3 R’s of Entrepreneurial Success

Success as a business owner can be a constant chase. As soon as you believe you’ve figured out the puzzle, the rules change and you are chasing success in a new way all over again. How can a person continue to be successful in a constantly changing environment? Here are three habits that will bring entrepreneurial success to a business owner regardless of changing conditions and circumstances.

Resiliency
Resiliency is the capacity to absorb energy from disruption and use it positively. To be a great golfer on the highly competitive PGA Tour, a golfer must have a short memory of mistakes. Once a poor shot has happened, golfers talk about blocking it from their memories and stepping up to the next shot confidently. The same goes for the business owner.

We all have bad days, weeks, and sometimes even months. Being resilient means simply focusing on moving ahead and not letting mistakes attack your thoughts of success. That doesn’t mean forget the lesson learned from the mistake, but don’t let it haunt your next choices and impact your confidence. As a business owner, you should be ready for a long haul in business. That means mistakes, problems and unforeseen circumstances should be expected. Be resilient through those testing times, which can also be some of the best growth experiences.

Risk
It is impossible to be a successful entrepreneur without continually taking risks. There is no such thing as a safe path to reach ultimate success. Yes, it is important to make safe choices and sound decisions, but there is always a component of risk involved in making significant decisions that will frequently face your business. I’m not talking about financial investment-type risks.

How do you react to a new competitor in town? When do you need to remodel to stay fresh for your customers? When do you change your hours of operation to better serve customers? These are all risk-taking decisions. Be prepared to make the right choice for your business, even though it may not be the most comfortable decision.

Responsibility
Success has many parents, but mistakes are orphans. When you own the business, you own all of it. If one of your employees makes a mistake, it is still on you. Playing the blame game will never help a business owner win. That means your social media presence (even if you are delegating that task to your resident youngster, which is a mistake I will address in another article.) That means your quality control, how your employees interact with customers and clients, and how you reach your target market.

As soon as the owner recognizes everything that happens in the business is ultimately her responsibility, she will then know what to do to drive her business to success.