When we launch our careers as entrepreneurs, we have a bunch of fears, hesitations, and many questions that bounce around in our heads all day. I also went through times when things didn’t go my way, and I was frustrated that I couldn’t control everything. Effectively, these worries would grind me down all day, while the frustration that I wasn’t in control grew exponentially.
I don’t see things that way anymore. To start a business without also taking into account the large probability that it will ‘fail’ is proof positive of naiveté and the fact that, yes, even your business has a high chance to go up in flames, should not bother you.
- Are you good at marketing but not at operational and administrative work? It’s possible you’ll fail.
- Are you good at accounting but not at sales? It’s possible you’ll fail.
- Are you good at product development, but don’t know how to put it in front of your audience? It’s possible you’ll fail.
What matters in the end, is that you develop your own daily discipline, and use it to constantly do things, to measure, validate, and finally adapt them, as the case may be.
Your mindset has to be focused on evolution and learning. Failure has no place in your vocabulary. Even if your company goes insolvent, it’s not a failure, but a way of validating that said strategy, plan, and applied methods, did not work. Next time you can avoid making the same mistakes.
Just because things don’t always work out how you expect them to, at first, doesn’t mean you won’t be able to succeed later on. Simply because the bank has taken everything you own and left you in debt to boot, doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to try again. You can face and overcome many obstacles and challenges, if you have faith in yourself. You aren’t the only one that went through these trials!
Through daily work aligned with your values and identity, through ignoring all those that try to pull you down, and by maintaining rigorous discipline, you will be able to reach your goal.
One of the crucial questions regarding the challenges you’ll face as an entrepreneur is: “Do you want to go forward?”
Yes…..
No…..
Now, if you’ve answered yes, I, Razvan, the entrepreneur that ‘failed’ 11 times over, that lost millions of Euros, and that chose not to stay beaten but instead rise up and work on those projects that represent me, will allow myself to give you some advice: “The most important moment you’ll have as an entrepreneur and as a person, is that moment when you manage to disassociate yourself from your possessions, from the money you have in various accounts, and from the constant pressure to succeed.” Why?
How would it be if you could work with passion for your business and, in parallel, work towards becoming the best version of yourself? Would you still be focused on ‘winning’ all the time? Would you still believe that money and the size of your business are what really matter?
This is how I’ve managed to get back up – working with passion on my own evolution as a person, as well as the projects that resonate the most with me.
What do I do, with discipline, each day?
I invest in something that I know I’ll never lose:
- I continue to learn daily. I learn from others that I follow, in the fields and industries that drive me. I read books, follow webinars, and use courses. But, most importantly, I constantly test new things, apply what I’ve learned and what I believe would work. It’s important to become an expert in one of the fields you’ve chosen to work in and to have a good working knowledge of at least two other areas of that industry. My knowledge in the field of marketing is vast, but I don’t consider myself a master. Even so, I’m interested in and constantly research things I should know, as well as perfecting those I already do, in order to get to where I want to be, both personally as well as with my business, whether we’re talking about the next 5 – 10 or 20 years.
- Likewise, I’m always perfecting my personal system for setting objectives and measuring my daily, weekly, and monthly progress. I reach conclusions and adapt what needs to be adapted.
- For my spiritual needs, I meditate on a weekly basis, give thanks and pray daily, in order to connect with my inner self and in order to understand myself on a deeper level. I strive to be as calm as I can be, in order to perceive what really is happening around me, and so that I don’t exaggerate the scale of external events, as is the norm for us humans.
- I help my heart by spending time to expand my connections, audience, groups of people I follow, and from whom I learn. I forge friendships more cautiously and try to find authentic, quality friendships, consolidated by common values. Connections change your entire life, “Your network is your net worth”, and to have an audience isn’t simply a commodity, but a must-have.
- I train daily. The better we train our bodies, the better we can perform. The same way athletes train daily, so too will entrepreneurs that develop and follow a daily exercise routine, perform ever better. Physical exercise lowers your body’s stress levels and raises your mental performance; this way you’ll have an easier time dealing with stress during the day. Likewise, exercise will fortify your immune system and consolidate your emotional plane.
The conclusion to the question of “Do you want to go forward?”, is that in order to start over from scratch, however many times it takes, you’ll need to develop a daily routine of:
- caring for your mind, body, heart, and spirit;
- developing healthy habits;
- reserving time for your work;
- allocating time for yourself, in order to reconnect with and rediscover your inner self.
A person with the identity of a winner or that of a successful entrepreneur can start over from scratch as many times as it takes, however, someone with the mentality and identity of a person that victimizes themselves, will never manage to obtain something of worth.
How many of those that won the lottery had as much as a penny to their name after a few years? Very few to none.
How many entrepreneurs exist that, after losing everything, managed to build it all back up again? Many more than you can imagine.
Developing daily discipline can change your entire existence and can help you achieve financial independence.
With the right mindset, and valuable, daily habits, you will have more opportunities and a clear state of mind; a state centered on reaching your goals and making it easier for you to get what you want out of life.
Healthy body, healthy mind, strong heart, alert spirit!
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