Life Lessons for Entrepreneurs

More often than not entrepreneurs tend to be risk-takers by nature and are willing to take a gamble on a business or a product. So it’s unsurprising that not all people are born with the ability to become an entrepreneur and take those risks. The vast majority of people prefer the security of settled work and a regular salary rather than the high risk approach. This is perfectly acceptable of course, but I have always been someone who prefers to swim against the tide.

Thanks in part to my upbringing I wanted to get involved in business from a very early age and there was never any doubt in my mind about what I wanted to do.

But there are certain challenges that all business leaders face and there are strategies that can be adopted to deal with those issues.

1) Getting started

It may sound obvious but one of the biggest challenges facing anyone who is hoping to be an entrepreneur is getting out there into the business world and getting started. Making the leap from paid employment into the world of working for yourself is a major decision to take.

Going into business for yourself is one of the biggest career choices you will ever have to take and that move can be even more daunting if you have a family to support. However if you are truly committed to the idea and believe you can be a success, you will find those doubts pushed to the back of your mind.

2) Having confidence in yourself and in your abilities

As a young man starting out in the world of business I was quite shy and I used to find it difficult to talk to people I didn't know that well. I never had a problem selling to people but I used to find social situations such as networking events a real challenge.

Being outgoing is not something that comes naturally to everyone and I had to work hard to improve my social and conversation skills. Everyone has a weakness in their armour and there are very few people lucky enough to have the complete package of skills.

The key is to be aware of your shortcomings and challenge yourself to tackle your weakness. Most important of all, you should view a weakness as a challenge to overcome rather than a personal failure or defeat.

If you do want to be a success as an entrepreneur it is simply not going to happen if you have no confidence in yourself or your abilities.

3) Standing out from the crowd

As an entrepreneur if you want to be truly successful you have to bring something new to the party. The idea doesn't necessarily have to be original, but you have to add value to a market.

That means you need to think creatively and at times outside of the box if you want to stand out against the opposition. It could be something as simple as taking an existing idea and doing it cheaper or faster. But when this isn't an option, you may need to take a completely different approach. Some years ago, the idea of recruitment agencies using other agencies to hire their own consultants was unheard of. But I genuinely believed there was a market for this and soon became the first person in the UK to charge a fee for placing a recruitment consultant.

When it all goes wrong, a small business can be one of the toughest places in the world to be, but get it right and the feeling of owning and managing a thriving company you have built from scratch is like no other. Apart from raising my family, my business career is one of the proudest achievements of my life and I'm sure most entrepreneurs will say something similar.

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