Entrepreneurs are a unique breed of people. They have this ability to focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else and that one thing, you guessed it, is their respective businesses. At any point in his life, the true entrepreneur will be thinking of nothing else but his business. So, it isn’t surprising that they colour everything that happens in the real world in the shades of their businesses.
There is no one that this blog, Office Hacks by Inkjet Wholesale, is designed for more than entrepreneurs. And, since it’s the New Year, we felt that we had to cater to our audience in the best way possible – Tell Them What to Do! Seriously, though, the New Year is the time for celebration and making New Year resolutions. Since we can’t tell you how to celebrate, we will focus on helping you find the right New Year resolutions. Here is our list of the top New Year resolutions for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Be a Leader but Also Be a Life Coach
If you’ve worked, then you know that most entrepreneurs are about delegation i.e. getting work done by their employees. This means getting them to follow instructions and implementing tasks as required. From the entrepreneur’s perspective, this means leading their workforce. Some entrepreneurs lead by strength, while others lead by inspiration.
Not many, unfortunately, do it with a long-term strategy where they imagine their employees being with them for decades. However, this is the strategy that yields lifelong employees committed to the cause as much as the business owners. Again, from the entrepreneur’s perspective, this means leading in life as well as at work.
These types of entrepreneurs aren’t only business leaders and thought leaders but also life coaches for their employees – something that creates special bonds for life. Effectively, the first of our New Year resolutions for aspirating entrepreneurs is to be a life coach as well as a business leader.
Adopt At Least One Latest Technology for Managing Work
Technologically, the development that the world has seen in the last five decades is incomparable to developments that occurred for thousands of years in the past. A business of today cannot sustain for any extended period of time without keeping up with the technological developments taking place in the market.
Looking into the future is one of the qualities of a visionary. Therefore, incorporating at least one latest technology into your existing operational systems should be a part of the New Year resolutions for aspirating entrepreneurs. Doing this would ensure that the business in question remains agile and innovative in the industry that it operates in. Needless to say, this will give it an edge in competitive markets.
Set Aside Time for Acquiring a New Skill
Adopting a new technology is for your business. You also need to follow the same path if you are to truly lead your team to new horizons. Personal development plays a surprisingly big role in business development because your knowledge base and know-how are going to define your vision and ambitions. Therefore, another item we’ve included in our list of New Year resolutions for aspirating entrepreneurs is to set aside time for acquiring a new skill.
This could be anything. You could refresh your existing knowledge by taking some refresher training. You could upgrade your existing knowledge through classes. You could even strike out in a completely new direction by reading books, taking training, and joining classes. There will never be any dearth of options for you if you truly want to learn new skills.
Finish Every Project You Begin On Deadlines
Procrastination – the arch nemesis of every individual who has any ambition in life. If success is Superman, procrastination has to be General Zod. Nobody suffers from procrastination more than a successful entrepreneur. There is always that danger of becoming enamoured with the past and complacent about the future. Needless to say, only those entrepreneurs, who consciously think about procrastination, make it anywhere in life.
The problem with procrastination is that it is intangible and incredibly sneaky. You never know when it has sneaked up on you and is sitting plump in your lap hogging all the attention. The only way to deal with procrastination is to make sure that you finish everything that you start. The corollary is to set deadlines and ensure that you meet them. This advice, thus, has to be on any list of New Year resolutions for aspirating entrepreneurs.
Chop 10% off Your Expenses; Add 10% To Profit Margins
This one will resonate with all entrepreneurs out there because it speaks the language of efficiency. The established method to grow a business is to make the income bigger than the expenses. However, as the 2008 global economic disaster showed, there are ways to cut costs and make the business expenses leaner.
While most businesses sought these methods out in times of trouble, why shouldn’t business use them even in times of abundance? For example, if you take away 10 percent of your expenses and add 10 percent to you profit margins, what you’re left with is a minimum business growth of 20 percent.
Most entrepreneurs would kill for that kind of an annual growth. Most entrepreneurs also see that as unattainable until they break it down into two halves mentioned above or even smaller. Any entrepreneur worth his salt will tell that that 10 + 10 percent goal is worth shooting for. Hence, this suggestion makes our list of New Year resolutions for aspirating entrepreneurs in 2017.
Double Your Network and Contacts
Strategising is important in business. Implementing is also important in business. However, those two are not more important than networking. Networking makes businesses tick. Even the geniuses need to network because networking results in funding, contracts, agreements, collaborations, and even approvals from the right authorities for critical projects.
Therefore, when it comes to New Year resolutions for aspirating entrepreneurs, we simply cannot ignore the significance of networking. A simple way of making a resolution revolving around networking is to decide to double your networks and contacts in the span of the year. This will also push you to take stock of everyone you know and possibly cull the list of undesirable individuals.
Pay More Attention to Physical Health
If procrastination was the arch nemesis of all aspiring entrepreneurs, this is their Achilles heel. This is the one element that can derail even the fastest growing business juggernauts. After all, if the promoter falls sick, then who takes the decisions to push the business to the next level? It is very common for businessmen to have various health problems, which is clear proof of the fact that they don’t pay attention to it.
This why taking care of one’s health should be on the list of New Year resolutions for aspirating entrepreneurs. If you feel that it is unreasonable for you to change your diet, hit the gym, or even take rest when your business needs you, imagine what will happen when you fall sick just before that million dollar contract needs to be signed.
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