4 Characteristics of Truly Awesome Entrepreneurs - An Expose of a Stressed Out Entrepreneur

The question that haunts every entrepreneur is whether he comes under the definition of a true entrepreneur. With scary statistics, such as one that claims 70% of businesses go downhill and ultimately come to an end within 3 years, it is inevitable that all business owners strive to NOT be a part of that unfortunate percentage. They strive to be a part of the fortunate 30% that sail through, not without difficulties obviously, but still those that end up turning their small businesses into empires. So what really turns an ordinary entrepreneur into a true entrepreneur?

·         He enjoys what he does:

This may sound like a clichéd statement from an 80’s movie, but the whole reason they’re clichés are because they’re true. What an entrepreneur wants out of his business is what he’ll have to put in. If, as an entrepreneur, your goal is personal gratification, stability and monetary gains then you’ll have to put into your business something that’s equal in value. Therefore, if you don’t enjoy your business, everything you put in, or try to put in, will be forced. A time will come eventually when the mere action of getting up in the morning to go to work will seem like a burden. This dissatisfaction and aversion towards what you do, will ultimately be reflected in your business’s success – or lack thereof.

·         He takes everything he does seriously:

A true entrepreneur knows that motivation is the key to his success. Another cliché, I know. Don’t roll your eyes yet because like I mentioned above, clichés are clichés for a reason. So motivation is what keeps an entrepreneur in line. It keeps him focused on his goals and the roads he needs to take in order to get to those goals. This true entrepreneur is wary of all naysayers, skeptics, and all those people who take pride in raining on his business’s parade because he knows that keeping his nose to the grindstone will grow his business. And that’s what he does.

·         His planning is immaculate:

Another thing that guarantees a true entrepreneur success is that he plans everything. Immaculate planning at every phase of the business is essential. Planning includes everything – from researching and compiling data to analyzing each and every business situation. If an entrepreneur has a plan (or two) to fall back on, he’ll always be well prepared for any and all disasters. It also provides a way of measuring how close (or far) an entrepreneur is to achieving his goals.

·         He is prudent in managing his money.

Cash flow is the lifeblood of all businesses. It is needed everywhere – from purchasing inventories and paying for services, to marketing a business. Hence, in order to increase the revenue and keep the cash flowing, business owners need to manage their money wisely. A true entrepreneur knows that the key to increasing his yearly revenue is wisely managing the cash he receives from his clients (income) and the cash he spends on his business operations (expense).

In order to become a true entrepreneur, you need to adopt the characteristics mentioned above. A little practice, a tiny nudge here and there, and a whole lot of positive attitude will see you safely through the dreaded start-up years and help you sail breezily.

Already possess these characteristics and looking for the next step? www.fetchatask.com

Controlling Time: An Impossible Feat? - An Expose of a Stressed Out Entrepreneur

“Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.” – Charles Richards

Time management is impossible. There I’ve said it. It’s not possible to control time because the clock will always tick. The seconds will always turn into minutes and the minutes into hours and so on. Hence I repeat; it is not possible to control time. So no matter how important you are or which part of the world you reside in, time remains the same for both of us; you and I both have 24 hours in a day. What differentiates us is how we spend those 24 hours.

How some people manage to turn into millionaires and others do not is not really a mystery. Time has been given to all equally. How productively we use it, is what’s worth pondering.

Do you use your time productively or have you been wasting it?

How does an entrepreneur figure out if he has been wasting time? How does he understand which activities are worth spending time on? Similarly, which activities constitute productive activities?

Productive activities are those that directly generate revenue and sales. If you’re engrossed in mundane tasks such as fetching office supplies, fixing computer issues, or even learning about the latest SEO updates, then unfortunately you’ve wasted all that time. This is because none of those tasks are directly involved in generating revenue. They’re all tasks that someone else could easily do for you as well and that too at a very inexpensive rate.

Productive activities include negotiating lucrative contracts, attending business lunches and meetings, talking to clients, performing services, etc. These activities not only generate sales, but are also responsible for increasing your clientele. Technical jargon aside, ANYTHING that either earns you money or is increasing your customers and clients is considered productive.

Doing something more is actually doing something less.

Basically, performing a certain task well does not turn that task into an important one. Similarly, exhausting yourself over a certain activity doesn’t make it important either. Entrepreneurs tend to rationalize the belief that spending time and effort over an unimportant, mundane task will make it important. This is where they go wrong. In order to manage time and become successful, entrepreneurs need to understand that expending time and energy into a mundane task is just going to waste their time AND money.

So what should be the next step?

The next step is planning. Strategizing and planning are two things that go hand in hand with time management. You, as an entrepreneur, need to prioritize your work. You need to know what the core activities of your business are. And once you’ve established all that, then you need to have a game plan. This is how you’re going to use every second of your work time efficiently and effectively.

 “Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.”- William Penn

Searching for the next step? www.fetchatask.com

What to Ask and What NOT to Ask: An Expose of a Stressed Out Entrepreneur

The whole world keeps on discussing the various benefits of regularly updating your website. They even talk about how outsourcing the website maintenance plan is an effective way towards success. So we’ll skip this. What we’ll talk about is how hiring the WRONG outsourcing company can be the mother of all nightmares.

Picking the right website maintenance company is the factor that helps you reach your business goals ASAP. However, if you hand over website maintenance to the wrong company, you’ll end up with nothing but headaches.

How do you pick the website maintenance company that is right for you and your company? By asking these 3 essential questions!

1.     ‘What assistance do you need from me?”

“Not much”. This is the right answer. This is because if you’re paying this company a certain amount of money to get the work done, then the work should be done without any babysitting being required. However, this doesn’t mean that the work shouldn’t be in accordance with your goals and your company’s philosophy. You should let the website maintenance company know what you need and what your wishes are, but the real work has to be done by them.

So if the potential website maintenance company gives you a plethora of things that they are going to need from you on every little task, then run in the opposite direction as fast as you can.

2.     “Can you suggest a marketing plan for my company?”

If they say “yes” and then blow you away with some amazing marketing strategy that would attract a huge number of visitors, then you’ve got your man. Or rather company.

You will find that many web maintenance companies will do whatever you ask them to but their services will be limited to doing just that. One thing you should know is that merely acting like a robot is what differentiates a mediocre company from a top-notch one. Top-notch companies offer so much more then just doing what you’ve asked them to. They give you the best of strategies to get your work done in the most effective way possible so that your website can attract the maximum number of visitors.

3. Are you an expert at SEO? 

“Yes”. This would be a good answer. And if they say “obviously”, then this is an even better answer. Because SEO can easily make or break your website. Even the smallest issue – like a link that doesn’t wok correctly – can have a huge effect on your website. You need to form a good relationship with the search engine spiders and for that you need someone who knows their way around SEO. So make sure the company you hire has at the very least their SEO basics right.

These are the 3 essential questions that business owners searching for a good website maintenance company should ask before selecting one that fits their bill. There are other basic questions – such as the time they would take to incorporate the changes in your website and the amount of money they’ll charge – so make sure you ask them all and don’t stop until you’re fully satisfied by their answers.

Searching for the perfect company? www.fetchatask.com