The life-cycle of an entrepreneur

As an entrepreneur, your first goal should be starting your own business. But that’s not where it ends. We examine they life-cycle of business people from finding a gap in the market to selling the business.

1. Find a product or service people will like

This is about spotting opportunity, and all entrepreneurs start here. They’re walking along one day and a gap in a market hits them, or they spot a niche they could also set up in and gain customers through their brilliant skills, marketing and value they can give.

You can’t even get off the ground as an entrepreneur unless you can identify a product or service that people will buy, and that you can turn into a business. And bear in mind, even if you think your idea is the best thing since sliced bread, if people don’t buy it, then it’s not and you’ll be back at square one again.

2. Take action

Ideas are nothing my friend without action and follow up. Plenty of people have plenty of great ideas, and most of these ideas come to nothing because the people with the ideas just don’t take action. To be an entrepreneur, you have to be the one who brings your idea to life. And you do that through action.

You also have to take action regardless of perfection. A lot of entrepreneurs get stuck in analysis paralysis, waiting for stars to collide and ducks to line up before they make the next move in their business. If you get stuck in the planning stage, then you’re not going anywhere, no matter how great your idea, that first bit of action or your strategy. Allowing themselves to get stuck on a continuous cycle of analysis and planning is not what savvy entrepreneurs do.

3. Add in strategy

Too much unplanned action, and you’ll quickly be running around like a headless chicken getting absolutely nowhere. You should not take action without some kind of strategy, whether that is a strategy for growth, a strategy for sales or a strategy for marketing.

You’ve got a great idea, you’ve taken action, you might even have sales. Now you need to add in strategy to see your sales begin to grow. Your strategy to grow and expand could be as simple as increasing the availability of your services. This is what Hantec Markets has done, launching the MT4 trading platform on PC then expanding to the MT4 for Mac.

4. Employ someone

As an entrepreneur, you want to employ someone. That is the first part of leverage, of removing yourself from your business, or turning your business from you toiling from dusk to dawn into a money making machine that churns out profit whether you’re at your desk or on a beach somewhere.

5. Employ more people

Get the balance right and every person you employ will make you more money than they cost you, meaning your business grows and grows. Put a hierarchy in place, employ a manager to free yourself from the business altogether. Employ an assistant manager so even if your trusted manager leaves, your business still runs without you.

Not to mention bringing in some outside perspective can help you grow in new, exciting directions. Some things that you may have been struggling with could use a bit of professional expertise. You can bring in these fresh expertise and take your business to the next level.

6. Cry

Yes, the stress, the uncertainty, the questions, the ‘what should I do’s’, the obstacles, moments when it feels like its all going to go wrong, the moments when things do go wrong. It’s fine to cry in business. It is not easy to be successful, and this usually takes a few tears.

7. Triumph

All those tears and stress are worthwhile for the moments when it all goes right. When you win awards, have a record financial year, feel stumped by the amount of money that just came rolling in. There’s nothing better than when people in your industry are thrilled to meet you because you’re running one of the leading companies in your field, than when employees past and present tell you how grateful they are for the experience they’ve given you, than when your accountant seems baffled by all the additional income streams you’ve added to your business. That’s what its all about right?

One of the keys to these triumphs is staying motivated. Many businesses have a long struggle to the top, but because their owners stayed motivated, they were able to make it all the way.

8. Sell the business

Many entrepreneurs have made vast sums of money through creating and selling businesses, and most people do not want to do the same thing their entire life. So keep the end in sight when you’re building a business, and try and create a business that is an asset, something with a team, intellectual property, systems. Something that makes money whether you are there or not. And when the day arrives that you think ‘Hmm, I’m not as ‘in’ to this as I was’ you can sell up for a life changing cash sum.

9. Take a break

This is the toughest bit for most entrepreneurs. Time out after the sale. It’s hard to relax when your head is naturally whirring with ideas and you spot an opportunity on every corner. But. Relax. You. Must. Go sit on a beach. Put your feet up. You’ve earned it.

10. Do it all again

Just like the football player who can’t wait for their next match, the trainspotter who returns to the railside to spot yet more trains, the singer who gets up on stage time after time, for many entrepreneurs, one business is never enough. Now you know you can take an idea, turn it into a money making machine and sell it, why wouldn’t you do it again?