The Big Role Older Entrepreneurs Play in Business Innovations

Entrepreneurs over 55 are among the most active new business owners in America, starting companies at rates that exceed their younger peers. In fact, 80% of small business owners are over 45, according to the New York Federal Reserve.

With a wealth of knowledge gained over years of experience, older Americans are well positioned to put that experience to work building businesses of their own making. And with the average American living well past the traditional retirement age of 65, many start businesses to extend careers or, in some cases, to try a path not taken earlier in life.

Even coming out of the pandemic, older entrepreneurs are better positioned than their younger counterparts to succeed.

What’s not as obvious is the role that older entrepreneurs play in producing innovations.

For a whole host of reasons, the narrative of innovation — especially in the tech economy — centers on younger entrepreneurs. Paul Graham, an investor in entrepreneurs and a co-founder of the famous Silicon Valley business accelerator, Y Combinator, once quipped that “the cutoff in investors’ heads is 32… After 32, they start to be a little skeptical.”

This certainly maps to how the media typically portrays startup founders. But a closer look tells a different story.

Learn more at NextAvenue.org

“When I’m old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say ‘wow, that was an adventure,’ not ‘wow, I sure felt safe.’” – Tom Preston-Werner, co-founder Github

Senior Entrepreneurs: 5 Things to Keep in Mind When Starting a New Business Over 50

You’ve probably noticed them. Very likely, you’re one of them yourself…a baby boomer who is approaching retirement age (or is even well past it). But if you’re like many over the age of 50, you may be feeling the itch to start a business and go looking for new opportunities and untapped markets.

And why not? People over 50 have a host of things working in their favor, from decades of work experience to a valuable network of connections to the financial resources needed to start and run a new business successfully. All of these combine to make this a great time to take the leap and try turning your big idea into something big.

Here are two more reasons why the “over 50” age set is an opportune time to start a business: the internet revolution and the explosive growth of technology, both of which have generated important new tools for older entrepreneurs to consider. Running a thriving, modern company today depends on advanced technology capabilities and extensive internet knowledge, both of which you and your company need to have.

Read more at blog.SimonAssociates.net

“If I had started at age 30, I could not have survived. I had no experience or connections. And connections are very important, especially in this business.” – Edward Kim, Buying Together

4 Tips for Aspiring Encore Entrepreneurs

Baby boomers are no longer the largest American generation. But they’re still one of the strongest, armed with skills and experience to help them live fully.

In 1996, people 55 to 64 made up less than 15 percent of new entrepreneurs. In 2016, that same age group made up 25 percent of new entrepreneurs, according to a study by the Kauffman Foundation.

We call them encore entrepreneurs. Many are starting businesses for the first time as they near retirement age. Some are already retired, but seek a new path to help them feel reinvigorated in their older years.

It’s the ultimate example of age being just a number.

Consider Ryders Public Safety. Two law-enforcement officers nearing retirement started this shop to serve the Denver, Colorado area because they knew they could serve security industry customers better than current offerings. One of the owners’ wives has joined the team to support the shop as it expands into ecommerce.

Meanwhile, Laurie Brown pivoted from her 30-year career in corporate management to a gift-basket delivery service. Her business idea meshed with her passion for helping people with special needs, who create and fill baskets as a part of their job-skills training.

These are just two examples of seasoned professionals taking an idea and turning it into an encore career as an entrepreneur.

Before embarking on a business journey in your 50s, 60s, or beyond, consider your reasons for doing so. Is it a method of ensuring financial stability? Is it a way to make extra money while practicing a skill you value?

There’s no wrong answer, but knowing your “why” will undoubtedly help guide you as you prepare to pursue your small business idea. You’ll be able to right-size your business to your goals.

Learn more at Score.org

The Rise of Senior Entrepreneurs

As far as digital natives are concerned there are several factors the heads of successful start-ups have in common.

