Will you be different?

You probably have at least one business book on your bookshelf or in your e-library that’s written by a big name entrepreneur.  You know the ones I mean – those highly successful people who have made a lot of money out of their businesses and are now sharing their successes.

Perhaps you have more than one of these books in your collection.

There are plenty to choose from.  They cover a wide range of topics and the writers reveal a lot of their secrets.

Secrets Of Successful Entrepreneurs

These tend to be written by people who have become well-known names.  They are often superstars in business.  They’re often very wealthy.  Their books are personal stories.   They tell you how they did whatever they did.

• Sometimes they tell you about their system that leads to success.
• Sometimes they want to sell you their system.

They write about

• the skills they have developed and used on their journey to success
• their passion for their business
• their tenacity, often in the face of adversity
• their stamina.

They might write about their ruthlessness, too.

Often successful entrepreneurs are mix of all of the above.  What fascinates us is how they apply their skills and how they tell their story.

We don’t always learn much about how to run our businesses as a result, but we enjoy their reminiscences.

Secrets Of Successful Chief Executives

Some people who succeed in business hate the idea of personally being centre stage.  They don’t see themselves as personalities.  They see themselves as the creators of teams who, in turn, are responsible form the success of a business.  They are the people who help others to succeed.

• They set the vision for their organisation.
• They say: “This is the way we’re going.  Follow me.”
• They help to ensure that others share the vision and help to implement it.
• They also accept that their task is to enable others to achieve.

They are often little known figures, but they are central to success.  It’s when they leave that those who remain in the business really come to appreciate their efforts.

These people, too, will sometimes write and speak about their successes.  We like to read about how big companies achieve and how they get to the top globally.

However, it’s often difficult to apply what these people have done to our situations and to our businesses, especially if we’re running small enterprises.

The Simple Secret Of Business Success

Those entrepreneurs who are personalities and the chief executives who achieve lots via their corporate structure often want to help people who are just starting out in business.

In some ways their books, guides, audio tapes, training programmes and the like are very helpful.  In one sense they often neglect some of the basic skills that a would-be entrepreneur needs.

So what is the simple secret that successful entrepreneurs don’t tend to spend much time on when they write their books and e-guides?

It’s the skill of sifting through all the information that is available, making a decision and sticking to it.

Why is decision-making so difficult?

Decision-making is essential in business, but so many people are very bad at it.

There are so many options these days that the old idea of rational decision-making doesn’t work.

The advice was once:

1. Gather together all the information on the topic.
2. Review it rationally.
3. Make a decision.
4. Implement the decision
5. Stick to the decision.

These days there is so much information we can never gather it all.

Some people procrastinate and put off making decisions until they’ve read a bit more, learned a bit more, attended another seminar and so on.  These people never start their businesses, because they never have enough knowledge or enough information to begin work.

Having made a decision, some people don’t stick to it.  They change course again and again.  In business you regularly meet people who describe themselves in one way this month and in another way next month.  They specialise in this, that and the other.  As a result no one knows what they do.

They never make progress.  They literally spend their time going around in circles.

Serious Entrepreneurs Make Serious Choices

Those successful entrepreneurs and chief executives mentioned above make decisions.  They expect to make decisions. They stick with their decisions.  They implement their decisions.  That means they resource their decisions.  They communicate their decisions to others.  They remind their staff of their decisions.

They don’t tend to dwell on the fact that making decisions is central to business success.  For them this is an obvious point.

For the person starting out in business it’s much less obvious.

However, you’re not ready to take the good advice that the experts offer unless you’re also ready to accept that you’ll have to decide, in the end, which advice you intend to follow.

So get ready to take action and learn the simple lesson that will help your business to succeed.

Creating a great business depends on your willingness to make decisions.

Do You Agree?

• Do you read lots of good advice but fail to implement it?
• Are you reluctant to commit to actions in your business?
• Do you like to keep on learning more and avoid taking action as a result?
• Do you read the books that successful business people write without taking action?

Let me know in the comments.

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Next time I’ll be writing about why selling skills matter less to your business than some of the other skills you probably have.

Meanwhile, you might like to read:

Starting a consulting business – Only you can do it.