10 Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs (Part 2)

Transcription

Episode 17! Ten traits of successful entrepreneurs part two. Last Monday, we looked at the five traits in this two part series.

We’re going to go back to that video that I extracted the audio from, and I’m going to give you the final five traits that all successful entrepreneurs have in common—especially in the online business world. Let’s get into it.

 

6)  Taking Caluculated Risks

The sixth trait is that successful entrepreneurs are able and willing to take calculated risks to move their business forward.

Let me give you an example.

A couple years ago when my first published book came out, The All Day Energy Diet, I decided I was going to invest $300,000 to make this book a massive success. And we eventually hit number two on the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today—it was awesome.

Now that was a calculated risk, and a very, very uncomfortable one in terms of, “Holy cow, we’re going to make this happen.” But again, that came back to belief. That cames back to testing. A funnel and a book launch strategy that I knew was going to work, and we made it work.

Now I’m not saying you have to do that, but there are different levels of risk that you can take with what you’re doing. But if you’re not willing to bet on yourself, or bet on the people you believe in who are around you, you’re going to kind of stay at the minor leagues if you will. Be able to take calculated risks.

Look at people like Elon Musk, Richard Branson—facing great adversity, they just knew what they were doing would make a massive difference, and they were able to make it happen.

7) Have Your Own Products

Okay, the seventh trait of being a successful online entrepreneur is that you should really have your own products. There’s a lot of people making money through affiliate marketing, where they basically put links or promote other people’s stuff, and that’s fine.

But we’re here to create a legacy business, to really impact people’s lives. And you have a message, you have a unique method—a gift, a system, a way of helping people that you should really package in a product that you own, and that people can buy from you.

Because if you don’t have your own products, then you’re always reliant on finding other people. And the thing is—that dilutes your brand.

Unless you’re the person who’s going to say, “Listen, come to me and I’m going to refer you to all these cool resources,” that’s fine. But if you want people to see you as the trusted expert, you should really in-house a lot of your own stuff.

Because when you start promoting all over the place, it confuses them, it dilutes your brand, and quite frankly, it pisses off a lot of people on your list.

Own your own products. Create your products. They can be as simple as workouts, digital eBooks, courses, your own stuff.

And when you’re creating your own products, think about, “How do I make my products 10 times better than what is already out there?” Raise the bar. Don’t be a me-too product. Make yours better.

8)   The Riches Are in the Niches

All right, number ocho. Successful entrepreneurs, not even online, but just in general, niche down. The riches are in the niches.

One of the mistakes I made with my online health business is that I didn’t niche. I just said, “I’m gonna be the guy who’s going to help people have more energy, lose weight, improve their health.”

Well that’s a very broad market. Kind of competing with Dr. Oz, right? Pretty tough sell.

We made it work, but it’s an uphill battle as opposed to being like the Hashimoto’s expert, or the adrenal expert, or the Crossfitexpert for women. Do you see where I’m going with this?

When you understand a very small segment of the audience, or the population, and you know them intimately in terms of their values, their pains, their desires—and you can speak to that specifically? That’s very powerful.

Plus, your prospects and customers are always putting you in a specific category in their mental archives. When they’re thinking about you, what’s the archive that they’re putting you in?

Is it, “Oh, this person that I go to for delicious gluten-free recipes. Oh, you should check out this person because they are the expert for women who are doing Crossfit.”

Who do you want to be? What’s the category you want to occupy in your audience’s mind? Go niche, go deep a narrow.

9)   Never Giving Up

Number nine is never giving up, having this relentless persistence, and just being like a dog on a bone. And this goes back to a bunch of stuff we’ve already mentioned—it’s very easy to stop and give up.

Quite frankly, the business failure rate of small businesses is 95% after three years. So that means only 5% of small businesses make it beyond three years, and that’s just because it’s tough. And most people don’t know what they’re doing.

They’re trying to reinvent the wheel or do their own thing, they’re not investing in themselves or their business, to get the coaching and strategies they need to succeed, and they struggle. And then they get a point where they’re like, “Well I don’t know if this is worth it.”

So never give up. You have a gift and message that people need. They need to have it. There’s stuff you know that I don’t, which is awesome, because there’s only one me, there’s only one you. And you have to share that gift in any way, shape, or form with the people who are most receptive to it.

10)   Good Humans

And the final trait of successful online entrepreneurs is that they’re good humans. Need I say more? Don’t be a douche. Be a good human.

Do unto others as you would want done to yourself. And that’s just a great way to live, right?

I think it’s just a great way to approach business. And never forget this—it’s not about how much money you make, it’s not about if your car matches your shoes, and your belt matches your home, all that bling-bling nonsense.

Your reputation really matters.

So when people are talking about you to their friends, or they’re leaving comments about you online, what are they saying? Are they trash talking you? (And you’re always going to have haters, don’t get me wrong.) But for the most part, what’s the reputation, what’s the legacy that you are building? Or the legacy that you are leaving behind?

Never forget that, okay, because at the end of the day—sure, money is awesome. The lifestyle is awesome. But it’s the impact we’re making in the world, it’s the legacy that we’re leaving, and if you resonate with that, then that’s awesome.

And there you have it. Now you know the ten traits of successful entrepreneurs. Now if you’re thinking to yourself, “Yuri, I have no idea what you’re talking about, we just talked about five.” That’s because we did five last time.

We broke this up for the sake of time, to cover five last week, five today. So if you missed the first episode, episode number 14 where we talked about the first five traits, go back and listen to that. You can also go over to the blog to get the show notes at healthpreneurgroup.com/podcast, and you can just oscillate between episode 14 and episode 17. There’s a two-part series, 10 traits of successful entrepreneurs. If you want all 10 of them, there you go.

But here’s the thing— now you know what to do. Now you know what’s involved. That’s the easy part.

Crushing it

The challenging part is doing them, is living it. And this is where rubber meets the road. This is what separates those who crush it in their business, and when I say crush it, let me just be very transparent.

I’m not saying making hundreds of millions of dollars. I’m saying crushing it, relevant to whatever crushing it is for you. So whether that’s serving people at a deep level, making the money you want, enjoying more time with your family, feeling like you’re fulfilled in the work that you’re doing.

Whatever you define as crushing, that’s what I’m talking about.

So, that’s it. That’s the deal is, actually living the stuff and doing the work. Because doing the work si what produces the results. And if you know what’s involved, it becomes a lot easier.