Six Wise Things Millionaire
Entrepreneurs Don't Do
1. Believe they have to be first to market.
You don’t have to have the first product of its kind on
the market. You can let the other companies make the
newbie mistakes. What matters more than being first
to market is that you deliver and execute better than
the competition. Quality matters more than speed.
Jeffrey Sprecher, Founder, Chairman and CEO,
Intercontinental Exchange
2. Delegate from the beginning
Too often entrepreneurs outsource tasks they don't
want to do. It’s common “wisdom” to focus one’s
efforts only on the thing one is good at and hire
someone else to do the rest. Millionaire entrepreneurs
know better. Delegating tasks early on doesn’t allow
you to master every aspect of your business. It’s
better to learn every aspect of your business so that
you can put your own personal brand into the
business and then delegate later.
Seth Goldman, Co-Founder & President of Honest Tea
3. Wait until achieving the ultimate goal to
celebrate victory
Being an entrepreneur is tough. There are sleepless
nights and often not enough money to go around. The
temptation is to keep your nose to the grindstone and
work hard until you’ve achieved success. While it’s
important to keep the momentum going and to never
give up on success, it’s also important to celebrate the
smaller milestones and victories along the way.
Landed your first client? Celebrate it! Get a write-up in
the newspaper? Celebrate the victory. Small
celebrations can keep an entrepreneur’s spirits high in
the face of the sacrifice and hard work it takes to
become successful.
Jonny Jones, Founder, Chairman & CEO of Jones Energy
Inc.
4. Overextend their resources.
What are the resources we have in business? Time,
money, product, and human capital. You have to
manage each of these resources wisely. Don’t
squander your time. Don’t overextend financially.
Don’t overextend your product line. Don’t misuse your
people. Millionaire entrepreneurs understand that
you’re only as successful as your resources allow you
to be.
Adrienne Choma, Founder & Sr. Vice President, Saladax
Biomedical
5. Hire the wrong people.
There are a lot of ways to hire the wrong people—
especially for an entrepreneur. Often, money is tight
so an entrepreneur will hire the cheapest talent he or
she can find. This is a huge mistake. A company is
only as good as its weakest employee. If your talent
isn’t high quality, it reflects poorly on the brand.
Instead, hire the best people you can afford. And,
make sure that they “fit” the company culture.
Leslie Firtell, Founder & CEO, Tower Legal Solutions
6. Do it alone.
Too many entrepreneurs feel that they have to “do it
alone.” Millionaire entrepreneurs understand that you
can’t do it all alone. Sure, you can achieve some
measure of success being the “superstar.” But at some
point, in order to become truly successful, an
entrepreneur needs to be able to leverage the talent
and skills of others. Truly successful millionaire
entrepreneurs also know that they need to be
mentored. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Lead
and guide others, and let yourself be lead and guided.
Phyllis Newhouse, Founder & CEO, Xtreme Solutions
Many of those who want to build their own business
or dreams unfortunately either do not have the
discipline, the strategy or mindset in place to
continually grow and evolve their vision and business.
What differentiates some of us from a millionaire
entrepreneur may be some of the keys above, or
something that needs to be learned and uncovered by
ones self. Whatever it is, keep striving for knowledge,
excellence and always focus on your customer's needs
before your own.
