- Career coach Marlo Lyons told BI that a big part of being a successful entrepreneur is your mindset.
- But there are also concrete steps you can take to increase your odds of betting against yourself.
- Here are Lyons’ top tips for clients preparing to give entrepreneurship a try.
More people are choosing to open small businesses since the pandemic upended our needs and expectations for work, but entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone.
Statistics from the Center for American Progress show that between 2021 and 2023, the rate of business applications for potential new employers jumped 34% compared to three years earlier. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 20% of small businesses go bankrupt within their first two years, but successful entrepreneurs often say they achieved success through sheer grit.
Career coach Marlo Lyons told Business Insider that while the mindset you use when betting on yourself is very important, it’s not the be-all and end-all. You can have all the positivity in the world, but if you’re not actively working toward success, you’re not likely to succeed.
Here are Lyons’ top three tips for coaching clients who are ready to take on the challenge of entrepreneurship.
Start with a side hustle in which you are an expert.
OK, maybe you don’t need to be an expert now, However, choose an area in which you can reasonably develop expertise. You can’t start an innovative bioengineering company without prior knowledge, and you don’t need to go back to school to become an entrepreneur.
But Lyons points out that there are plenty of platforms to develop and showcase your expertise, such as Upwork and Fiverr, which are great ways to build readiness to launch a small business. said.
“When I was first coaching, when I was getting my certification, I was charging people $5 an hour. I was working full time, so I paid more for the certification than for the money. , and at that time it was very cheap, even if you worked for years,” Lyons said. “While you’re starting out, you don’t need to charge a lot of money to gain experience. As you grow your clientele and prove yourself, you can get referrals.”
Set specific goals and be persistent about achieving them
Once you step in and decide that the entrepreneurial path is for you, don’t expect success to come without effort.
Lyons said it’s time to make the cut and you need to start defining what you want your business to be and what you need to do to get there.
“I love planners. I mean, I’m obsessed with planners. When you’re getting your business off the ground, set yourself annual goals and quarterly goals,” Lyons said. “Each quarter, what are you going to accomplish in that quarter? Break down each week and see what you accomplished to achieve your goals. What didn’t you accomplish? What did you accomplish? What could you do better next week?”
Get used to ambiguity
“When I was writing my first book, I was stuck every step of the way,” Lyons said. “I had to find an editor, which took probably three months. That’s when I realized, okay, now I need a bookstorer. What do I do? I don’t know how. So, oh, wait, I need an ISBN number.”
In the process of building a business, you don’t know what you don’t know. So feel comfortable admitting that you don’t have all the answers, and even more comfortable finding out who to ask questions. This is where the importance of mindset comes into play, says Lyons.
“You have to be ambitious and believe that if you keep moving forward one step at a time, you will reach your goals.”
