of education? If your target is other businesses, what’s their average revenue and how many employees do they have?

2. What is your customer looking for from a product or service like yours?

Which one of your customers’ specifics needs are you addressing, and how can you satisfy it? For example, the minivan was created to fill the needs of suburban families that wanted more storage space than a sedan could offer, but with more passenger capacity than a pickup truck - all without the bulkiness and inconvenience of a full-sized van.

3. When are your customers most likely to buy?

Knowing when your customers are most prone to purchasing what you have to offer can help immensely with allocating your human resources and marketing efforts. A florist will see the most business around holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, whereas a restaurant can expect to fill more seats on Friday night than on Tuesday afternoon.

4. How are customers likely to make a purchase or decision on services?

Are your customers likely to make an impulse decision to purchase your product or service, or is it something that will require significant consideration? Are they looking to make purchases online, or would they rather do so in-person?

5. Why would they patronize you instead of your competition?

What other companies are already in your market, and what unique advantages do they offer to customers? How can you grow your market share and provide a better solution than your competitors?

Taking the time to conduct comprehensive market research early on in your company’s development help prevent you from wasting precious resources following a faulty strategy that is likely to fail. If you don’t know who your customers are, how to meet their needs, and how to get their business, how can you expect to succeed? With meticulous research of your potential markets, you’re setting your company up for success rather than just blindly hoping for it.

Save Time and Money Research Your Potential Markets

Author's Biography: 

Tracey Fieber helps business owners simplify, automate, and grow their businesses and their lives. She believes in the power of hiring the right people, and helps her clients cultivate highly effective teams that allow them to focus on the work about which they're passionate. By nurturing business owners' strengths and holding them accountable for their own success, Tracey's leadership, communication, and coaching techniques help her clients take massive leaps forward

13 Powerful Traits that Successful Business Owners Exhibit Every Day!

Michael Johnston

Consultant, Strategist, Trainer, Speaker, Peak Performance, 

and Life Coach.

What separates successful business owners from the rest of the pack is the practices they engage in on a persistent, consistent and ongoing basis. They find out what works for them, and they live accordingly. They don’t stray. And if they do happen to get off path, they sure don’t do so for long. There are people who move in circles, there are people who cross back and forth, and there are people who move in straight lines. Successful business owners do the latter. This in not to say that they get it write and stay on track, but the get the reason why they are trying to achieve what they want to achieve.

1. They create their own sense of urgency as they navigate through life. They don’t have to be pushed, pulled or motivated. This is not the kind of urgency that is experienced when undesired outside circumstances come knocking, or when someone runs short on funds. That’s called panic, which is a far less useful motivator. It is, rather, the urgency that is self-generated, which will quickly create change in a powerful and productive way. It’s the type of urgency that a professional football team will use to run a no-huddle offense when it is still early in the game.

2. Successful business owners bring everything they've got to situations, projects, and relationships in which they choose to engage. They do not test the waters, warm up to or hold back. They understand to get the most you have to give everything.

3. They use social media, e-mail, and the rest of the Internet as a tool, not a distraction. They are deliberate in the choices they make with their time. They understand that time is the one thing that is equal to all people they can't have more and they don't get less, so the spend that currency very wisely.

4. Successful business owners know that being highly educated does not always equate to being intelligent. They do not let their education be a limiting belief they instead use experience as the ultimate faculty, learning what they need to along the way and learning from every situation good and bad.

5.They apply enormous amounts of rigor (attention and intention) to the projects and concerns in their personal and professional lives. They understand that there is a huge distinction between being rigorous and being compulsive. Being rigorous entails looking at the situation from multiple perspectives, to achieve a higher degree of work-ability. Being compulsive usually revolves around the fear that something will not be good enough, and that this will reflect poorly on the person who created the result.

6. Business owners who thrive don’t try to get happiness, satisfaction, and love from relationships. By putting these things in the control of other people they can cause high amounts of drama and energy to be sucked out of their days. Instead, successful business owners no how to give themselves happiness, satisfaction and love and then bring that to relationships. Which gives them more energy and passion and support.

7. Successful business owners have a secret weapon against their own unworkable behavior. They notice what is working and what is not. They do not make excuses for it, and do not just stick with it, they change until they are headed in the direction they want.

8. They don’t allow “wanting to be liked” or “wanting approval” to stand in the way of being honest and direct with others.Therefore, they come across with much more credibility when interacting with others. Most people appreciate their straightforward sincerity.

