Freeing Dad from the 9-5
Top 5 Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs
Here are my top 5 traits of successful entrepreneurs. If you want to be a successful Work @ Home Dad, you will have to grow to master these five things.
1. Successful entrepreneurs READ
*Visit my "Work@Home Library" for recommended reading. First rule of Work @ Home Dad Club...we do not ignore trait number 1! If you knew everything you needed to know to be an entrepreneur, you'd already be one. Reading is the best way to begin growing yourself into the man you must become to be a successful entrepreneur. Reading is what will help you master the next four traits.
2. Association - Associate with people who are where you want to be or who can help you get there
*Mom and dad were right. You are who you hang out with. Successful entrepreneurs know that to keep you mind right, to keep your attitude in check and to keep your focus laser sharp, the company you keep can make or break you. This means association in any form: friends, mentors, books, internet, videos, audios...really anything that can help you reach your goals must be carefully selected. I've heard it said that, "you can take the income of the five people you spend the most time with, average them out and you will have a number close to your income." If you want to be successful, you have to spend time with successful people. Spending time with negative people who bring you down can absolutely destroy your success as an entrepreneur.
3. Focus on Effective Activities
* You could be the most efficient person on the planet, organizing your office, alphabetizing your contact list, working on your website, creating power point presentations, shopping for office supplies, whatever...but at the end of the day if you didn't do any "Effective" activities, then you wasted the day. Another term I like to use for "Effective" activities are "Money Making Activities"...No matter what your opportunity, you must discover what your Money Making activities are. How? Ask the question! "Is cleaning out my desk going to make me money?" "Will calling this lead to set an appointment make me money?" ...An organized desk is important to help you be effective more efficiently, but in and of itself it will not make you money. In regards to the second question, Yes...that appointment you might book is what is going to lead you to making money. So often I see aspiring entrepreneurs totally derailing their opportunity because they don't want to do the "un-comfortable" thing and make the call...it's easier to clean the desk...they get stuck in their comfort zone. I know because I was that guy more often than I'd like to admit. If you want to be successful you have to overcome your fear of your money making activities, get out of your comfort zone and get it done!
4. Develop a Strong "Why?"
*Why are you pursuing your opportunity? What is it that is that will force you, when you don't want to make that call to the lead, when you don't want to follow up with an unhappy customer, to step out of your comfort zone and do your effective activities? Unless you are super materialistic you probably won't do it for a Ferrari. Is it your kids? Will you make that call for your kids? For their future? For their college? So they can grow up having an amazing relationship with their dad? Will you make that call for your wife? Who just wants more time with you? To love you more and to do more with you and the kids? Will you make that call for a charity or a cause that you are passionate about? Will you make that call for a starving child in a third world country? If you don't have what I like to call, "A Why that makes you cry" then the odds of you being successful are greatly diminished. You ever hear those stories where people find super human strength to lift a car off a loved one? What is going to push you to be your best? I love the visual of a woman standing on the roof of a skyscraper. In front of her is a narrow 2x4 board that spans the gap to another skyscraper several yards away. On the other sky scraper is a $100 bill. When asked to cross the plank for the money, the women politely and wisely declines. Now there is a $1000 bill and while she contemplates the groceries that money could provide her family, she still wisely declines as it wouldn't be worth losing her life. However, if that woman's child was hanging from the adjacent roof about to fall to their death, the mother wouldn't hesitate, she wouldn't think...she'd sprint across that small beam to save her child. This is the type of why I'm talking about. What in your life will cause you to lift a car, to dash across a beam hundreds of feet above the ground, to make that phone call or to contact that waiter so that you can attain that why? When you get laser focused on this...you will do what it takes and you WILL be successful.
5. Be Teachable
*No man knows everything. Yet so many think they do. Successful entrepreneurs are the most teachable people you'll ever meet. What exactly does this mean? It means to be open to learning new ideas from anyone, especially people who have already achieved the success you are looking to achieve. If someone is willing to offer you advice, don't just brush it off because they are younger than you. Don't ignore it because they are older than you. Don't downplay it because they are the opposite sex. Be willing to learn, to adapt and to change. Be a sponge. This really comes into play when you go back to association. Get around wise and successful people and just shut up and listen...then apply what you learn. I'm not saying it will always work for you, but be willing to try. Never think you've got it all figured out and never think you've arrived. Be open minded and willing to allow other people to speak into your lives so long as they have your best interest at heart and are seeking to help you advance and succeed.