Am I a Successful Entrepreneur? Thinking Like a Brilliant Leader

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Marian Alexander
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1 Am I a Successful Entrepreneur? Thinking Like a Brilliant Leader Barb Stuhlemmer

3 Acknowledgements I want to acknowledge the help I get from my family to be able to follow my passion and work in my businesses, helping others create successful products, services, and businesses for themselves. I am so grateful for the help my husband Brian gives me, especially by reading all my blogs and articles before they go out. Your support and insight are key to my success. I am also so thankful for my kids, Chloe 8, Jack 11, and Connor 12, for their help in managing their time after school so I can complete my days work. I love that I am here for you, for hugs, and for support and that I am still able to do my work. It is the best of both worlds. Copyright 2011

4 Acknowledgements 2 Introduction 4 Table of Contents The Six Musts that make a Great Entrepreneur 5 Must be educated 5 Must see something where others do not 5 Must be willing to Act 6 Must be willing to risk their own 6 Must have unshakeable vision and dedication 7 Must be willing to learn, grow, and change 7 Making Mistakes You cannot be successful without them! 8 The Stupidity Mistake 8 The Time-wasting Mistake 8 The Hurtful Mistake 9 To Move Forward 9 The 5 Core Pieces to Business Success 10 Mindset 10 Value 10 Connected 10 Opportunity 11 Action 11 How to Start This Transition 12 Acknowledge Your Own Accomplishments 12 About Barb Stuhlemmer 15 3 of 15

5 Introduction We all know what success looks like when we see someone else that is successful. We see a person doing what they want to do, someone in charge of their destiny, control of their finance, a business that runs without issues. What is difficult is to know what they actually had to have to be where they are. Looking in from the outside can motivate us to try to become more successfull but doing this without understanding what it takes can be disillusioning. Did these successful people have to have money, is it in the way they interact with people, is it their personality, were they born with it? This small book looks at some key characteristics and skills used by successful people that make them the leaders at what they do. 4 of 15

6 The Six Musts that make a Great Entrepreneur This is part of my presentation that I like to give to high school and college level students. I m sharing it with you so you can see the qualities and experience that went into the business you have built. Must be educated OK now you re thinking, she s nuts. I didn t have to go to school to get an MBA to run my successful business. True, but you did have to have some type of education; whether it was training, apprenticeship, experience, or a traditional education you definitely did not come into your business without skills and knowledge. In the book, The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, T. Harv Eker talks about failing over and over again at his jobs, but as the book eludes, he does become very wealthy. His first big idea took a few thousand dollar investment to open a fitness store, which he grew into a chain in 2.5 years and sold for over a million dollars. He attributes his skills and education to the jobs he had. He explains how he viewed each job as a paid education to owning his own business. Must see something where others do not There are so many opportunities out there. The best ideas are usually fairly simple in concept and sometimes very hard to implement but it is the idea to do something in a way that no one else does it that allows a business to stand out and become successful. Early in 2010 I had the privilege of being at an expo where Amanda Lang of CBC News was talking to Peter Aceto, the CEO of ING Direct Canada. When ING Direct Canada opened in 1997 people could not believe that there was a bank that had no physical presences. The founders of this 5 of 15

7 bank knew there was a better way to ensure people could save their money and that was to cut out all the overhead. How do you build a bank without a bank, was the question they had to answer. As we know, it has become a very successful business model, started in Netherlands in 1991 and now in over 40 countries. It even has competitors, like Presidents Choice Financial launched in Someone saw the need and then looked for a solution that was not what everyone else was looking for. Must be willing to Act This is the key component of an entrepreneur. We have all heard someone say, I could have done that, or my 10 year old could have done that better, and yet they do not act on it. The entrepreneur can see the opportunity and does something about it to make the change. They are willing to take a chance, to struggle, to build, to create, to manage and to succeed or to fail. I also had the privilege of hearing Amanda Lang of CBC News interview Sir Richard Branson. She asked him why he did what he did even after his businesses were successful. He explained that in the beginning of a business the owner need to be the figurehead or brand. The business, if built correctly, would become the brand as it grows. To do that he likes to exercise his creativity and he has acted on many of those creative moments. In his company Virgin there are over 300 branded companies. He explains that he does what he does so that at the end of the year you hope to have enough money to pay the bills so you can go on creating. Like many entrepreneurs he works to be able to create more and his simple answer to why? was Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Must be willing to risk their own We all know of the very successful entrepreneurs like, Gates, Jobs, Brin & Page, Trump, etc. Our society holds 6 of 15

