It’s all about the little things. How many times have you heard that? It’s true though, especially for entrepreneurs…
Let me share the ‘little things’ in my life that have made all the difference in my entrepreneurial ventures and helped me become a millionaire.
10 Habits to Get an Edge as an Entrepreneur
Run first thing in the morning. Before brushing your teeth, reading the paper or catching up on Twitter, down a glass of water, put your runners on, and run for 15 minutes. The act of running before anything else has tremendous value for your physical health and improves cognition throughout the day.
Running before eating allows your body to process food better, it keeps your metabolism in 6th gear throughout the day and awakens your central nervous system. Additionally, those who exercise in the morning deal with stress well as it helps reduce anxiety.
Read non-fiction biographies about great people in the morning and fiction at night. An excellent biography will teach you something new every time you complete a chapter. What better way to start a day (after your run of course) than by learning something new? A great fictional book will open your mind and ignite the imagination. 20 minutes of reading in the AM and 20 minutes before bed. You’ll be amazed just how much content you consume throughout a year by doing that. 30-40 books.
If you don’t read consistently, you won’t be interesting to have a conversation with. Think about that.
Show up to as many meetings with successful or synergistically aligned people as you can. People, working together, make great things happen. You never know which lunch meeting or golf round could spark your next multi-million dollar venture.
Get out in front of the people. Whether it’s social media, presentations, or social gatherings, be seen. Don’t hide behind a desk. Put yourself out there and get used to people looking at you.
If you’re going to be something special in this world, you have to develop charisma and capture an audience’s attention. And practice is necessary. You can’t grow inside your comfort zone.
Join a combat sport. I’m serious about this one. For me it’s judo, but for you maybe jiu-jitsu, karate or boxing. Join a gym or a dojo tomorrow. Combat sports inherently teach you to relax under pressure. You’re forced to be uncomfortable. You get hurt and learn to counter someone else’s momentum. Combat sports are also great for self-confidence building. Not only that, they make you interesting - give you a story to tell after your first fight. There’s always an interesting story that comes from someone’s first real fight. (click here to read my article Judo is THE Sport for Entrepreneurs)
Drink liquor and work on your swing. Like it or not, business is often done over drinks or on the links (often simultaneously, and throw in a stogie). You can’t make people feel comfortable by drinking green tea and refraining from stepping onto fairways. Loosen up and be cool.
Learn to say NO. After I had my first major breakout as an entrepreneur, which netted me a good chunk of change, I was being approached by everyone in and around my network to invest in and help their new ventures. I was flush with cash and wanted to leverage my early success, so I obliged… a little too much. Ended up quickly losing about $500,000 and gave away my time to projects I wasn’t passionate about. There is tremendous value ($$$) in saying no. Remember that, but always listen to new ideas.
Visit homeless shelters to help those in need and get perspective. As you rise as an entrepreneur, cool and sometimes extravagent opportunities and adventures present themselves. You need to stay grounded. No better way to do that than by helping those less fortunate.
Hire more people than you think you need. First, nothing puts a fire under your ass more than knowing you have people, with families of their own, to pay. Most importantly, by building up your staff early, you can immediately scale when needed. It is very difficult to hire the right people, and thoroughly train them to excel and be an asset for your team when you’re in the middle of a parabolic growth period. There just isn’t enough time in the day to do it on the fly. So prepare in advance for that day and hire talent before you desperately need them. Being able to scale quickly is the most important thing for an entrepreneur who garners early success.
Wake up early or stay up late - either way, sleep less than most other people.
Success as an entrepreneur is much about being consistently disciplined. The daily routines we create for ourselves make or break us. Throw even half of these ten tips to get an edge as an entrepreneur into your daily routine, and they’ll change your world.
Remember, it’s the little things.
Stay hungry,
Aaron
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