The dream of driving your own project, the thrill of creating something, the thought that you can inspire or provide value to others on a bigger scale, that you are doing something meaningful – is what made throw myself into entrepreneurship in the first place. Over last few years I have done and fail a number of project, but the lessons I have learnt are invaluable for anyone who is thinking about setting up your own business. Here are a few of them.

Believe in Yourself

So simple and so hard. You might not have all the skills in the world but you need to believe that you will find or create a way no matter what. You need to believe that you have the power to pull resources, work out strategies but all the more believe that you can learn. Its ok to not know – you will learn as you go. Just believe you can make it no matter what.

Develop a Strong Vision

This will drive you. Anytime you will have a down time – come back to it. Feel it, touch it, smell it. It will instantly bring you back on your path. Remember the biggest the why the easier the how.

Do It for the Right Reason

It’s easy to get caught in ideas especially those which promise quick money returns. Make sure you are not chasing just money. Focus on creating the value and the bigger value you will create and deliver to as many people as possible the more money you will make. Financial feasibility is important but make sure that the number are not the only reason you want to make it. I promise you it will make you miserable.

Embrace Confusion

Whatever you want to build there will be lots of confusion going on. Embrace it – you are creating something, and learning. That is why startup environment especially at the beginning its so hectic, we are learning hence the strategies we are applying will be changing according to what we learn.  Every time you are confused – tell yourself this is a good, think – that are the only means you are learning and growing. Push through it and soon you will see the light.

Fail you way to success

Get used to it. You will fail. And its not going to be fun, it will be very uncool, people will think things about you, you will not be a cool entrepreneur with cool things. You will be a looser and a winner at the same time. Your learning will help you win. Failing is good unless you are moving forward and learning from it. Fail fast and learn quickly move on to the next idea/project. Use the Customer Development Frameworks and Lean startup up to quickly test your market and your idea and move on. Customer interview can be done in less than a week.

Most important, stand up, get yourself sorted and move on. The longer you stay in the fail state the worse it will end up for you.

 It will take time – Be patient

I heard a lot of people making money overnight especially in internet marketing space, you hear about entrepreneurs mostly when they are successful and you believe that these things happen instantly. But hardly anybody talks that the 20k in one day was followed by years of learning, experimenting, testing, adapting. Your success will be built on hard work and patience

If you are hyper like me with extreme drive and need for speed – then learning patience will be the hardest and most important thing on your journey. Focus on making progress on a day to day basis. One step at the time and you will get there.

Be persistent

You bet you hear that a lot. But be prepared for that. There will be times when u will be fed up, you will question your ideas your actions and your existence – the usual. You will be sick of where you are, that thing doesn’t seem to make progress etc. This is the moment when you need to push harder and stick with it! That will make you the winner! There will be situations when you will have to make a pivot, or it will be a time to change your strategy, but most of the time stick with it.

Build Strong Networks

Nobody is a self-made millionaire. Even if you do not want to be a millionaire and you just want to build a small lifestyle blog or business you need support. And people will want to help you. Find the best in your industry and follow them. Develop a strong network of friends to support you. Get a mentor and a coach to keep you accountable.

Be humble/ listen and learn from others

So you have a biz idea, and maybe your business already – now you are a cool kid entrepreneur. Most successful ones listen and are committed to never ending learning and improvement. Be ready to listen and learn especially at the beginning. Listen to your customers; to you team, to your grandma, to people in the bus. Filter but acknowledge. If you can master that you are on the right track.

 Trust Your Gut

It comes ith your confidence. I made many mistakes following the advice of other people inspite of trusting my own feelings. No matter what others say look inside yourself and get the answers. Ultimatley you need to learn from others but its your path you need to follow not anybody elses.

 Bring on a great team

When the time is right you will want to bring people on board. Make sure every single one is better than you. Enough said.

Celebrate all successes.

The smallest ones. Develop a habit of being successful. We practice in our team and with my close friends what we call a success thread. Everyone sends an email everyday with their successes from the previous days/ goals for this day / biggest challenges we face now and what we are grateful for.

If you are successful at small things you will be successful at big things.