The Secret to Small Business Success

April 29 through May 5, 2018 is National Small Business Week. This is my third year in business, although I still work a full time job as a university professor, I am constantly thinking about how courageous my entrepreneurial counterparts are to completely walk away from the lure of a steady pay check and health benefits.

In recognition of the 30 million small business owners in the United States, I want to share with you the biggest lesson I have learned about what makes an entrepreneur successful.

When I first launched, I latched on to as many small business owners as I could to figure out how to do this entrepreneurial thing right. Over the years I have become close friends with nearly 50 entrepreneurs – all with varying businesses, management styles and circumstances. I have asked each of them a ton of questions about how they run their business, how they get new clients, and how they manage their personal lives and the business.

But it wasn’t the advice they gave me that taught me the most about being a small business owner, it’s the one trait that I see time and again when interacting with my entrepreneurial friends that has me convinced that my business will only be successful if when I master this philosophy.

All of my small business owner friends – all of them – have NO fear. Every time one of my entrepreneur friends tells me they are launching this, or hosting that I am in awe. I mean, they just think of an idea, whip it up and voila! They push it out to the masses for all to see – warts and all. And guess what happens? It’s either wildly successful, or it’s meh, or over time they just let it go all together and move on to the next thing. But the point is it’s out there, created, finished – the send button was pushed.

This absence of fear is replaced with their wide-eyed excitement about their next big thing and how everyone will love it. They are completely confident that each “thing” they launch will be a hit even if the last thing they launched sucked. I mean, it’s like they’re not offended or hurt at all by the rejection – they just keep pushing.

And this is the thing. I know that we have heard all of the mantras about fear and conquering fear and bringing fear along with you blah blah. But to watch a person who has no fear in action is a sight to behold. It’s like seeing a full moon along the dark sky. It’s amazing. It’s beautiful. You want some of that.

So let’s go and get some of that fearlessness shall we? I mean, if 30 million Americans can do it, we can too, right?

“If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” Dale Carnegie