5 Daily Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs

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The entrepreneurial spirit lights a flame of hope in the hearts and minds of people near and far. For most, it's a symbolic journey, one that delves deep into the far-reaches of their minds, revealing their deepest hopes and dreams, illuminating the pathway to self-discovery and eventual financial freedom. 

Yet, as enticing as it sounds to launch a new business, it's also fraught with challenges that run to the core of who we are inside. It's a journey with long and windy roads, twisting and turning their way through a sea of despair and struggle, battling against our darkest and most salient fears, forcing us to furiously fight our way towards the shores of hope and prosperity. 

Clearly, it's not easy running a business. But don't tell that to the wild-eyed innovators who have their sights set on achieving monumental success. Don't tell that to the entrepreneurs who've endured doubt and questions as to their abilities, their entire lives. That won't dismay or dissuade them at the outset. No, it most certainly won't. 

However, as exciting as the start of any entrepreneurial journey is, we also know how mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and of course, financially taxing it can be to run and manage a business in the long term. 

The question that beckons most has very much to do with just how a business can succeed in the long term. While it's easy enough to start a business, it's obvious that longevity is what eludes us most. 

There's a reason why investors invest in the people behind the business rather than the business or the idea itself. You can have a groundbreaking idea for an innovation or a revolutionary new product and launch a business with it, but that doesn't mean you'll succeed. 

If the person running the business lacks the fundamental building-blocks of a successful entrepreneur, no matter how much money is pumped into that business, nor what strategy is employed, it will eventually fail. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But eventually. And 10 years from now, that business will be all but a distant memory. 

So what is this magic recipe for long-term success in business? What's the formula that some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs employ to see things through? Clearly, you need to be agile, innovative, productive and an effective with your actions to succeed, but you also need to instill a set of good daily habits so that you can automate your success. 

Habits hold the gateway to success in any endeavor. Not only do the habits we hold dictate the quality of our lives, but they also reflect our potential for success. Bad habits will always hold us back, especially when it comes to running a business with any staying power. Yet, it's not just about eliminating the bad habits, you need to instill the right habits for entrepreneurial success. 

The world's most successful entrepreneurs have endured some of the most trying times. They've endured countless failures along the way to business success, with endless headaches and restless nights. But they didn't give up. If you look at some of the most famous people who've failed in the world, there are, in fact, five core habits that stand out. 

1. Waking up early.

The reason why the world's most successful individuals wake up that early, is because, It's in the early-morning hours, when the world is still and silent, that we can focus and concentrate best on our efforts, to see things through and push towards our long-term goals. 

Even for those people that don't consider themselves as morning persons, simply wake up 15 minutes earlier the first week, then another 15 minutes earlier the following week, and so on. Do it until you reach your wake-up-hour goal. 

2. Effective time management.

Time is life's greatest equalizer. We all have the same amount of time in the day. It doesn't matter who we are, where we're from, the color of our skin, religion, and so on, we all still just get 24 hours in a day. That's 86,400 seconds. That's it. Not more and not less. 

What does make a difference, however, is just how we use the precious time we do have. Do we squander it? Or do we use it effectively, masterfully managing our time to achieve our goals? The world's most successful people are also some of the world's best managers of their time. If you're serious about long-term success, then you need to instill this daily habit into your life. 

The main difference between the few who get ahead and the many treading water is how well they spend their time.

3. Daily goal setting.

Not only do successful entrepreneurs set long-term goals, but they also engage in daily goal setting. They set goals every single day based on what they want to achieve in the long term. The daily goals help to provide clarity at a smaller scale, rather than being overwhelmed by the enormity of those monumental goals we want to achieve years down the line. 

4. Meticulous planning.

It's great to set goals, but harder to achieve them when we fail to plan. The world's most successful entrepreneurs are meticulous planners. You need to determine how you're going to get from Point A to Point B to give yourself direction and to better understand how you'll approach the finish line in the future. 