Firstly, most see America’s Silicon Valley as the holy grail of all things technology, innovation and social media related and, secondly – owing in part to the massive success of tech entrepreneurs such as the 27-year old Snap founder Evan Spiegel, 33-year-old Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk, aged 34 – many see this entrepreneurial success as the sole preserve of the young.

“Young people are just smarter,” Zuckerberg once remarked, conveniently overlooking the fact that it was baby boomer innovators such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Tim Berners-Lee who led the information revolution in the first place.

Yet with a plethora of business resources now available, increasing numbers of Australian seniors are harnessing online tutorials, online video tutorials and online ‘how to’ articles to source inspiration and turn their business dreams into reality.

While many have yet to reach the dizzying commercial heights of big name brands such as Apple or Microsoft, and those who have invented a product as globally significant as the world wide web are few and far between, senior entrepreneurs have slowly but surely been making themselves a force to be reckoned with, actively contributing to fiscal, social, health, active ageing and lifestyle outcomes in their communities in the process.

Read more at Aveo.com

More Adults Over 50 Starting Their Own Businesses

Adults age 50 and older are starting new businesses at a rate that’s been growing for more than 20 years — and accelerating since 2008. Many of these new entrepreneurs are using skills developed during careers to start successful businesses, all while enjoying the experiences that come with working for themselves.

“In 1996, the 55-64 age group represented 14 percent of all new enterprises,” says Susan Weinstock, vice president of financial resilience programming at AARP, citing a study from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation released in September. “In 2018, it was 25.8 percent.”

“People are living longer, healthier lives,” Weinstock says. “A lot of us get to our senior years, and we see no reason to retire if we don’t want to.”

Starting their own business is one way older workers can apply their experience in new, fulfilling ways. Some of them have been pushed into entrepreneurship by job loss or other necessities — roughly 6 percent of the 2,700 current and aspiring business owners who responded to a survey from Guidant Financial and LendingClub this year. But the rest made the jump into entrepreneurship voluntarily. Among men, the most common reason is the desire to be one’s own boss. Among women, it’s the desire to follow a long-held passion. Other common reasons include a golden opportunity, a desire not to retire and dissatisfaction with the corporate world.

Thomas Mock, chair of the Asheville, N.C., chapter of SCORE — a national, nonprofit organization that pairs experienced business leaders with entrepreneurs who are just getting their start — says he sees a lot of people who “want to do something other than retiring.” One of his clients, a retired physician from Florida, started a business making toys for dogs. “She wanted to help local animal shelters and make a little money on the side,” Mock says. “This is a real dog-friendly community and a good opportunity for her.”

Learn more at AARP.org

The Reality Of Being A Female Entrepreneur/Business Owner And How We Can Best Support Them

Women entrepreneurs need to cover more ground than men in order to succeed. This won’t be easy if they keep their hands full with tasks that they can either delegate or outsource. When doing business, female entrepreneurs can outsource all their HR duties to a global PEO such as NHGlobal Partners. A professional employer organization (PEO), helps businesses with all workforce management duties including payroll management, employment laws compliance, and employee recruitment. Working with a PEO can help female entrepreneurs boost morale within their human resources, and to enhance workplace culture, consequently boosting their bottom line.

Another way of supporting female entrepreneurs is to change the current entrepreneurial ecosystem through realistic and honest dialogues about business capital. Governments can, for example, offer women-run startups bigger incentives, and encourage banks to give guarantor-free loans for female-owned businesses. Loans that are anchored on group security or social security, as opposed to personal guarantees, can go a long way in giving women entrepreneurs better access to funding. Relevant government authorities can also adopt a comprehensive, and sustainable industrial policy that makes it easier for women to register businesses and acquire licenses.

Instead of leaving women to self-educate themselves in matters of entrepreneurship, and instead of leaving them to make costly teething mistakes, governments can step in to offer business training to potential and ambitious women. Especially in regards to business profitability and continuity. Society leaders should also educate people against the stereotypes that hold women back, particularly the role of women as caregivers. Husbands should relieve women of the burden of household chores, and other gender roles that prevent them from thriving. Parents, especially in the third world, should give equal educational opportunities to all genders, offering young girls a fair fighting chance in future entrepreneurship.

