6 Important habits of highly successful Entrepreneurs

You must be wondering – what makes a successful entrepreneurs different to achieve success? We may say that entrepreneurs succeed because they work hard, have good network, are more smarter than others or may be lucky ones. While those traits are valuable, they do not make a successful entrepreneur. What makes an entrepreneur successful is a set of habits. It is their behaviors, attitudes, and actions—practiced consistently—that separates successful entrepreneurs from the rest. If you can identify and incorporate these habits in your own life, you can also succeed as an entrepreneur.

Habit #1: Be a Good Learner

Knowledge is the most valuable asset of any entrepreneur. Many businesses have burned through sky-high piles of startup capital without ever turning a profit, despite big-name backers and the tireless work of the founders. But if you know—really know—what you are doing, then your chances of creating a winning business skyrocket. And the way to make sure you know as much as you can is to always be learning. Successful entrepreneurs learn from their own mistakes and from fellow human beings. Successful entrepreneurs never think they know it all. They are always keep learning.

Learning never exhausts the Mind – Leonardo da Vinci

Habit #2: Not Letting Lack of Money Stop You

Common knowledge says, “It takes money to make money.” And while there is a grain of truth to this old adage, what it leaves out is that it’s not money that you need, it’s access to money. In other words, you just need to be able to use money, including money that belongs to other people. Being able to borrow money is more important than having money. Borrowing lets you use leverage. When you borrow to invest in a business you greatly increase—leverage—your power. The same holds for any business or function. You don’t need money to succeed as an entrepreneur. You need to be able to get and use money.

Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver – Ayn Rand

Habit #3: Focus On Mission, Not Just Money

When you are an entrepreneur, it’s easy to be misled by focusing only on the money. Sure, a successful business has to attract money through sales and have money left over as profit after paying costs. But it’s not just about the money. The most successful entrepreneurs do not make decisions solely based on financial outcomes. If you are becoming an entrepreneur just for the money, you likely won’t have long-term success. The most successful entrepreneurs are on a Mission, with a capital “M.” They have a vision in which money plays a role, but is not the only factor. For much of Bill Gates’ career as founder of Microsoft, he was known as the planet’s wealthiest person. But back in the very beginning, he had a vision, and it wasn’t to be the richest man on Earth. It was, “A computer on every desk and in every home.” Now that Gates’ vision has been realized, and 90 percent of those computers are running Windows software, the result is billions in profit every year. But Gates didn’t start with a vision of billions. He started with a mission.

What’s your mission? If it is going to be the foundation of a successful business, it has to be one that generates sales and profits. But if you are going to be a long-term success, you have to focus first and foremost on your long-term mission.

A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart – Jonathan Swift

Habit #4: Focus on Being Productive Instead of Being Busy

Don’t confuse being busy with being in business. There is a huge difference between business and “busy-ness.” You can stay active all day every day doing tasks that aren’t improving your business’s effectiveness or bottom line. You can spend a few hours on high-impact work that will really make a difference in business performance. The key is to know which is which and spend time doing the tasks that provide the best return on your time and effort and not just being busy. When you are examining the bills for ways to cut costs or refining your strategy for developing new products, you are making your business better, not just being busy.

Profitability is coming from productivity, efficiency, management, austerity, and the way to manage the business – Carlos Slim

Habit #5: Create Assets That Create Income

Almost anybody can work to earn money. If you limit yourself to earning what you can from working, you are practically guaranteed to never improve your income or wealth substantially. That requires creating assets that “work” for you, earning money while you do something else. Income-generating assets can include investment portfolios, real estate, or a business. When you are working, your goal should not be just to earn money. It should be to create these kinds of assets. Only through creating assets that earn income can you free yourself from having to work. You may still choose to work, but you won’t have to, because you created assets that create cash flow. Don’t think about working to earn a paycheck. Think about working to create investment portfolios, cash-generating businesses, and cash flowing properties.

Assets put money in your pocket, whether you work or not, and liabilities take money from your pocket – Robert Kiyosaki

Habit #6: Delegate to Free Yourself

The average business has about 15 employees. It’s not because the prospects of the business are so limited that it can only support 15 people. It’s because 15—really, closer to 10—is the generally accepted maximum number of subordinates that one person can oversee. When this span of control gets much bigger, the effectiveness of the supervisor and the people being supervised both fall. So in reality, the average business is the size it is because the entrepreneur is not willing to let someone else have any authority. The business can’t really get going, because the entrepreneur won’t let go. That’s why successful entrepreneurs delegate. When you delegate tasks, you let go of those tasks and free yourself to take on others. The new tasks should be higher-value ones involving policy, planning, or strategy. Entrepreneurs have to get past the notion that nobody can do the job as well as they can, or they will never be free to really grow the business. Delegating involves trusting others to do work—if not as well as you—then at least well enough. It involves giving others a chance to grow. Entrepreneurs who won’t delegate—and this probably includes most—will never be more than average. Those who can delegate give themselves and their businesses a chance to grow into something extraordinary.

The inability to delegate is one of the biggest problems I see with managers at all levels – Eli Broad

Core Learning: At times, the gap between entrepreneurial success and failure may seem impossible to bridge. Some may attribute the difference to lack money, connections, or not being driven to put forth the necessary work. While those factors can influence outcomes, they alone do not determine success or failure. What ultimately matters are the habits an entrepreneur has formed—habits that you can develop too. With the right habits, you can be a successful entrepreneur, and cause others to wonder: What makes you different?

Source: Rich Dad Learnings