8 entrepreneurs in high-esteem because what they do seems unreachable to the average person. But when these people started out they were just average people. They were scoffed at. They worked out of their homes or garages. They enlisted friends to help. They risked their own money to make things happen and they risked being known as a dreamer or unrealistic. The entrepreneur must risk a lot to find their path to success. Must have unshakeable vision and dedication It is very uncommon for a business to be instantly successful. It took Google many years to even make their first commercial product. Their vision was so clear they were able to get funding for their development even when they did not know how it was going to become commercially viable. They answered a need with their authentic passion and it paid off. Must be willing to learn, grow, and change An entrepreneur must be familiar with every position within their start-up, from bookkeeping to sales. To be able to understand how to communicate to suppliers, prospects, clients and past clients as well as your peers and competitors the entrepreneur has to take on a bigger role. Who? There is so much to learn about being an entrepreneur that as you go through the process of implementing you will be inundated with tonnes of new information, ways of thinking, and ideas. If you do not accept the opportunities to change, your business will not be able to make the changes it needs to grow and become successful. 7 of 15

9 Making Mistakes You cannot be successful without them! I bet you have made a mistake before. I have. We all have. The hardest part about making a mistake is forgiving ourselves enough to learn from the mistake and move forward. See if you relate to any of these mistakes. Please note that I am not talking about major, life threatening, earth shaking, career changing errors, just everyday mistakes. The Stupidity Mistake This is the type of mistake that makes people wonder if you are actually capable of doing what you say you can do and it is usually a result of little or no preparation. A person cannot prepare for everything. You have to accept that you will be in a situation one day, where you will need to do something for the first time and it is going to work perfect or not. If it does not work out and you had put in an honest effort then don t worry too much, it is going to be OK. Don t waste your time with a thousand apologies. Apologize once and move on. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Everyone misspeaks on occasion, we have our own opinions, we have our own core competencies, and you are not expected to meet everyone else s expectations. If this is something you will need to address again then study up so you won t repeat your actions. The Time-wasting Mistake This is the mistake that adds hours to your day trying to rectify the situation. Don t spend your time angry about the extra work. It has happened, so accept it, do the work, and move on. Being in a negative space has not value and may actually add to the mistakes and cost you more time. 8 of 15

10 The Hurtful Mistake This is the mistake that not only affected you and your day, but someone else s as well and they have been emotionally affected to boot. If your mistake has hurt someone else, then make it right as soon as possible. It is difficult enough to start a business on your own; you do not want to alienate your personal support by minimizing a statement or action that you have made. To Move Forward If you have not spent time evaluating what went wrong then you are set to repeat your mistakes. If you thought you felt bad the first time around, how do you think you will feel when people start thinking you don t care enough to make it work the next time. In the past I made a variety of small errors that commentated in a failure that encompassed all three mistakes. The combination of not preparing and assumptions cost my family 4.5 hours of destination-less driving, an apology that made me sound like I did not know how to use my contact management software nor Google, and my friend s daughter in tears. My husband and I spent time evaluating all the small things we missed that added to the confusion, made our sincere apologies, and re-booked our visit for the following month with the promise of an added bottle of wine (for the parents, not the daughter). Forgive yourself accept your mistake find out what went wrong and work hard to not repeat your past. This way you can only become better at what you do and you can only become more successful with this type of thoughtful expertise. 9 of 15

11 The 5 Core Pieces to Business Success Recently I had the opportunity to be a part of a book The Gratitude Book Project: Celebrating 365 Days of Gratitude. It was published in December and hit #1 on Amazon through a focused marketing campaign I also took part in. I wrote a small piece in this book but it represents BIG in so many ways. This accomplishment is about mindset, value, connectedness, opportunity, and action 5 core pieces to business success. Mindset If you don t believe no one else will. The confidence of what your business can do for others comes directly from you. Believe in your service or product and others will as well. Value You may believe you have the best product or service available and it may be a great offering. If it does not meet your target market s needs and requirements then there is no value. The only thing that makes a product or service valuable is sales. If you cannot sell it for whatever reason then you technically have no product or service. Connected We can do more as a community than we ever can do as an individual. Being connected in different products, projects, or associations are great ways to increase our Know, Like and Trust Factor so that you and your business becomes more visible and credible to your market. 10 of 15

