Think like an entrepreneur to grow your career

When we think of entrepreneurship, we consider business ownership, self-employment and perhaps thought leadership. What if you approached your career the way an entrepreneur thinks about their venture, product or service?

Sure, there's lots of risk and initiative required to start a business, but there's also a need to be proactive, take chances and persevere to grow a career as well.

When you think like an entrepreneur to grow your career, you will:

Identify, reinforce and strengthen your value        

An entrepreneur knows the value of what they sell, promote or share.

In your career, YOU are responsible for identifying and reinforcing your value to your employer or prospective employers.

You can't leave to chance that others find you valuable!

While you're hired into a job to perform tasks and work up to standards, strengthening your value is important.

In the same way a business owner needs to help customers understand the value they offer -- from pricing, availability of products, quality of service, etc. -- you do, too.

In a way, your employer is your investor (in your company, if you were a business owner). Your boss will be evaluating your performance as well as non-tangible aspects of your work.

• How well do you get along with others?
• Do you elevate the team?
• Are you leadership material?

Clarify, and then reinforce, your value to ensure future opportunities are afforded to you.

Focus on your competitive advantage        

If you were a business, you'd understand what makes your product, service or offer different from other businesses who do or sell the same thing. As you grow your career, also focus on what makes you unique and different.

"But, there's nothing that makes me different..."

Oh yes, there is! You may have a resume that looks like every other project manager, or software engineer, or talent acquisition specialist... but there are ways you approach your work, and the experiences and skills you have collected and passions you live for that set you apart.

Be clear on what makes you unique and how that's of value to the employers you seek to partner with. Focusing on strengthening your personal brand empowers you to clarify and then build your differentiation in ways that matter to the people you serve.

Understand your customer base        

An entrepreneur studies their customers. They know who they sell to, what that customer needs from them, and what keeps them coming back to buy.

"Wait, I don't have customers"

Not exactly, but similarly, for your career, you need to know who the decision makers and influencers are who will advance, support and endorse you. Your current boss is likely a "customer" of yours as you grow your career at the company. Beyond that, consider how your colleagues, staff, clients and people you know in the company and industry can serve you.

Next, consider what you know about them:

• What do they care about, dream about and fear?
• What makes them angry?
• What makes them smile?
• Are they analytical and like a lot of data, or do they relish in talking about big-picture ideas?

Really get to know them so you can map your value and ideas to their communication styles.

Measure your results        

If you ran a business, you'd monitor how the business is performing; are you growing, stagnant or shrinking?

And with your career, you should do the same.

• Are you growing, learning and developing your skills and interests?
• Have you hit a plateau?
• What is needed to get to the next level?

Monitoring your progress throughout your career is very good practice. Set goals for your work at the beginning of the year and see how close you are to achieving them before the calendar year changes again. Set big-picture goals for your career and check in on those from time to time to see where you might need to upskill or pivot in your direction.

A great way to keep building your skills is by taking online courses on LinkedIn Learning. Check them out.

What's your vision for the future?        

Entrepreneurs often think five or ten years down the road and have a vision for what their business will look like. Their business plan and strategy drives whether they want to grow in visibility and reach or stay niche and small.

Allow yourself to dream big!

• What would you love to see your career look like?
• Do you see yourself in a high-visibility leadership role in your current company?
• Is there a dream job in another company that calls to you?

Let yourself think about possibilities way off into the future. Then, if those ideas keep gnawing at you, figure out how to make it real!

**partially extracted from my article published on Military(dot)com