Got an idea for a consumer product? Want to see it at your local store? You’ve got challenges, serious challenges! Challenges that will require all the attributes of entrepreneurship.
In fact, you will be problem-solving from the moment you get started. The first challenge is to find the right product-to-market fit. Then you need to discover and gain access to the market, grow with increased distribution to keep your products on the shelf, and become an acquisition target.
The Entrepreneurial Mindset
Problem-Solver
Whether it’s raising money, learning the rules, or discovering and utilizing your hidden assets, the entrepreneurial spirit is an attitude about problem-solving. It is an attitude that says, “There is a solution. I will find the answer,” and “I can do this.” In other words, it’s a feeling of optimism that drives the tenacity necessary to see your way to success.
Resourceful
The entrepreneur mindset is all about resourcefulness. You’re not only solving problems, but you’re looking for problems only you can solve in a new way, and then monetizing those solutions. It’s a mindset that is looking for opportunity. It’s a mindset that is using what resources you have. And it’s a mindset that’s looking for strategic alliances by always asking the question, “Who else benefits if I benefit?”
Shares Success
The true entrepreneurial mindset includes a willingness to share success with others who help you get there. A true entrepreneur is always willing to take a smaller slice of a larger pie. This is a recognition that Sales is King. You recognize that everyone who works for you who is not in sales is supporting those sales. It is developing a company culture based on two divisions: Sales and Sales Support.
Tenacious
Over the years we’ve been exposed to thousands of entrepreneur quotes. But our favorite, that really sums up the consumer product brand building business is,
“Everybody wants to milk the cow. Nobody wants to raise the calf!”
In other words, everyone will jump on the bandwagon once it’s a success. It takes true entrepreneurial spirit to get that bandwagon rolling along in the first place.
One of the greatest entrepreneur motivations we have faced building an international brand came from going back to our early adapters during our darkest hours and asking, “Can you please tell me again why you think this is such a great idea?” The fuel of tenacity is validation. Stay in touch with your happy customers. And they will give you the motivation you need to face the challenges necessary to clear the next hurdle.
Delegate & Vacate to Avoid Burnout and Seek Solutions
There are many factors that lead to entrepreneur burnout. Probably the greatest are constant focus on your business, unyielding economic pressure, and huge personal responsibility. As impossible as it seems, you can overcome entrepreneur burnout. One way we found is to delegate and vacate. Sure, it’s dangerous to delegate and it seems crazy to take time off.
But we have found that the fastest way to find out what others require to take on some of your responsibilities is to just leave them alone for a short time. We would take short vacations and try to take our minds off business. Upon our return, we would always receive flashes of insight that would solve seemingly insurmountable challenges. Without the break, our brains simply would not have had the opportunity to sort things out.
Also upon our return, we would discover the misconceptions that the folks we had delegated to operated in our absence. We would quickly clear them up and get them back on track in ways that were much more effective than constant oversight.
Successful entrepreneurs know that their brains are working 24/7 on every problem they face. They know if they pace themselves, the solutions will flash into their consciousness. And they will use their resourcefulness to solve their problems with what they have at hand.
We love all you entrepreneurs! And we want to share our experiences to help you succeed. We invite you to browse this site for practical and doable solutions that helped us build a leading national brand. For more on entrepreneurship, please visit our other site, www.thebarefootspirit.com.