Read more at ScoopEmpire.com

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” – Coco Chanel

Why More Women Are Turning To Entrepreneurship

The number of women-owned businesses increased nearly 3,000% since 1972 according to the “2018 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report” commissioned by American Express. Not only that but between 2017 and 2018 women started an average of 1,821 new businesses per day in the U.S. With women now making up a whopping 40% of new entrepreneurs, it’s clear that more women are turning to entrepreneurship than ever before.  But why are so many women starting businesses? 

The reality is that women are still the primary caregivers whether we’re talking about children or aging parents. One research study indicated that the primary reason American women start businesses is to accommodate work to their family needs. Another survey revealed that roughly 74% of women said flexibility is more important than making the most money. Being your own boss generally allows for more freedom than working for someone else. This additional autonomy is especially helpful when family may be the number one priority. The ability to set your own schedule also makes it easier to make time for exercise and a healthy lifestyle—another reason why women are turning to entrepreneurship.

Read more at Forbes.com

Women Entrepreneurship: A Step towards Independence

For an entrepreneur it is always about being alert to upcoming opportunities to bring about the value to his/her ideas by using the minimum threshold resources and generating outcomes that are in-line with his primary objective. An entrepreneur has his ideas and thought process as his core competence and an important asset, rest all resources play a secondary role. They always cater to strategic stretch for varied opportunities coming to his path and is prone to risk taking. An entrepreneur is open to innovativeness and would be low on dogmatism because if he would stick to the dogma, then he will not be able to grow in the market.

We might all be aware of some entrepreneurs who have made sky rocketing contribution in the global economy. Some of them are Opprah Winfrey, larry page and sergie brin, bill gates, Michael Bloomberg, aliko dangote, angella margolit, hetal parikh, kiran gill and many more which makes person difficult to list down. Every year hundreds and thousands of entrepreneurs are nominated into the international list of entrepreneurs.

Like Rome was not built in a day, same way there was not a sudden growth in the amount of quality women entrepreneurs in the world. It took real pain and courage to step out in the midst of dawn by breaking all the stereotypes of the society and varied cultures.

Learn more at 01WebDirectory.com

Why networking is an act of wellbeing for entrepreneurs

While business owners ostensibly find themselves exploring networking for the leads it can deliver for their firms, there are multiple other advantages to taking networking seriously.

In fact, Jean Evans, Networking Architect and founder of NetworkingJean.ie believes these other benefits are even more critical than lead referrals.

“When I encourage other people to network, my first reason for doing so is mentioning how you build your own board of directors when you network,” Jean says. “This has always been important; entrepreneurship is an exhilarating but lonely journey at times, but in 2020 it took on even more relevance. Businesses were facing a whole new environment, with no earlier playbook to implement, and needed all the help they could get. This help, for many, was found in their fellow business contacts.”

Jean’s statement about a board of directors has a community feel about it.

Just as in a community, business networks look out for their members. On the face of it, a graphic designer, a baker and a legal professional might have little in common. However, they’re all experiencing the ups and downs of self-employment, have deep industry knowledge that others could find useful and may have beneficial contacts to share.

Learn more at ThriveGlobal.com

Do These 30 Things If You Want to Be Unstoppable

A lot of people are good at what they do. Some are even elite. A select few are completely unstoppable.

Those who are unstoppable are in their own world. They don’t compete with anyone but themselves. You never know what they will do—only that you will be forced to respond. Even though they don’t compete with you, they make you compete with them.

Are you unstoppable?

Read more at Success.com and you will be!