Think about a plane for a moment. Every airplane has a goal. Its goal is to fly from one city to the next, leave at a certain date and time, and arrive at another date and time. Yet, there is tremendous amounts of planning that go into that goal. The plane has to plan its projected direction of travel, air speed, elevation and so on. 

Similar to the plane, you need to plan your route to your goals. Creating a massive action plan, and tracking your progress on a daily basis, will also allow you to overcome any difficulties or change your approach if you see that something isn't working. When a plane hits turbulence or air-traffic congestion, it changes direction, elevation or speed so that it can eventually reach its intended target. 

5. Persistent action.

The cliché of taking action has been hammered home in the self-help genre for ages. Everyone speaks about taking action, but not everyone can follow through and do it. We get sidetracked and veer off track. Things come up and we lose our focus or we end up procrastinating towards our goals. 

However, this is by far one of the most important daily habits you can have to reach eventual success. Still, the problem is overcoming the silent killer known as procrastination. However, there is a so-called hack for this. It's called the 15-minute rule. Take the one thing that you've been putting off for the longest, set a timer on your phone, and do it for just 15 minutes. 

All it takes is 15 minutes. Don't promise yourself more than that. Just 15 minutes. What you'll come to find is that after those 15 minutes are up, you'll have built some momentum and you might keep going. And even if you don't continue, you'll have broken the stifling pattern of procrastination.

Original article written by: Robert Adams

Culled from: entrepreneur.com

3 Simple Strategies to Help You Become a Self-Made Millionaire!

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It's certainly possible that your company could become a resounding success and net you several million in a sale. But that's not likely to be the case, even if your business is a consistent earner. So if your dream is to become a self-made millionaire, how do you go about doing it?

1. Follow the money.
This may seem like a basic suggestion, but when it comes to growing a nest egg, the fact of the matter is that many people don't put in the time and thought necessary to monitor where their money is going. From the start, Godfrey says it is important to understand the full nature of your financial position and obligations.

"You need to ask what assets you own vs. what debt you have, such as a mortgage," and "What incomes do you generate vs. what are your outgoings."

Gunderson agrees, noting that especially for entrepreneurs, even though they can be incredibly savvy, they do run the risk of falling into a mindset of always believing that they can make more money and not making the long-term plans needed to not only remain solvent but increase their wealth. "They get on the proverbial treadmill, always trying to sprint," he says. "[But] they could just keep more of what they make by stopping the leaks in the hull, and dealing with some of their personal finances."

2. Set Achievable Goals.
Another old chestnut that really works. Don't spend more than you make or, perhaps more realistically, don't live beyond your means. Thakor says that self-made millionaires start saving as much money as they can as early as they can. That manifests itself as buying a smaller house or waiting a bit longer to trade in your car for a new one. And it means that "you spend only when you think it makes good sense, not to keep up with everyone else," Thakor says.

Godfrey and Thakor both say that setting an investment timeline and plan, while figuring out how comfortable you are taking calculated risks, is key to later financial success. What if you have no idea where to start?

Thakor has a simple approach that you can use as a baseline. "You keep investments highly diversified and your costs low."

3. Stay informed.
Gunderson says that there are many small things that entrepreneurs may not know about when it comes to optimizing cash flow, such as money they could be losing to taxes. "There are thousands of dollars a month that business owners are losing out on, simply because they are overpaying interest, or they haven't structured the loans properly," he says. "They don't know how to improve their credit score to negotiate better interest rates. That's money that [they could put] towards building that wealth, without taking risks and without burning themselves out."

While this may seem like a lot, you don't have to go it alone. But when you do look for financial help -- and not only during tax season -- Thakor says that it's imperative that "you seek financial guidance only from advisors who practice under the fiduciary standard -- which legally requires that they put your interest first," she says, "vs. those who operate under the suitability standard -- which simply says investment recommendations must be in your interest but could benefit the advisor more than you."

Written by Nina Zipkin

Culled from www.entrepreneur.com