I’m not guaranteeing that following the items on this list will make you a success, but the majority of people who are do these tasks each and every day, month and year. If it works for them, it should work for you, but adapt them to suit your personality and your work style.
- Make a Plan – If we are planning a trip, we will use maps or the web to find the best route, how long it will take, any problems on the way and our final destination. So if you are planning on making a tremendous journey with your life, would it not make sense to do the same? As they say, “Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail”
- Start Today – Yes there will always be that nagging voice telling you that it’s not ideal to start your new business today as things are not quite perfect, but you could procrastinate for ever waiting for that perfect moment and by then, it might already have gone. Bite the bullet and start now even if only 80/70/60/50% finalised otherwise, if it is a great idea, someone else will get there first!
- Follow Through with Action – So you’ve drafted your plan and decided to start, so do the first thing on your list even if it is just to click off the Start action on your plan. Ensure you are spending time on your plan each and every day moving towards the final goal, whatever that might be. Once you get started, you will be like an avalanche, drawing speed as you progress.
- Know Your Finances – this is important as there will be costs involved and you need to know when you need the money and form where it is coming. Your plan will tell you when, but you need to plan to have the money available by that time so keep a sharp eye on both income and expenditure and make sure that you know where it all is before committing to any spend.
- Network – create a web of people who might be able to help you, and you them, by the use of social media and meeting like-minded people at network meetings in your chosen field.
- Delegate – when a one man band, to whom do you delegate? Finances and bookkeeping to your accountant is one easy action and you can find people who will help you, sometimes for free or for payment by results, from your network developed above. If a task will take you a long time and it is not core to your business then it should be delegated. As a single property investor, all of the day to day management and repairs is delegated to my various letting agents and I just manage them!
- Use Mentors – As a wise man once said, “Successful people learn by their mistakes, very successful people learn from the mistakes of others!” so rather than make the same errors someone has already made, use them as your mentor so as to avoid them. This can be in the form of a book/tape where they tell you the mistakes they made and how you can avoid them which is very one sided and you can’t ask any questions or you can use a more successful person than you and interrogate them. Again, this can sometimes be free or you can pay for the privilege of the information which, if it saves you times and money, is probably a good deal. As you progress, you will need different mentors and you will find people asking you to mentor them as that is how life goes round!
- Use the Latest Technologies – Update your technologies as often as you can as each new type of device seems to add more power to your elbow. Why carry a camera, a phone, a diary and a computer when the latest smart phone can do all these tasks and pick up WiFi virtually anywhere!
- Celebrate Success – probably the most important item on the list. Always, and I mean ALWAYS, celebrate success. When I finish this article, I’m going to reward myself with a coffee and two chocolate digestive biscuits! You don’t have to spend a fortune, but plan the reward as you plan the task and that is a small goal to aim for on completion!
Well I hope these help you become more successful, I just hope I can learn from them too and also become more successful in my own way. Let me know what you think below and share you own tips with me and my readers.
