Every day I’m joined by CEOs and entrepreneurs who share the ups and downs of building a business. The most significant query that appears in their minds: what must I do to be sure that my company not only survives, but also thrives?
Many founders need help because 50% of startups fail to reach the five-year milestone. AND last post By Partners of the Bessemer enterprise he noted that while there will probably be a spark in all corporations, not all will have the opportunity to keep the flame burning to build lasting success. Entrepreneurs who can keep the flame burning show the “resilience, perseverance, innovation and ownership mindset necessary to achieve long-term success.”
So what can entrepreneurs do to keep the flame burning? In my Florida startup community Embarc Collectivewe have seen a survival rate of 96% despite intense market changes, a global pandemic and a massive decline in enterprise funding.
Here are the three biggest similarities I’ve noticed that contribute to the long-term success of those corporations over the years.
Willingness to listen
The pace of learning when building a business is intense. Every prospecting conversation, team meeting, roadmap, and board update provides a wealth of knowledge points that may improve what you do.
While any trader can see this information, they do not necessarily listen to it. Listening to this information means turning it into actions that may improve your small business in the long term.
An entrepreneur who listens and transforms is curious. And as Walmart founder Sam Walton he once said: “Curiosity doesn’t kill the cat, it kills the competition.”
Your curiosity—your willingness to listen, change, and grow—is your best asset and competitive advantage.
The curious entrepreneur wants to get into the minds of shoppers. Early on, entrepreneurs who are truly interested in how to improve their customers’ lives tend to have a faster path to product-market fit. They continuously learn what is most significant to their users and take motion accordingly.
Because of this, these entrepreneurs are often quick to adapt and grow. They are able and willing to make adjustments in real time based on what they learn about their customer and their company. Their motion plans are written in pencil, not pen. They don’t hesitate to revisit plans when customers start pointing them in a recent direction.
Moreover, a lot of these entrepreneurs are often experts at context switching. Due to the nature of their work, founders are often required to wear multiple hats. This signifies that you are bombarded with various inputs and tasks throughout the day, and the only way to deal with them is to master the filing cabinet of your mind.
The ability to change context is an incredible determinant of whether entrepreneurs can do it or not. The strongest entrepreneurs can store all this information at once and know how to sort it in real time to ensure productive iterations in products, messages and processes.
A break from the ups, a probability during the downs
The reality of being a founder is that for every thing that goes according to plan, 10 things won’t. A robust entrepreneur who can build a successful business can weather these inevitable ups and downs.
It’s essential to strike a balance – rejoice your wins (and acknowledge your failures), but don’t let any of them define you. When something goes well, acknowledge it and do not be shy about celebrating with your team. These achievements keep your motivation high and confirm that you are on your way to something great.
However, you ought to be aware that these victories could also be fleeting. You cannot allow them to define you and your organization. Entrepreneurs who dwell on past victories may miss out on information and learning moments that may lead them to where they need to go in the future.
When it comes to failures, keep in mind that challenges drive iteration. friend of mine, a CEO, often says, “Challenges happen to you, not to you.”
Downs, obstacles and bad news contribute to a higher, stronger future as long as you know what to do with them.
Embrace your failures and use them as opportunities to learn, evolve and grow. In the long term, you will probably be grateful for these moments.
A resilient mindset
Building a business is an endurance sport and should be treated as such to achieve success. You are, in a sense, an athlete and in order to perform, you must deal with your health and well-being in every respect. Founders are a key asset to the success of their company and ought to be cared for in the same way as any other asset. A burned-out founder leads to a burned-out business.
Moreover, it is essential, but difficult, for founders to admit that they are not a brand. For a company to scale, the brand must take on an identity of its own beyond the founder. Otherwise, all the things the brand does is limited by the perspective and capabilities of the founder or founding team. In the same way you allow your child to grow into their person, you must allow your brand to grow to be an entity outside of you.
Ultimately, it is important to keep in mind that building a business is not linear. There will probably be ups and downs and all the things in between. By sticking with entrepreneurs and helping them develop the skills they need for long-term success, your small business can and will thrive.