Entrepreneurs have ideas and execute them. They work hard and they dedicate more waking hours to materializing creativity and ideas than most people. As they get caught up in the vision of a company, however, entrepreneurs can let their ideas trip them up in the real world.
Here are five ways to assure you’re keeping your company on the right path even as you allow your mind to run wild.
1. Find What’s Working Well and Give Rewards
As a business owner, it’s sometimes easy to find fault with employees and to criticize them so that they become better and more efficient at their jobs. But if you study sources on leadership, you’ll find that positive reinforcement is much more effective than negative criticism.
You can give your employees goals, but make sure to reward them when they achieve them. Whether it’s simply by praise or through incentive programs, all achievements by your employees should be celebrated.
2. Experiment
Every week commit to doing something that goes outside of your normal way of doing things. Find new ways to advertise. Use a guerrilla marketing technique. Contact someone who you’re not sure will have anything to offer, but you just have a hunch.
Launch an experimental product or campaign. Exploring and experimenting when there’s minimal risk could lead to maximum results.
3. Take Time for Yourself
Entrepreneurs wake up with business on the mind, especially if they’ve just launched a new business and have concerns about its survival. It’s easy to head straight for the coffee and then for the computer without so much as opening the blinds in the house first.
Entrepreneurs need to sleep and eat and take time with friends that don’t include business related activities. This may be the most useful piece of advice in this article…and the most obvious. But not necessarily the easiest to follow. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you can avoid necessary commitments to the business. If you have a major business deal to sign off on, you will probably have to miss your daughter’s dance recital that happens at the same time. This is a tough choice to many.
4. Be Aware of Your Actions
You’re leading a company now; everything you do and say can be held against you…in the office. You need to make sure that you’re following your own direction given to employees.
You don’t get to operate as your own personal self with worries, negativity and self-doubt. You have to represent the company and you best do this by acting as a dynamic and positive person who follows the rules set up for the company more closely than anyone.
5. Analyze Trends and Metrics
Most entrepreneurs are looking at the their numbers to make sure they are making enough money to survive. The smartest entrepreneurs are looking at their metrics to notice trends, pinpoint trouble areas and monitor the performance of their products and employees. They reward in kind and problem solve in kind based upon these numbers.
Leadership, analysis and the ability to experiment beyond an initial plan are all key components to the success of an entrepreneur. Make sure that as you focus on executing your vision, you also remember to check in from week to week.