“Just as the yin-yang symbol possesses a kernel of light in the dark, and of dark in the light, creative leaps are grounded in a technical foundation.” — Josh Waitzkin, author of The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance

How To Build A Legacy For Your Business

“Legacy” is a powerful word and aspiration. When entrepreneurs get started, they either want to build their company to have a successful exit and sell out, or they imagine the generations that will come after them and contribute to the legacy of their business. This can be created for a family business specifically, or just a long term vision for the company that spans multiple generations and decades, whether pushed forth by employees or one’s own family.  

It’s an impactful consideration, and an entirely new way to approach business. For one, it encourages you as a  founder or part of a founding team to look beyond today’s fads and trends and consider how your product or service will continue to be relevant and impactful in the long run. This also may provide for a better infrastructure building of how the company is managed and operated. Building a business for a long term impact is a different type of building entirely.

Read more at Forbes.com

How to Build a Culture that Leaves Behind a Legacy

“We’re not like the other nonprofits, we’re a cool nonprofit.”

“We’ll throw in casual Fridays! Done. Our nonprofit’s culture ROCKS.”

“Yeah, let’s give them the day after #GivingTuesday off to show them we care. Back to work on Thursday, folks!”

These statements shouldn’t be the norm, but I guarantee they’ve come out of some of your mouths at some point. (Sorry for calling you out, Steve.) While these ideas are a good starting point, company culture is so much more than a one-time activity here and a day-off there, or feeling the need to spend money to try to look fun.

Company culture is the thread that weaves together the fabric that makes up your nonprofit scarf. Er, sweater? Anyhow, you get the idea. Let’s talk about why culture matters, some basic company culture steps your nonprofit can take right now and the things you can do to ensure your organization’s culture leaves a legacy for the future.

Peter Drucker is attributed with saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Is strategy important? You bet it is. That’s why we focus so much on constantly making ourselves better. At Nonprofit Hub, we have weekly strategy meetings and even bigger-picture meetings every quarter to lay out what’s next. But without a solid foundation, the strategy would crumble.

Think about it — culture is about creating an environment and a workspace where everybody feels empowered to do the best they can do. With an encouraging and positive culture, staff and volunteers alike will feel empowered to do their best.

Learn more at NonprofitHub.org

“Please think about your legacy because you are writing it every day.” —Gary Vaynerchuk

The Leader’s Guide to Corporate Culture

Strategy and culture are among the primary levers at top leaders’ disposal in their never-ending quest to maintain organizational viability and effectiveness. Strategy offers a formal logic for the company’s goals and orients people around them. Culture expresses goals through values and beliefs and guides activity through shared assumptions and group norms.

Strategy provides clarity and focus for collective action and decision making. It relies on plans and sets of choices to mobilize people and can often be enforced by both concrete rewards for achieving goals and consequences for failing to do so. Ideally, it also incorporates adaptive elements that can scan and analyze the external environment and sense when changes are required to maintain continuity and growth. Leadership goes hand-in-hand with strategy formation, and most leaders understand the fundamentals. Culture, however, is a more elusive lever, because much of it is anchored in unspoken behaviors, mindsets, and social patterns.

For better and worse, culture and leadership are inextricably linked. Founders and influential leaders often set new cultures in motion and imprint values and assumptions that persist for decades. Over time an organization’s leaders can also shape culture, through both conscious and unconscious actions (sometimes with unintended consequences). The best leaders we have observed are fully aware of the multiple cultures within which they are embedded, can sense when change is required, and can deftly influence the process.

Read more at HBR.org

Why Personal Branding is a Must for Every Entrepreneur

Seth Godin, an American Author once said, “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.”

Personal Branding is a representation of one’s niche, goals, values and expertise. It helps people interpret what a brand (a person or a business) stands for.Branding also plays a crucial role in boosting the net worth of a business. According to Forbes, consistent branding across all channels increases revenue by up to 23%.

People cannot buy what they don’t know. This is why individuals, groups, businesses and organizations are constantly striving for visibility. In this competitive world, one must be unique and authentic to stand out from the rest. Studies have shown that around 91% of the consumers prefer to buy from an authentic brand. Hence, Personal Branding is a weapon that every entrepreneur can use to grow their business.

