The One Trait Shared By Successful Entrepreneurs
No, it’s not a Harvard MBA.
I was sitting in the lobby tapping my feet against the ground. I had been introduced to a prominent founder and investor who also happened to be behind the Canada Arm at the International Space Station — a giant robotic arm critical to the Space Shuttle Program. Here I was hoping to pitch my business, a far cry from space deployment but what I believed was a critical piece missing from the Toronto pick up and delivery ecosystem. Being a starry-eyed young entrepreneur, I couldn’t wait to tell him why we needed investment to make our business a household name. Our logistics platform was bound to be a game-changer in a world of ever-increasing reliance on convenience. Barely a year or two in business my ambition had reached the moon even though here I was very much still on planet Earth.
Meeting the checklists
On paper, I had all the merits one would assume are needed to be successful in life. I had not one but two top business degrees, a Fortune 500 career, experience working on different continents, fluency in a few languages and a strong professional brand. But deep within I often felt this doubt — Who was I to promise such high returns? How would I execute such a lofty vision?
The meeting went well and intrigued this investor. It opened up new opportunities for our business and gave us ideas for growth. But it was not as I had hoped for. I would often fall short on one critical aspect, which would hold me back from the rewards I had hoped for. The more meetings I attended and the more founders I met, there was one glaring similarity I learned from the entrepreneurs that seemed to always find a way forward even when they were turned down along the way.
The secret ingredient
If there is one thing common to any successful CEO I have ever met, it’s an unwavering belief in themselves and their company. And ironically, it’s often those with the lower qualifications who tend to embody the most confidence. It’s something I find fascinating and often wonder why.
Intelligent people tend to calculate perceived risks all the time and are extremely averse to change. And if there is anything true about running a business, it is the rapid change and agility required to keep things moving forward. And this is why that Harvard MBA may not really be a measure of one’s ability to succeed.
More credentials often lead to more expectations about how things should be when there is really no certainty of what the future holds for your business. I had to unlearn a lot of the structure taught to me by the corporate world in order to find my footing as an entrepreneur.
Setting up for success
And so the question remains, how does one build more confidence? How is it possible to conquer the limiting beliefs and doubts we are often plagued with as human beings?
Finding my success as an entrepreneur meant changing my entire perspective of thinking. Here are three ways you can do this:
1. Daily Affirmations
It’s important to be able to visualize where you are going to be. Whilst the power of positive thinking may feel cliché, it’s important to write down what exactly you see yourself having and why you are worthy of it. This helps to wire the brain into believing what you have to offer to the world.
2. Small habit changes
If you look for outcomes, it will be hard to persevere as an entrepreneur. This is because the rewards are often delayed and thus it can be hard to keep up the momentum. Instead, focusing on following certain practices religiously can help you keep up despite what the outcome is. For me, meditating daily and working out helps me feel the positive energy to keep going whilst staying grounded and present in the moment. If you enjoy the journey the results are sure to be rewarding.
3. Journal
Self-doubts are natural and so it’s often helpful to write them down and try to establish why you feel incompetent or unfit for the task at hand. Is it because you’re comparing yourself to someone else? Is it because you want it to be perfect as opposed to just being done? Writing your thoughts down helps break down the pattern of limiting beliefs because the subconscious mind plays an important part in how we portray ourselves, which in turn impacts the way others perceive us.
The very essence of being an entrepreneur is to sell a vision. And sales is often more about how you sell versus what you sell. If you don’t believe in what you are doing your prospect will be sure to smell that off you. It took me several years into my entrepreneurial journey to realize that it’s really all about confidence.
It’s high time you show up for yourself.
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