Becoming an entrepreneur: A story of change, hindsight and collaboration

I love seeing people share their passion and their vision; their energy, their enthusiasm and their commitment is contagious. When they share their dreams, we want to share in their journey. 

Most Entrepreneurs have that passion and this is what drives them to step out on their own. It’s a commitment, it requires vision and a whole lot of other things including grit. It is a well-known fact, especially in today’s environment, but one that we still tend to ignore.  

So, if you are an entrepreneur or a sole-trader and had the opportunity to go back and mentor yourself back from the beginning, what advice would you give your past self? What would you have done differently to enable you to be in a better position today?  

The benefit of hindsight

While it may be easy to see what needs to be done from when we look at other businesses, when it comes to doing that very same thing for ourselves, we lessen the need to follow through or classify it as a “nice to have” rather than a “need to have”.   

When I was presenting across the country earlier this year (yes, before COVID), I asked an audience of Entrepreneurs, CEO’s and Leaders a series of questions to enable them to think back on their journey and the steps that they had taken… Here is a question that I led the discussion with: “What would you rather have: an ending that you didn’t want or a beginning that you had not considered?”.  

All too often, entrepreneurs start with a vision that is narrowed down so that they can put things in place and roll it out. But I like to ask them to consider what else they might have benefited from at that initial stage. It could be seeking out support and input from external people or allowing someone to ask them the hard questions that perhaps they prefer to not delve into, like how they think they embrace change. 

The only constant in life and business

Change is a constant, and yet we don’t anticipate it or build it into our plans, nor do we add it into our routine to ask our people about it. Consistency in business is important so, without suggesting bringing in constant changes in projects or processes, it is important to look at possible improvements at every step. After all, change can bring about benefits to everyone involved: people, business or clients. 

Think about this, how often do you allow yourself or your staff to think about and suggest alternatives? You see, we teach our teams to reach goals in specific timeframes, which means that bringing in change can cause deadlines to be missed. As a result, more often than not, change will be discarded even if it’s a better solution. Long-term, this may cause many opportunities to be missed unless we create a culture that embraces change and learns to think about “what else?”. 

In my presentations on “change and transformation”, I often talk about the importance of planning for and building in “change” within your business. When you make sure you include “change” as part of your values, culture and business, it changes your mindset and teaches you to approach things with different lenses. Rather than engaging in a “crisis mindset” each time something doesn’t go exactly to plan, change-trained leaders tend to have a “solution-focused mindset” and are usually able to consider alternative ways of working rather than becoming stuck in what we use to do. They see opportunities where others see obstacles. 

Your roadmap, your journey and your strengths

When you first started your business, maybe you mapped out all the opportunities you could think of before deciding on a clear path forward? If so, how often do you go back to revisit the options that you left behind to see how relevant they would be now? Or to see if adjustments could be done to enhance what you are doing now? This forms part of the “change” acceptance. 

All too often small business owners are stretched very thin but still feel like they need to do it all. This is where playing to your strengths becomes really important. Whilst your passion may be the centre of your business, always ask yourself what tasks are the best use of your time and if you are properly working to your strengths? 

We often look at the cost associated to bring people into our business, and opt to do things ourselves to save money. Your time is money. And even more importantly, when it comes to our own business, we tend to underestimate the size of our blinkers. Bringing the right people in allows you to consider things that might be overlooked if they had done it themselves. 

Just like your skills have been developed by doing what you do best, other people have become experts in other areas by doing what they do best. Looking at bringing in external skills at different stages in your business is an important trait to hold (of course you should make sure they have walked the path that you need and succeeded before you bring them onboard). 

Asking questions is a skill that smart leaders know to use frequently. Each time you feel like you don’t fully understand a plan, a concept or an idea, you should ask the questions needed. You owe it to yourself to gain as much knowledge as possible to help you succeed. 

That’s why having the right people by your side to transfer that knowledge to you, including potential risks and succession planning, should be considered from the onset. They will give you the clarity you need to efficiently reach your goals. 

The importance of personal development for you and your team

When we stop learning, we stagnate the growth of our business. We often overlook the need to undertake training or to bring in people to guide us through the next stages and, usually, we can justify it too. Within many small businesses, personal development tends to be placed on the back-burner as there is always something else that needs to be done, a more pressing emergency to be dealt with.  

Prioritising your growth and development is critical to your long-term success, it’s a vital part of your business and forms the pulse that will keep it going. Always ensure that you schedule your ongoing training, upskilling and mentoring or you will be doing yourself, and your business, a huge disservice. 

To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to be prepared to invest in your success upfront. Embrace change as an integral part of your strategy and always ask yourself “who else” you need on your team and “what else” you should be considering. 

Don’t hold back.

Dream BIG and step into your own journey with the confidence that you will succeed.