If you are an Entrepreneur, you can implement the techniques of Personal Branding by establishing a strong online presence, either through Social Media or other platforms. Statistics show that 77% of the consumers are more likely to buy from a brand, if the CEO is active on Social Media. With the help of an interactive Social Media profile, you can gain the trust of your audience and add more value to your brand. All you need to do is spend some time to create good quality content, specific to your area of expertise.

A good Personal branding strategy can clearly convey why people must choose you and your services over your competition. Personal Branding is highly essential for any entrepreneur looking to capture a large portion of the market. Setting up a personal brand can be tiresome, but the results are worthy of the efforts put in. Here are some reasons why every entrepreneur must invest in personal branding.

Read more DigitalScholar.in

“Your story is the greatest legacy that you will leave to your friends. It’s the longest-lasting legacy you will leave to your heirs.” —Steve Saint

The Importance of Understanding the Essence of Branding for a Start-Up Company

The age of the internet and its dominance are today’s most prominent reality both in personal life as well as in business. In the days to come, more and more companies will inevitably be driven towards cloud technologies as a survival strategy. So, there is no doubt that even start-ups are joining the fray. Day by day the competition is becoming gravely fierce. These are the times when Branding gains much prominence in the world of business. Not all start-ups manage to get to the finishing line of the race or even beyond. Strategic Branding is what it takes for a small-scale start-up business to thrive in this ever-growing competitive market.

All processes in business require capital investment. Branding cannot be separated from the list. Evidently, capital is a significant issue for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Thus, the need for loans comes into the picture which is inadvertently followed by debt. Debt is something that cannot be ignored. It hangs around the neck of a company unless it is paid off. Debt management is thus vital as it can save you and your dream business from bankruptcy because of debt.

Branding is one of the pillars of an effective marketing strategy. It is all the more crucial when the business has an online presence. Today, when companies are being confronted with rapidly changing market trends and customer preferences, understanding the essence and potential of consistent branding and the application of it is the call of the hour. Many fail to acknowledge the potential of branding as a result of which they lag behind in the market competition. You surely do not wish to be a lost identity in the market. Who starts up a business to remain invisible? No one, right! So, yes, visibility is one of the much-needed keys on your way to commercial success. Branding is the tool that can make the presence of the business felt in the market. However, whether the impact leads to a positive or negative response is entirely dependent on the strategies that you take up for branding and the implementation of it. Therefore, you better be a stand out brand than just another commodity in a pile. Branding helps a great deal in scaling up the worth of a business start-up.

Learn more at Insights.pecb.com

The Complete Guide To Building a Brand Using Video

Brand building is tough.

With technological trends shifting rapidly, who’s to say that going with a certain strategy will prove itself down the line?

There is,  however, one element that by almost all given indications, will be a staple in any industry, for years to come:

Video.

Expected to account for 4/5 of internet traffic by 2022, it would be highly-recommended have video play a major role in your branding process.

From customer attraction to customer retention, through analytics and studies, there is much to look out from when forging a brand from scratch.

Video can prove a seminal role in all of the above.

Read more at Cincopa.com

The Real Secret to Entrepreneurial Success (That’s Not What You Think)

Is there “one weird trick” that will serve every entrepreneur well, no matter what their business model or industry might be? Yes, I think there is. But it’s decidedly un-sexy and even unpopular these days. 

It’s regular meetings. Yes, really. 

The ongoing crisis did nothing to help the cause of meetings. Corralling your employees onto Zoom calls might have made meetings a little more convenient, but most folks still think these events are a waste of time and money, and that they’re excruciating exercises in futility. And, there are even some who say meetings should be abolished altogether if possible. 

In my experience, however, the problem isn’t meetings themselves. It’s bad meetings. Inefficient meetings. Meetings that aren’t planned or run well. Meetings themselves are crucial to ongoing business growth, employee engagement and financial success.