12 Opportunity Don t stop looking for opportunity. As soon as you are open to the idea that there is so much abundance and so many ways to get to it then the opportunities will start showing themselves to you. Action Be ready to act. Sometimes we see the opportunities all around us, but we don t do anything about them. Choose the ones that best fit your goals and GO! Make it happen. When the opportunity to be a part of The Gratitude Book Project came to me I acted immediately because I knew I was worthy of being a part of it, I had value to add, and I was connected enough outside this project to make things happen. Now I am even more connected in a way I had not been before. 11 of 15

13 How to Start This Transition Acknowledge Your Own Accomplishments If you want others to see your value you must first see it in yourself. Here are two exercises that will help you focus on your own accomplishments. What is an Accomplishment List I got this idea from Jack Canfield s book The Success Principles which I recommend everyone should read. Create a list of all the things that you have accomplished over your life. Make the list extensive and go back as far as you can remember. I learned to whistle when I was very young and I used to drive my parents and strangers crazy with it. People would be astonished at my ability being that I was so young. Is this an accomplishment that represents my value as a business leader right now? Maybe not, but it does demonstrate to me the characteristics of the person I became. Acknowledging this accomplishment is as important to my growth as the completion of college and the development of my businesses. You do not need to ever show this list to another person so add anything that you feel was an accomplishment for you in your life, no matter how small. I think you will find you will need many sheets of paper to complete this. Also note that this is a living document. Continue to add new accomplishments. Daily Accomplishments An exercise I learned from Fabienne Fredrickson is to keep track of your accomplishments. Fabienne runs a multimillion dollar business and the way she keeps herself focused is to celebrate her accomplishments every day. At 12 of 15

14 her suggestion I purchased a daily journal that is for this use only. Each day I write the date at the top of a page and numbers five lines (from 1 to 5). When I complete a task I then enter the accomplishment into a line until all five are filled every day. What s in the list This is not a task list but a list of things you did. They may not be complete, but maybe you reached out to someone you have been afraid to call and left a message or you got the first part of a process underway, or you stopped procrastinating and got your bookkeeping started, or you got a gig speaking to your peers. It may even be something personal. If you cannot fill all five lines with your business accomplishments look at your personal accomplishments for the day. All five lines should be completed every day. This allows you to take note of your worth. It may seem like you have not done anything, but looking back through these days can make you realize how much you do and how much you are valued by your company and your family. Focused Accomplishments Something I add to my pages is a way to celebrate 5 key things I want to accomplish each day. Because health is important to my ability to be successful, drinking water, eating salads, and exercising are three things I want to be a daily part of what I do, so I acknowledge them. Personal growth and knowledge is key to being aware of what is being done, what can be done, what the trends are, and how to get there. I always want to be learning so I acknowledge my time reading books, magazines and business news, or listening to seminars, course and CDs. I want to be fully aware of the time I am growing my skills. Doing something to get new clients each day is imperative to growing my business so my fifth category is to recognize 13 of 15

15 that I have called or talked with a potential client, current client or strategic alliance. These are the places that will most quickly get me knew clients and where I should focus some of my time each day. Here is what my journal looks like Accomplishment Journal Layout Bonus Gratitude A bonus exercise has to do with Jack Canfield s book Gratitude A Daily Journal. Each day you will give thanks for the things you have today and for the things you have in your future. Gratitude is a great way to acknowledge your current worth and to visualize your value in your future. Now that you know what you are capable of every day you are well on your way to being capable of what these successful people are doing every day in their business and in their lives. You can now be this model for others. 14 of 15

16 About Barb Stuhlemmer Barb considers herself a Director to Success and is a multi-creative entrepreneur. She is a contributing author in The Gratitude Book Project, an owner with two very dissimilar and successful small businesses and a mother of three kids still in elementary school. Barb speaks about business success and how to reach it at local corporations, teaches business development for government funded training courses, has been asked to speak on local television about business and helps entrepreneurs get more clients as a director with an international networking company. Barb s company BLITZ Business Success has an entrepreneur club focused on bringing advice and knowledge to business owners that want to grow and reach greater levels in their business. To have Barb help you with your business success go to or Barb at Barb@BLITZBusinessSuccess.com. 15 of 15

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