Take the time to build a profile of your ideal customers, and target your networking activities to reach them. Speak to those who are already predisposed to want what you offer.
2. Buy the best chair you can find.
You’ll probably use your chair more than any other piece of business equipment, including your computer, so don’t settle for a crappy one. Consider a chair with padded arms and a high back (to the top of your head) for maximum comfort.
3. Build positive relationships.
Understand that relationships are more important than contracts. Business deals are relationships between people. The signed piece of paper is important, but it’s merely the result of the relationship, not the cause.
4. Think for yourself.
Withdraw from groupthink and popular beliefs, do your own research, draw your own conclusions, set your own course, and stick to your guns. When you’re just starting out, people will tell you you’re wrong. After you've blown past them, they’ll tell you you’re crazy. A few years after that, they’ll (privately) ask you to mentor them.
5. Fail your way forward.
Recognize that Ready, fire, aim is superior to ready, aim, aim, aim. Straightforward trial and error produces better results than endless vacillating. If you’re afraid to make decisions and act on them in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty, get a job. Failure’s lessons are essential to success.
6. Become so organized it disgusts people.
You’ll never achieve perfection, but you’ll be far better off than your peers who spend two weeks every year looking for things they misplaced. If you aren’t chronically well-organized, punctual, and dependable, rest assured you’re competing with someone who is.
7. Embrace opportunities with limited downside, unlimited upside.
The best deals are those where your risk of loss is predictable and fixed if things go wrong, while your potential gains are enormous if things go right.
8. Develop strong character traits.
Entrepreneurship is as much about character building as it is about business building. The height of your success is determined by your character more than your conditions. Face your fears to develop courage. Push yourself to build self-discipline. Identify and develop other character attributes you’ll need to succeed.
9. Optimize your personal energy flow.
Conduct 30-day trials to test various diet, exercise, sleep, and caffeine consumption patterns. Adopt the routines that give you the best concentration and focus. Dump your excess fat at the gym instead of slogging it to the office every day.
10. Do what you love, but be damned sure it’s profitable.
Don’t settle for anything less than passion and profit. If you do work you love, but it doesn’t generate income, your business will fail. If you do work you hate, but it generates income, your health will fail… and your business along with it.
Source: Steve Pavlina, stevepavlina.com
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