Learn more at Entrepreneur.com

What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur?

Starting a business isn’t for the faint of heart. It can be one of life’s greatest experiences, but it is filled with obstacles and potential failure.  

Do you have the right mix of leadership, experience, support, planning, and the ability to handle difficult obstacles? Take our entrepreneur quiz to find out.

Do your best to answer as honestly as possible, and we’ll analyze your results. Based on your outcome, we’ll provide steps you can take to follow your dream of becoming your own boss. We’ll also recommend resources to help you each step of the way.

Take the quiz or skip it and check out the tips and recommended resources for each step of the way at Articles.BPlans.com.

What Makes a ‘Successful’ Business?

While there is no foolproof method for building a business, many aspiring entrepreneurs feel that having a good business plan, the motivation and the capital is all that is required to “make it.” While true, there is more to success than that. Success can mean a myriad of things to different people and businesses. It is likely that when asking 10 individuals what their definition of success is and what defines a successful business, there would be 10 different answers. In this article, New Jersey Business sits down with a handful of business mentors and consultants to dissect the components and characteristics that successful businesses share.

When starting a business, “it boils down to one thing,” says Vincent Vicari, regional director of the New Jersey Small Business Development Center (NJSBDC), based at Bergen Community College in Hackensack. “Is there a market for what you are doing and will people pay you to do it?” What this means is that the product or service that a business is providing has to be in demand, either where the business is physically located, or, where it ships its products to, whether across the United State, or overseas, for example.”

“It’s about innovation and how to create a demand in the marketplace for what’s needed,” says Michael Coletti, partner at WeiserMazars LLP, who handles owner-managed businesses and advises them on financial and business decisions. “A business could have the best product or best service, but if nobody wants or needs it, it is not going to sell very well, or be utilized.”

Learn more at NJBmagazine.com

Entrepreneurial Launch Code: Learn the Keys to Success

If you asked 10 people what the word “entrepreneur” means, you’d probably get 10 different answers. Although business owners are often labeled entrepreneurs, not everyone who owns a business has an entrepreneurial mind-set or the qualities needed to make a business thrive.

One definition, which captures the essence of entrepreneurship, was developed by author John Hagel III, the founder and chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge, a Silicon Valley research center. From his perspective, an entrepreneur is not just someone who wants to make a bundle of money in the fastest possible way, but rather “someone who sees an opportunity to create value and is willing to take a risk to capitalize on that opportunity,” he wrote in a Harvard Business Review article.

Among the biggest mistakes many novice entrepreneurs make is attempting to reinvent the wheel. Fortunately, entrepreneurs can easily avoid that common stumbling block by following the advice of motivational speaker Tony Robbins. He said that one of the keys to success in business, especially for aspiring entrepreneurs, is to ask for help from a mentor who already knows the ropes.

“Whatever you want in life,” Robbins said, “someone has already discovered how to get it.”

Robbins said that a seasoned entrepreneur “can likely save you time and pain with the knowledge they’ve gained in their own experiences.”

Read more at BusinessNewsDaily.com

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer

5 Leadership Lessons For Entrepreneurs To Be Successful In 2021

Whether you’re a business veteran or new to the entrepreneur scene, running a business is no easy feat. Despite a challenging past year, entrepreneurial spirits are alive and well, with many Americans expanding their quarantine hobbies beyond activities like baking and exercising and starting their own ventures. Consequently, 30.7 million small businesses now currently operate nationwide, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, applications for small business owners increased 32% in the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a record-breaking 77% jump in Q2 – that’s 500,000 more Americans and counting navigating the complex world of entrepreneurship.

Building on a long, successful career as an entrepreneur, Kirk Simpson, CEO of FinTech software Wave, developed software specifically for small business owners to help them get off the ground and focus on doing what they love. As a three-time tech startup owner himself, Simpson’s unique connection to entrepreneurship encouraged him to develop his software with features that relieve entrepreneurs of maintaining administrative tasks like bookkeeping and banking, so they can focus on building their business. 

