8 Common Practices of Successful Entrepreneurs

You want to start a new business, and you question whether you have the work ethic necessary to be a success. Perhaps you already run a flourishing company and you’re wondering if likeminded entrepreneurs practice the same methods as you do. In point of fact, they do. Successful entrepreneurs have many shared tendencies and habits. Here are some of their most common practices.

 

 

The general belief among successful entrepreneurs is that productive days start with early mornings. Laura Vanderkam, a writer and speaker on time management, life, careers and family, polled 20 business executives and found that 90% of them wake up before 6 a.m. during the work week. These are people who understand that their days are busy but their time is important and they need to manage it carefully. That means getting up early to allot extra time for an early morning workout, a decent breakfast, time with family or simply a few moments to clear their minds and ready themselves for the day ahead. Square CEO Jack Dorsey rises every morning at 5:30 a.m. to jog and PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi makes time for personal reading at 4:30 a.m.

 

 

Productive entrepreneurs micromanage their daily schedule according to their own strengths and weaknesses. Those who do their best work in the mornings will make time for their most challenging tasks before noon while others who find inspiration after lunch will designate time in the afternoon for developing new sales or marketing plans. Prioritizing your work and scheduling tasks reduces the likelihood for procrastination and allows you to put your best foot forward throughout your entire day. Many entrepreneurs go as far as to schedule their day in 15 minutes blocks.

 

 

 

Checking email first thing in the morning and then intermittently throughout the day will usually result in distraction and time lost during productive time periods. Entrepreneurs understand this and therefore don’t see their email inbox as a first priority. Many employ a scheduled time for sifting through emails and a separately scheduled time for replying to them. For owners or CEOs of a business the necessity to stay on top of every email is reduced because there are other people in place to handle that for them. This is meant to free them up for more important issues and tasks. They must be on to something, because according to a University of California study, people who do not check emails regularly while at work are less stressed and more productive.

 

 

Speaking of having other people in place to handle less urgent issues, especially in the inbox, entrepreneurs understand that having a team of employees and advisors that they can rely on, and who might even know more about their market is extremely important. They know that sometimes the smartest person in the room is the one who has surrounded him or herself with experts.

 

 

Successful entrepreneurs get annoying or unpleasant matters out of the way, right away, and then move on. In the same way that they masterfully schedule their day in order to make it as productive as possible, they prioritize and tackle the first unsavory task straight away because they know that willpower only wanes throughout the day.

 

 

The average leader of a thriving company is careful to never waste his or her time on tasks or issues that don’t align with business goals. They make those goals perfectly clear and remind their staff about them as often as possible. This acts as a verbal affirmation which enforces resolve and keeps the business as a whole on the right track.

 

 

 

In order to promote a business, product, or service effectively, you must have a thorough understanding of the demographics of your customers. A successful entrepreneur gets that and will find a way to get his or her hands on all the information they need in order to get completely familiar with the people they want to sell to. With this knowledge they can diligently oversee marketing strategies and budgets and modify them for maximum results.

 

 

Not every opportunity that comes your way will benefit you, and as we already know, time is precious. Successful entrepreneurs measure every opportunity by whether or not it will benefit the business and whether or not it’s worth their time. As a result they know when to unabashedly say no.

 

Does your work ethic parallel those of a successful entrepreneur? If so, you may be looking a lucrative future of successful business ventures.