Article Contributed by Lori Wagner
What do you think the life of an entrepreneur looks like?
It’s like chaos packed into the human form.
Entrepreneurs live that kind of life every single day. When they aren’t dreaming about how to grow their business and get more sales, they are thinking of their clients, resources, assets, payroll, cash flow, financing, and opportunities.
Somewhere along the way, they also keep track of what’s happening in their immediate domain of relevance.
Entrepreneurs do all of this without a sure finger on results, of course. They do it with sheer confidence executed with top-notch skills and a sliver of hope.
They usually grope blind.
Yet, in an entrepreneur’s typical day, there are some things that they simply can’t go without doing. Every entrepreneur’s “to do” list must have these entries. Period.
No Excuses. No Vacations. No Holidays. No Goofing off.
Keep half a brain out hunting
Chances are that you are already running a business. Perhaps, you are looking to start one. No matter where you are on this spectrum, you have to keep pivoting your direction. Change is imminent and it’s bound to happen to you, one way or the other.
Some of the hottest startups like Square couldn’t escape from this reality. In case you didn’t know, Square had to discard its “wallet pay” service and fall back on an earlier product. Instagr.am – the popular photo-sharing app that ended up being acquired by Facebook – wasn’t originally designed to be what it is today.
If you thought change was imminent and you claim that you are prepared, there’s a problem with this line of thinking: you can never be prepared enough.
That’s because you don’t know what’s coming. Uncertainties are very high for startups as Thomas Grota puts it “very gamely” if I could be permitted to use a pun.
So, what do you do? Keep half a brain out hunting. Let it sniff for new opportunities. Keep vigil on trends. Remember, all that feedback you get from your customers or clients is also supposed to give you cues.
Enter this into your to-do list.
Marketing, networking, and some more marketing
Marketing isn’t a one-time thing; it’s not a time-limited endeavor that you pursue until your reach a particular momentum. It’s the way of an entrepreneur. It’s the ultimate weapon. It keeps you in business. It gets you the money you need. It sets the stage for the freedom you covet.
Obviously, you wouldn’t be marketing to the walls. You’ll still do business with people. For that, you’d have to network. You’d have to keep in touch with people such as possible hires, clients, potential partners, and everyone else in between.
Next time there’s a meeting scheduled on your calendar, don’t be tempted to knock it off. Of course, build a marketing system you can depend on.
Hiring is forever
Do you know what’s more common than hiring people for your business? It’s losing people.
You’ll gain new hires and lose old ones. Of course, a few of those key people might stick around for a long time, but never for too long. Everyone leaves, sooner or later.
Hiring isn’t an activity you do when you need people; it’s actually best done when you don’t need anyone at all! For entrepreneurs, the best way to look for potential hires is to do so continually without the need to pitch, sell, or convince.
To hire better, you need to build a brand. You need to set the stage for a convincing story.
Once you do that, you have to lure “passive” candidates, not “active” ones. According to Jen Picard of LinkedIn Talent Solutions, up to 75% of the potentially viable folks fall in this group. Jen also points to the fact that staffers and companies are actually chasing the wrong end of the market with 25% active candidates and another 15% of candidates on the cusp.
Go looking for those passive candidates who aren’t really looking for jobs right now.
Chances are that you’ll find the diamonds in the trough.
Learning like you were just born
You can manage with a job with a certain level of skills and education. Nothing prepares you for entrepreneurship, though. Entrepreneurship is the rough school no kid would ever like to be in.
Yet, business owners find themselves fighting it out to learn new skills and ride on new learning curves every now-and-then.
It’s no wonder that some of the most successful entrepreneurs are also the most well-read. They consume books, magazines, reports, and content off the web.
As an entrepreneur, learning is no longer a choice. It’s you only ticket to sanity. So, if you were looking for business news and inspiration, go ahead and bookmark websites such as Inc, Fast Company, and Forbes.
Of course, you can dig deeper. Niche research done by well-known and not-so-well-known individuals, companies and groups can prove to be invaluable in your industry. For example, if you’re an online retailer, you could refer to Vend U’s retail resources for tips on managing ecommerce stores. If you’re a social media expert, you wouldn’t want to miss anything on Jon Loomer’s Facebook marketing blog.
There’s practically an authority resource for every minute detail you might ever want to learn about.
You just go and pick what suits you.
Learning isn’t just limited to books, magazines and websites and I have no intention of allowing you to stop there. Every human interaction, every issue you face in your business, and every challenge is a ruthless teacher.
So, go learn.
Over to you
As for entrepreneurship, there’s never been a better time to get into business. The Internet is your magic wand and if you can get the multi-channel DNA of digital marketing right, succeeding in business is just a matter of proper execution and time.
No one said it’s easy being an entrepreneur. The points above are only a few things you should do everyday, and it doesn’t even begin to touch on anything to do with entrepreneurship yet.
What goes into your typical day? What do you find yourself doing? Share a glimpse of a day with us.
About the Author
Lori Wagoner is an independent content strategist who gives online marketing advice to small businesses. Lori has blogged at Tweak Your Biz, The Social Media Hat and many other business and tech blogs. You can reach her @LoriDWagoner on Twitter.