Learn more at Forbes.com

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

How Much Education Does an Entrepreneur Really Need to Succeed?

Common sense might tell you that the more educated an entrepreneur is, the greater their chances of success will be. Going to college, getting an advanced degree and undergoing multiple training programs should equip them with more knowledge and experience they can use to build their business.  

But at the same time, there are plenty of stories of entrepreneurs who dropped out of college (and even those who dropped out of high school) and still did something incredible. So how much education does an entrepreneur truly need to succeed?  

First, we need to acknowledge the fact that you can find anecdotal evidence to back your claims no matter what your position is. For example, the found of Tumblr, David Karp, dropped out of high school and is now a billionaire — along with fellow billionaires Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Amancio Ortega and Francois Pinault.  

Similarly, you can find stories of entrepreneurs who dropped out of college and became wildly successful. Famously, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs all left college at some point — and many of them did this so they could focus on their landmark business full-time.  

And of course, there are plenty of stories of entrepreneurs who became successful only after graduating college with an advanced degree. Anecdotal evidence doesn’t tell the full story, however. 

Zooming out, we can see that the alluring tale of the “college dropout entrepreneur” is a bit unfounded. Although there are some specific examples of people who abandoned their education and became successful, these tend to be exceptions rather than the rule.  

Learn more at Entrepreneur.com

How to Foster and Nurture Entrepreneurial Success

You’ve likely heard the tales of entrepreneurs working 18-hour days by themselves, but that’s not a healthy way to run a business. Trying to take everything on yourself can quickly lead to exhaustion, burnout, and mistakes.

A successful company begins at the top and if you’re stressed and tired, then your service and morale will suffer. Instead, learn to take on what you must and delegate the rest to others. Many business owners want to do everything themselves because they don’t trust it can be done right.

Smart entrepreneurs surround themselves with people they trust and give them jobs they’re qualified for. Don’t take on so much that your business suffers.

Read more at ErikChristianJohnson.com

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs

6 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Do throughout 2021 to Thrive

A variety of factors contribute to one’s success as an entrepreneur. According to recent research, they include everything from financial stability to excellent leadership. And, while you may do a lot to improve the efficiency of your business, there are some things you must do. Here is an outline of many critical things entrepreneurs must do to drive firm success to a global scale.

• Personify, personify, personify your brand.
• Make your brand more human.
• Make your brand more human! Your company, your employees, or your products may make your movie available on your best-written blog or post.
• Thanks to your phone, you are now encouraged to more conferences, interviews, and awareness events than ever before in today’s business environment. Visibility is important for your business as well.

Read more at ThriveGlobal.com

What Entrepreneurs Should Know About Reading

What do all successful entrepreneurs have in common?

They read books.

A lot.

Warren Buffett devotes about 80% of each day to reading, Bill Gates strives to read one book a week, and Mark Zuckerberg needs two weeks to read one book and share it in his online book club. Oprah Winfrey selects one of her favorite books every month for her Book Club, while Richard Branson might wow you with his impressive bookshelf.

Why do they read like there is no tomorrow?

Books encourage self-educating, self-improvement, and success. Entrepreneurs read books to reveal marketing secrets and get advice on business strategies, as well as develop necessary skills and get new business ideas and motivation.

The trick is, successful people are highly selective about what they read, choosing books for education rather than entertainment.

Read more at Creately.com

15 Best Entrepreneurs Books to Start Reading Now to Be Successful

Knowledge is power, and you’re going to need a lot of it if you’re going to be able to steer your business to success.

Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an entrepreneur who is striving to make your business successful, learning from successful entrepreneurs’ experiences can help you grow faster.

Let’s take a look at LifeHack.org for the 15 best entrepreneurs books to get inspirations about success and grow your business.

