How to move fast as an entrepreneur

For me personally, this has always been inspiring, and I have some tips that I would like to share with you. Some of them may seem strange, and others somewhat provocative.

Steve Jobs said before he died that before you decide to do some things you have to choose to implement some of your decisions without knowing exactly where they will lead you. You cannot know what will happen, and this is the world’s gift for the future. Your intention or will and maybe your optimism brings you to do some actions that you’re hoping will work and connect with each other when you do them. You cannot understand exactly how they are connected. But when you turn around and look back, you will be able to join these dots, and you will know how you did it!

Tim Cook said that to lead even yourself at this stage, you are leading a commercial risk. There are times when you will feel alone, you will have to make decisions on your own. That’s the nature of the game.

Fear of failure (FoF). The third tip which I believe is very important is that success comes from many failures. If there is one thing that stands in the way of success, it is the fear of failure. When we are unable to manage this fear of failure, which is to be expected, this fear does not allow us to learn. And if you think about it… the classic questions we ask in coaching are “what went well” and “what can get better” which teaches us exactly that. Observe how we learn to discover what we will need to do to succeed. What can fear do to you? To think again and again and again about all the possibilities…

“Be careful not to fail”, “Be careful not to make a mistake”… we often hear this but, I say no, make a mistake and do it quickly to find out what does not work. Zuckerberg had said, “Move fast and break things. “If you do not break things, it means that you are not moving fast enough.” We need to continually evolve. Oscar Wilde once said “…to be ourselves, as… everyone else is taken!” I think this summarizes the above very well. You should not seek to find out what others do and how they do it. In any case, this is not only a bad logic for your professional activity, but also for coaching as a process. To be ourselves means to know ourselves, to have knowledge of oneself. Know who you are (thyself) for yourself and your customers.

So, let’s see the five challenges faced by a professional who is starting to work professionally as an entrepreneur.

Decision making: Decisions are difficult, a “stranglehold” which is always against you, and you should make it a “lamb”. You need to learn how to make decisions. Decisions are always both challenging and necessary.
Time Management: The second is the time you spend on all this. You should allocate your time in such a way that it satisfies both your professional and business activity, your personal time and of course the time with your customers. The biggest challenge here in my experience is to stop “spreading out”. This requires a skilled no aptitude (see my other Forbes article on saying no https://derlopas.com/39LVQrd)
Handling the Noise: The third, which for me is very important, especially for someone who is starting is “noise” which is the main issue you can have. You need to learn to manage the noise, the things that affect you, the comments that discourage you, the beliefs, etc. that can discourage you. You need to handle this very well!
Challenge of the past: Your past especially when you start on one hand determines you, and on the other hand, you may need to make a huge distinction between yourself and people regarding the new condition in which you are and operate. This leads to an increase in your customer base.
Confrontation with failure: This is the last challenge, the confrontation with failure. You will have many. Be mentally resilient! Try again, do it again. Albert Einstein said, “If you have never failed then you have never tried anything new.”

These five things are the most fundamental challenges. And here is a bonus: Remember what Becket said “ever tried, ever failed? Fail again, fail better”. We always learn and we move forward. There is no such thing as a fail safe process for success. When you hear someone promises something like that, always remind yourself of the saying “beware of the Greeks bearing gifts”.

Angelos Derlopas, MSc, MCC

First published at Forbes Coaches Council, 2020