9. They do not use “not knowing” as a justification for a lack of results. If they do not know something that is important for the accomplishment of an intended outcome, they take responsibility for learning what they need to learn or bringing in that knowledge.

10. They realize that “what you speak” and the “actions you take” either lead to an expanded life or a contracted life.Successful business owners choose expansion and growth, even though it may not be easy in the beginning. It has been observed that there are two pains in life: the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. And while the pain of discipline weighs ounces, the pain of regret weighs tons.

11. The “convictions of your heart” and the “contents of your thoughts” are considerably less important than simply the practice of “saying what you will do and following through on your word.” When someone is in trouble and requires help, they would much rather work with a person who is committed, competent, and effective than someone sitting on the fence sending them positive vibes and well-wishes.

12. They commit to achieving a greater purpose. They do not get stuck on the activities. They do not re look at the result they want they just change the process of getting there. Vince Lombardi once said after a 14-2 season that his team never lost, it just ran out of time twice. This is the thought process of the successful business owner.

13. Successful business owners acknowledge that there is a price to be paid in life for what they want to create, or what they want to resolve, and they are completely willing to pay that price. While others may waiver, the commitment of successful business owners is absolute. Whether the required commitment is time, energy, money, or increased discipline, they are willing to do what’s required. This is how they achieve, and they are willing to consistently step up and not hold back. I call this the X-factor. Lebron James is arguably the best basketball player in the NBA right now. Sidney Crosby is arguably the best player in the NHL right now, Gary Ablett is arguably the best player in the AFL right now. These guys still put in more hours, more commitment, and more work then most other players and will work to improve the smallest thing in their game.

13 Powerful Traits that Successful Business Owners Exhibit Every Day!

7 Steps to a Finance-Centered Business Plan

By Adam Toren 

CONTRIBUTOR Serial entrepreneur, mentor, investor and co-founder of YoungEntrepreneur.com

While many entrepreneurs can easily get started with a one-page business plan, the simple approach isn’t necessarily the right approach for every startup. If you’re going to need financing or investors, you’ll need to build a finance-centered business plan to address all your potential investors' or lending institution’s concerns.

Here are seven simple steps outlining what you’ll need for a finance-centered business plan.

1. Executive summary. You’re going to need to provide an executive summary of your business plan for investors or lenders to read. Think of this like the “cliff notes” of the whole plan. If you have already created your one-page business plan, the bulk of that document now becomes your executive summary. It should cover the highlights and key summary of all the other areas of the plan you’re about to cover.

Make sure that it’s brief enough so they can get through it quickly, but also contains enough information that they’ll want to keep reading and get the sense that you and your business are a good investment.

2. Business overview. At this stage in your plan you’ll want to outline what it is that your business is going to offer and what methods you plan to employ to make sure that it sells. It’s a high-level overview of the business’s make up that should include the type of business you’re in, how and where you plan to sell your product or service (Online? Retail location?) as well as the legal entity type you’ll be organizing as.

It can be easy in the executive summary to stray from the high-level overview so make sure you stay on point and keep this very broad. You’ll get into the nitty-gritty details later in your plan.

3. Management. If someone is going to invest in your business or lend money to you, they want to know who the leadership team is. Is it just you? What are your personal and professional qualifications for the job? What’s the rest of the advisory board or executive team like and how are they qualified?

Spell out the management so investors know your business is in skilled, capable hands.

4. The market. This is a crucial step that so many well-intentioned entrepreneurs skip. They get so excited about their passion for the business they want to create or the product they envision that they forget to sink ample time and resources into doing the market research.

No matter how much you’re in love with your idea, if there isn’t a market for it, it’s not going to sell -- which in turn means your business isn’t going to succeed. Find the need for your niche and amply describe your research for the market in this section so your potential investors know the market demand. Be prepared and don’t skip this critical step.

5. Sales and marketing strategy. This is the stage of your plan in which you will get to expand on step two’s business overview. Now you get to really detail how you plan to sell your product or service, what the marketing strategy is and how you’re going to create your specific success plan. Knowing your business and knowing the market thanks to your great market research will inform your decisions to set strategy here.

6. Financials. This step is often the one that presents the greatest challenge for some entrepreneurs. If you’ve managed to get this far in your business plan you are going to need to see it through and do the financials. The finance-centered business plan comes down in a big way to this step as those about to lend you money or invest in your business are going to want to know that their investment is projected to succeed.

Often, entrepreneurs don’t have the skills and background necessary to map out financial projections, so do yourself a favor and partner with a qualified, skilled CPA or business consultant who can help. Not only will that lend extra credibility to your business plan, but it will help you set out the financial future to anticipate your business’s success.