I Built a Billion-Dollar Company With the Help of These 19 Business Books

There’s arguably no better way to learn how to start and grow a business than to just dive in with a hands-on approach. At the same time, as someone who built a “unicorn” from the ground up, I can also testify that there’s a lot of wisdom in taking advice from others who have already gone through the school of hard knocks. Books are a wonderfully accessible way to get that advice, and there’s no shortage of incredible professionals who are sharing what they know through the written word.

Check out these 19 must-read titles at Entrepreneur.com if you’re serious about entrepreneurial success, leadership and creating a hypergrowth company.

Take a Seat: Relaxation for the Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs hardly ever get time to sit and just think. I’d argue that starting your own business is one of the toughest jobs out there. And the possibility of stress, the lack of motivation and the impending fear of failure is enough to get even the toughest player to gasp for mercy.
Entrepreneurs may forget that they too deserve a break and need to unwind and clear their heads. In fact many top CEOs and entrepreneurs consider this unwind time non-negotiable. As for me, I was so stressed as I was pursuing my business ideas that I cornered myself with a bout of pneumonia, rendering me unable to work on anything for a month – what an #entrepreneurfail. Since then I’ve carefully carved out a balance.
Here are some traditional ways to relax as an entrepreneur:

1. Meditation and Yoga – Top CEOs meditate. Are you one of them? 
2. Exercise – There is evidence that you can actually improve your memory and focus with exercise  
3. Humor – Laughter can reduce your blood pressure and help you think clearly. If you need a laugh you can always turn to #entrepreneurfail!
4. Family and Friends – Don’t forget those who care about you the most.
5. Me time – You, yourself and yes to taking a well deserved break.

Learn more at EntrepreneurFail.com

Entrepreneurs! It’s Important to Relax

As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling like time spent relaxing is time wasted. When your time is your money, it makes sense to spend as much time as you can working so that you can grow your business and make a larger profit. But, forgetting to relax can cause a number of problems with your health – including stress and anxiety, high blood pressure, headaches, muscle pain and more, which can add up and take their toll.

If you’ve been running a business for a long time and it’s getting increasingly busier, you’ll be forgiven if you’ve forgotten what relaxing feels like. Many entrepreneurs find themselves incorporating work into the time that they’ve set aside for relaxation, such as taking their laptop on holiday, checking emails in front of the TV, and taking conference calls during dinner time. But, it’s vital that during the time you set aside for relaxation, you forget about work. This helps you to truly wind down and release the stress of the day, leaving you refreshed to take on the remainder of what you have left to do.

Learn more at BMMagaine.co.uk

Meditation for Entrepreneurs — A Blueprint

As entrepreneurs, we all need to cope with uncertainty, evaluate risk, constantly learn, and adapt to an ever-changing environment. Often times it means working harder, longer, and sacrificing short-term gains for a longer-term goal. Not the most stable and predictable way of living.

Luckily, meditation offers many techniques to work through these challenges while helping you to get to know yourself better.

The most obvious benefit of meditation is that it reduces stress levels. However, there are many more profound benefits to be reaped.

More specifically, meditation can help to

• Be more centered — Entrepreneurs sometimes need to make quick decisions and iterate quickly, and good decisions are only being made when distracting thoughts and negative emotions are out of the way.
• Be more goal-oriented— Focusing your energy on reaching your goals and milestones is essential and meditation can help to put you into the right mental state to channel your energy more targeted.
• Be more creative—Finding innovative solutions for problems is daily business and divergent thinking is key here, a trait which is imposed by meditation.
• Be more joyful — Life is partly suffering and building a company most likely involves low times, though, there is no reason for not being as joyful as possible throughout the entire process.
• Stop worrying that much — Failure does not exist, it is only the interpretation of most people’s mind that makes it look like a failure. In reality, it is all about learning, and every challenge will put you in a better and stronger position.
• Get to know your true self — This is a hard one. Finding your true self means to understand your values, strengths, weaknesses, and real passions. Getting closer to your true self will almost certainly make you a different kind of entrepreneur.

Read more at Medium.com