I believe there is an element of laziness in entrepreneurship...but not in the traditional sense that you may think!
Entrepreneurship is about creativity, hard work, determination, and having the ability to keep going no matter what.
The “lazy” part of the process is that we entrepreneurs are always looking to find easier ways of doing things...to strip away unnecessary layers of complexity and to beat our competitors in the process.
But If we are not careful, this thinking can collide with the “hard work” quality that is critical to entrepreneurial success, it has happened to me many times in my entrepreneurial career.
And when it comes down to beating competitors, which is what you must do to win business and get to the top of your field, the best and simplest way to beat them is to outwork them!
There are no shortcuts or secrets here, just plain, old-fashioned hard work.
Avoid The Collision
Let me first define the term “work” from my perspective.
Work, to me, is having to do something I don’t enjoy doing – for example, anything DIY is regarded as work to me, so if I ever have to do it, I will find the easiest way of completing the task, do it furiously to simply get it over with and then go back to doing what I enjoy and want to do!
I never ever once thought of doing anything relating to my business as work, so I would devote endless hours to it without giving anything a second thought.
I was and still am relentless.
Even on vacation, I would be constantly thinking about how I could innovate, create new products and services, or simply improve a client presentation to make it perfect.
With the presentation example, I knew my presentation was good because I had won business from it as a result...but I wanted to make it perfect.
In this way, I could effortlessly outwork my competition...without working a single minute!
I remember talking to journalists when I hired a PR company, and they would ask me when I planned to retire.
I simply replied to them that I had already retired because I don’t regard what I do as work!
Passion
As an entrepreneur, you will already be flooded by passion – that’s why you began the journey right?
But you must be careful to channel the passion.
And I will go a step further and tell you that if you don’t enjoy what you do and if you do regard what you are doing as “work,” then go and do something else.
I’m not saying that everything within entrepreneurship and starting a business is going to have you feeling passionate about it – but passion is the overriding quality that must shine through.
How To Beat Your Competitors
The first thing to do is to stop competing with them and start to create.
When I entered the recruitment and staffing industry years ago, everyone was selling the value of the size of their database:
“We at XXX company have XXX thousand candidates who can fill any of your vacancies and that’s why we are your #1 choice.”
As a startup and only with a handful of candidates registered on my database, I couldn’t possibly compete with the above statement, so I decided to go to market with:
“Our database is deliberately kept smaller than our competition because we only work with the very best. We locate, verify and deliver the top 20% of talent across our industry and drive those people to the companies who can best utilize, develop and challenge them.”
I had no interest in talking about vacancies that my competitors were obsessed with.
My attitude, which I conveyed to the executive leadership of my target clients was that if they had access to the top 20% of the industry, then they would create vacancies...or lose that talent to their competitors.
It worked like a dream.
Now, of course, I had to deliver on my promises and that’s where the hours were put in and I was relentless in delivering the message to anyone who would listen – clients, journalists, financial analysts, and especially new recruits who I needed to grow my business.
Forget Being Smart
You often hear the words, “stop working hard and learn to work smart.”
I have given you my definition of “work,” so the next thing I will tell you is that the smart part will come...it will find its way naturally into your thinking and actions.
You are already smart in your own right...so start with being relentless.
I was listening to an early video from the Internet marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuck, or Gary Vee as he is now known, where he was talking essentially about not trying to be too clever and just doing more than everyone else.
He was talking specifically about generating traction in business through generating content and engaging with people online to create conversations.
You have to put the hours in.
He came from a traditional business background where he worked in his father’s liquor store and he had a burning desire to take it online, which he did with remarkable success and the rest, they say, is history.
There you have it – be passionate about what you do...and pursue your passion relentlessly and you will already have “retired.”
Your competitors will be left behind, wondering what your “secret” is!
Blog submitted by Business Coach - Top UK Business Mentor & Trainer | Neil Franklin (neiljcfranklin.com)