How to be a Successful Entrepreneur

Guest post by Dr. Jeannice Fairrer Samani, MBA

As an entrepreneur, your ultimate goal should be directing your company towards success. When I started Fairrer Samani Group, a strategic management firm, I spent a great deal of time researching business development and entrepreneurship. The challenge was clear – execution was the biggest factor for success. Here are seven tips to execute just right:

1. Be agile.  Decisions that are made are never final, and it is necessary to master change. Movement in the business world happens quickly. You have to be willing to pivot and change direction. Propose a working business plan, including a time-frame, which is your benchmark for recognizing and measuring success. But be flexible – you may need to go back to the drawing board.
2. Know your audience, and be unique. If you have many rivals, your product or service offering should differ from the competition. Have differentiation in your approach to your market and the creation of your team. Have a clear, sellable message for customers. From my experience, I realized that gaining recognition from my target market was essential. I began to offer networking events and low-cost educational workshops for building business by showcasing my idea. This provided exposure to my target market and helped me identify next steps in growing my business.
3. Be a risk-taker. Weigh the costs of being an entrepreneur and running a business. Keep in mind that every industry operates differently. By having a vertical strategy to selling your company product or service, you can achieve success that is scalable.
4. Commit to a business model.  A good entrepreneurial business model describes the steps to create, deliver, and capture value. It is the blueprint for a strategy to develop your idea through a planning process. Commit to the path you have chosen and have faith. This will help you sustain productivity.
5. Be true to your mission and purpose. Sharing your pitch for your company is exciting, scary, and necessary. Through talking about my business idea, I received great suggestions about how I should manage my company. Put suggestions into context and frame them in relation to your business and market. This will help you determine if the suggestion should be a part of the value proposition and how much weight to give each piece of advice.
6. Follow your gut instinct. Do not feed into self-doubt. There are times when this will be extremely difficult, but believe in yourself and the mission of your company. Friends, family members, and complete strangers will challenge your vision. Learn from their feedback but do not stop moving forward.
7. Build an accessible network of experts. Identify people who have achieved success in your focus area and will provide solid advice for your company. Then, cultivate the relationships. These individuals become emotionally invested in your business and will be your biggest supporters. Through conversations I had with experts, I created an effective framework and a true focus. Find mentors and experts who can help you identify weaknesses that can be turned into strengths and your company will thrive.

 

Dr. Jeannice Fairrer Samani, MBA served as a Cultural Mentor for the 2012 TechWomen program. She is inspired to bridge the generation and gender gaps in the STEM fields through entrepreneurship and leadership development. As the founder of Fairrer Samani Group, her mission is to provide access to resources in strategic management and development of business. LD4Ex, a Leadership Development for Excellence, program advising entrepreneurs from Cameroon and Morocco, launched in Spring 2013. FSG offers entrepreneurship education through the Entrepreneur Enterprise pipeline program (E²) which has successfully supported 250 entrepreneurs in their start-ups and empowered nearly 100 young women in the profession of engineering or related fields of study. Connect with Jeannice on twitter @jeannice and be sure to check out her new mobile app.