7. Complete your SWOT analysis. What’s SWOT? It stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This step is your chance to do your market research for the business and its competitors. It's your opportunity to show that you’ve put time and analysis into the success of your business idea.

What will be the strength of your product and your management team? What are the weaknesses of your business and areas of vulnerability in your plan? What opportunities in the market are you planning to capitalize on and what threats already exist or might materialize from the competition?

Don’t underestimate the threats and weaknesses section of this analysis. You’ll want to show you thought of every angle and are prepared with ideas and answers.

Business Startup Strategy

By Greg Balanko-Dickson

I strongly suggest that would-be entrepreneurs do a business plan. As a result of completing the plan you will be much better prepared and know whether or not your business idea is feasible. Try the following article for a short-cut. However, I caution you on following a short-cut unless you have substantial experience or knowledge about your area. Proceed with caution without a business plan!

How is your business unique, and why will your goods or services appeal to customers? What are the primary differences between your company and your competitors? What are the driving factors to choose your business over another?

In other words, what is the underlying reason a customer would do business with your company?

1) Define Your Business and Vision

Defining your vision is important. It will become the driving force of your business. Here are questions that will help you clarify your vision:

• Who is the customer?
• What business are you in?
• What do you sell (product/service)?
• What is your plan for growth?
• What is your primary competitive advantage?

2) Write Down Your Goals

Create a list of goals with a brief description of action items. If your business is a start up, you will want to put more effort into your short-term goals. Often a new business concept must go through a period of research and development before the outcome can be accurately predicted for longer time frames.

Create two sets of goals:

1. Short term: range from six to 12 months.
2. Long term: can be two to five years.

Explain, as specifically as possible, what you want to achieve. Start with your personal goals. Then list your business goals. Answer these questions:

• As the owner of this business, what do you want to achieve?
• How large or small do you want this business to be?
• Do you want to include family in your business?
• Staff: do you desire to provide employment, or perhaps, you have a strong opinion on not wanting to manage people.
• Is there some cause that you want the business to address?
• Describe the quality, quantity and/or service and customer satisfaction levels.
• How would you describe your primary competitive advantage?
• How do you see the business making a difference in the lives of your customers?

3) Understand Your Customer

It is not realistic to expect you can meet the needs of everyone, no business can. Choose your target market carefully. Overlook this area, and I guarantee you will be disappointed with the performance of your business. Get this right and you will be more than pleased with the results.

• Needs: what unmet needs do your prospective customers have? How does your business meet those needs? It is usually something the customer does not have or a need that is not currently being met. Identify those unmet needs.
• Wants: think of this as your customer’s desire or wish. It can also be a deficiency.
• Problems: remember people buy things to solve a specific problem. What problems does your product or service solve?
• Perceptions: what are the negative and positive perceptions that customers have about you, your profession and its products or services? Identify both the negative and positive consequences. You will be able to use what you learn when you start marketing and promoting your business.

4) Learn From Your Competition

You can learn a lot about your business and customers by looking at how your competitors do business. Here are some questions to help you learn from your competition and focus on your customer:

• What do you know about your target market?
• What competitors do you have?
• How are competitors approaching the market?
• What are the competitor’s weaknesses and strengths?
• How can you improve upon the competition’s approach?
• What are the lifestyles, demographics and psychographics of your ideal customer?

5) Financial Matters

How will you make money? What is your break-even point? How much profit potential does your business have? Take the time to invest in preparing financial projections.

These projections should take into account the collection period for your accounts receivables (outstanding customer accounts) as well as the payment terms for your suppliers. For example, you may pay your bills in 30 days, but have to wait 45-60 days to get paid from your customers.

A cash flow projection will show you how much working capital you will need during those “gaps” in your cash position.

I recommend thinking about these six key areas:

1. Start up Investment
2. Assumptions
3. Running Monthly Overhead
4. Streamlined Sales Forecast
5. Cumulative Cash
6. Break-even

6) Identify Your Marketing Strategy

There are four steps to creating a marketing strategy for your business:

1. Identify All Target Markets: define WHO is your ideal customer or target market. Most companies experience 80% of their business from 20% of their customers. It makes sense then to direct your time and energy toward those customers who are most important.
2. Qualify the Best Target Markets: the purpose of this step is to further qualify and determine which customer profile meets the best odds of success. The strategy is to position your business at the same level as the majority of the buyers you are targeting. It is critical to figure out who your best customers are and how to best position your company in the marketplace.
3. Identify Tools, Strategies and Methods: a market you cannot access is a market you cannot serve. Marketing is the process of finding, communicating and educating your primary market about your products and services. Choose a combination of tools and strategies, that when combined, increase your odds of success.
4. Test Marketing Strategy and Tools: the assumptions we do not verify are typically the ones that have the potential to create business problems. Take the time to test all business assumptions, especially when you are making major expenditures.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Greg is a small business coach and consultant who has worked with hundreds of small business owners and entrepreneurs in over 20 industries. He fills the gap between the lawyers, accountants, web developers, marketing and technology professionals and specializes in business start up, planning, turn-around and expansion. Greg distributes free information about small businesses on

Read more: http://articles.bplans.com/starting-a-business/business-start-up-strategy/73#ixzz3DdavhhkL

Do You Have The Mentality To Be An Entrepreneur?

By Martin Zwilling

As an angel investor and a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m always disappointed to see founders who seem stressed out most of the time, and more annoyed than energized by the abundance of challenges they see in building their startup. The entrepreneurial lifestyle is a tough one under the best of circumstances, and it’s one you have to love in order to succeed.

Obviously, it’s not that simple, but making the right first impression is critical for an entrepreneur, not just with investors, but also with partners, customers and even yourself. Even though I’ve been working with entrepreneurs for many years, I’m sure I’m not the only person who can quickly spot the ones whose mentality for the role is suspect.

We would all prefer that aspiring entrepreneurs take a hard look in the mirror early, before they assume they can step easily into the role of a Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson or Bill Gates. Here are some key mentality attributes to look for, which I believe are essential for every entrepreneur to see in themselves:

1. You relish the role of leading the charge. Being a visionary or an idea person is not enough, you have to be anxious to jump in and get your hands dirty. Most success stories in business are not about envisioning the next big thing, but about making that change happen. Investors and strategic partners look for entrepreneurs who can execute.
2. Ability to balance right-brain and left-brain activities. Most technical entrepreneurs are left-brain logical thinkers, even perfectionists. Yet every business today needs a focus on visualization, creativity, relationships and collaboration, which are normally in the domain of right-brainers. Successful and happy entrepreneurs have that rare whole-brain focus.
3. Enjoy being outside your comfort zone. New businesses are an adventure into the unknown. You need to be mentally prepared to enjoy the roller coaster ride, rather than face it holding your breath with your teeth gritted at every turn. Only then can you enjoy the thrill of victory when you survive a major turn, and be energized for the next one.
4. Proactively seek input, but make your own decisions. Great entrepreneurs seek out critical customers and industry experts, and actively listen, but are not afraid to trust their own judgment as well. Ultimately they accept the responsibility of “the buck stops here,” meaning they live by their own decisions, and never make excuses.
5. Willing and able to do a little bit of everything. Technology experts tend to have a very deep level of knowledge, but not very wide. If your real interests are not very broad, then building a business will likely be frustrating and expensive. Startups have limited resources, so the founders have to enjoy trying things and learning from their mistakes.
6. Viewed by others as a successful problem solver. The best ideas for a new business are solutions to a real customer problem, rather than great ideas looking for a market. Creating a new business means tackling one difficult problem after another, until success suddenly appears. Entrepreneurs see problems as milestones to success, not barriers.
7. Don’t demand or expect immediate gratification. Seth Godin once said, “The average overnight success in business takes six years.” He is an optimist. For some entrepreneurs that success is financial. For others it is a legacy of good deeds. Because it takes so long to get there, it is important to be happy with the journey.

I’m not suggesting that you need to fit every aspect of my view of an entrepreneur’s mentality for success. Certainly there are winning businesses run by people from every background and personal style. But if you are looking for investors, team members and demanding customers, it helps to understand what their biases might be in committing to and helping the ideal partner.

I do believe that if every aspiring entrepreneur spent at least as much effort looking inward, understanding their own drivers and preparing as they do in working outward by building solutions, seeking investors and writing business plans, the startup success rate would go up.

Overall, the entrepreneur mentality is a state of mind that enjoys the activities and requirements of starting a business. Happiness is more likely to lead to success, than success leads to happiness. Are you certain that your desire and expectations of being an entrepreneur are being driven by the right perceptions?

Martin Zwilling

CEO & Founder of Startup Professionals, Inc.; Advisory Board Member for multiple startups; ATIF Angels Selection Committee; Entrepreneur in Residence at ASU and Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Do You Have The Mentality to be an Entrepreneur?

*** First published on Entrepreneur.com on 8/29/2014 ***