People always ask me what my biggest “move” was that got me to where I am now. Turns out though, there were multiple things I did, people I met, and lessons I learned that allowed me to reach the level of success that I have – and everyone has their own definition of success that they are working towards.
It’d be hard for me to tell you the single most important thing I did that got me to where I am today. Instead, I am going to share with you what I consider my 5 Keys to Entrepreneurial Success:
- Continually learn: I did not attend college because at the time, there was no school that had classes on what I wanted to learn. I learned by working for free, adding value to people’s lives there were doing what I wanted to do, and through a lot of hard work. To this day, I have spent over $400,000 on non-traditional classes and mentors and am always going to conferences and seminars. Bottom Line: A college degree does not qualify you for success. Go where you need to go to be educated.
- Find a mentor: I can’t emphasize this enough. I have had multiple mentors and they have all brought different and valuable understanding in my life. A mentor can be more than just experienced industry professionals. They can be business gurus, advice consultants, and sometimes, if you’re lucky, life-long friends. However, they do need to be someone that is willing to check you into reality and give you tough love when necessary.
- Hire a good team: Your time is your most valuable asset. When growing a business there will be a point where your time becomes too valuable to spend it doing things you used to do to make your business run. So what do you need to do? Hire. Delegate tasks to your team members so that you can focus on scaling your business and coming up with money ideas. Your team needs to be people that understand your vision and can implement that vision into their daily processes to ensure the business stays on track.
- Trust yourself: A lot of people told me that I would never make it. When I was starting out, everyone said, “you are too young”, “you are a woman in a man’s industry”, and they questioned why I was qualified. Although this is hard to hear, especially when it’s from the people closest to you, I learned that a human can never tell me if I am qualified. I don’t look to human affirmation because I know that God qualifies us and calls us to what we need to do. So trust yourself because God’s calling on your life is greater than any human’s opinion of your ability.
- Don’t complicate it: This is the biggest thing I see people getting stuck up on. They get stuck in the details and the “end-goal”. Just focus on what is currently in front of you and figure it out piece by piece. My greatest tool when I don’t know how to figure it out, Google it.
Like I said, everyone has their own definition of what “success” is and what it looks like. If I can make anything stick out to you it would be to stay true to your vision and to never let anyone try to change your mind on that. Know why you started and know why you keep doing it every single day.