"What does it take to achieve entrepreneurial success?"
Some say it’s passion, others believe it’s perseverance.
But as Steve Jobs once said, “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
The road to success in business is rarely a straight line, it’s filled with risks, failures, and unexpected turns. However, those who push forward despite the challenges often find themselves ahead of the game.
The truth is, every entrepreneur’s journey is unique. There will be uncertainty, setbacks, and moments of doubt. But while there’s no perfect formula, there are foundational disciplines that can set you up for success. These principles won’t eliminate every challenge, but they will help you navigate them with confidence.
In Entrepreneurial Leap, I outline 8 key Must-Dos that separate thriving entrepreneurs from those who struggle. Understanding these disciplines, internalizing them, and applying them consistently significantly increases your chances of building a profitable and fulfilling business.
So, if you’re serious about making your entrepreneurial dreams a reality, let’s dive into the 8 MUST-DOS that can set you up for long-term success.
Eight Must-Dos to Increase Your Entrepreneurial Success
Success in entrepreneurship isn’t just about having a great idea, it’s about the habits and mindset you build along the way. These eight key disciplines will help you stay focused, overcome challenges, and increase your chances of turning your vision into reality.
Must-Do #1: Clarify Your Vision
The first step when taking your leap is to capture your vision in writing. Capturing your vision in writing will create clarity for you and any other people involved in your business, such as employees, vendors, partners, and clients. Simply put, the clearer your vision, the more likely you are to succeed.
Example: Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, had a clear vision from the start: to create comfortable, slimming shapewear that women actually wanted to wear. She didn’t just have a rough idea, she wrote down her goals, refined her vision, and used it to guide every decision. That clarity helped her build a billion-dollar brand.
Must-Do #2: Decide if You’re a “Partner Person”
Some entrepreneurs desire partners, and some don’t. Either will work. I work with both successful entrepreneurs who have one or more partners and other successful entrepreneurs who own 100 percent of their companies and would never have a business partner. You just have to decide which type you are.
Example: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built Apple together, combining Jobs’ vision with Wozniak’s technical genius. Their partnership was important in the early days. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos built Amazon alone, keeping full control over the company’s direction. Both models worked, it just depends on what fits your style.
Must-Do #3: Know That the Bigger the Problem You Solve, the More Successful You’ll Be
This entrepreneurial discipline is a reminder to constantly stay focused on providing value to your customers or clients. That’s because the more value you provide, the more you’re worth. The more problems you solve for them and the easier you make their lives, the more money you’ll make and your customers will never leave you.
Example: Airbnb solved a huge problem: affordable and flexible travel accommodations. Instead of competing with hotels, they tapped into an underutilized resource: people’s extra space. By addressing a big need in a unique way, they built a multi-billion-dollar business.
Must-Do #4: Get Feedback from Customers and Clients Early and Often
The biggest mistake many entrepreneurs make when taking their leap is to assume their customer is going to love their idea. Based on this assumption, they create detailed long-term plans or spend money on the product or marketing before testing it and getting feedback.
What I urge you to do instead is work on a simplified premise. Focus first on providing value, then get feedback quickly and often from the people who will be paying you for the product or service.
Example: Dropbox didn’t start by building a full-fledged product. Instead, they created a simple explainer video that demonstrated how their cloud storage solution would work. When thousands of people signed up for early access, they knew they had a winning idea—and only then did they build the product.
Must-Do #5: Always Have a Plan B
You must have a mindset that is ready, willing, and able to make course corrections. Know that your first plan won’t be your final plan.
I always have a plan B, C, and D on the drawing board. You should too. There’s no way to predict what the change is going to be and when or why it will happen, but you do need to prepare yourself for the fact that it’s going to happen.
Example: Netflix started as a DVD rental-by-mail service, but when they saw the rise of digital streaming, they quickly pivoted. If they had stuck to their original business model, they would have been left behind. Instead, they adapted, and today they dominate the entertainment industry.
Must-Do #6: Work Hard, Really Hard
It makes me crazy when I hear “gurus” teach their easy way to build a business. Every entrepreneur I’ve ever talked to has told me their journey was the opposite of easy.
I’ve been inside hundreds of businesses and have yet to see one that takes no effort. I love it when one of my clients talks about another company, which also happens to be one of my clients, and says, “That business is so easy. I wish I had that one.” I think, “Oh, if you only knew.”
Example: Elon Musk famously worked 100-hour weeks to build Tesla and SpaceX. He slept in the office, skipped vacations, and put everything he had into his companies. Whether or not you agree with his work ethic, it’s proof that building something great requires relentless effort.
Must-Do #7: Take Criticism and Doubt with a Grain of Salt
Thousands of entrepreneurs who took their leap had to endure family, friends, and significant others telling them they were making a mistake. When I presented my idea for EOS Worldwide to a group of entrepreneurs who were friends and peers, all but one told me I was crazy and that it wouldn’t work. Thirty-one publishers turned down my first book, Traction, because “there was nothing new here” and “it wouldn’t sell.” It has sold over a million copies.
You’ll be faced with the same negative feedback. You have to take it with a grain of salt and keep pushing forward.
Example: When Howard Schultz pitched his vision for Starbucks, transforming coffee shops into community hubs, investors told him it wouldn’t work. He kept going anyway. Today, Starbucks has over 35,000 locations worldwide. If Schultz had listened to the doubters, Starbucks wouldn’t exist.
Must-Do #8: See It Every Night
You must see your ten-year goal vividly in your mind every night before you go to bed. Most importantly, make sure this goal is what you want because you’ll probably get it. The power of this discipline has been described thousands of ways over thousands of years. You can find it in Earl Nightingale’s work The Strangest Secret, in which he teaches: “We become what we think about most of the time.”
Having now read the eight disciplines, you probably see that there’s no one way to take your leap and no perfect set of steps. Yet this handful of disciplines, when you’re ready, will serve you well and increase your odds of success. Unfortunately, they cannot guarantee success. You may still fail. Just make sure that if you fail, you fail forward and try again.
Example: Jim Carrey, before becoming a famous actor, wrote himself a check for $10 million for “acting services rendered” and dated it five years into the future. He carried it in his wallet, visualizing his success daily. A few years later, he landed a role in Dumb and Dumber; earning exactly $10 million.
Conclusion
There’s no single “right” way to build a business. The road to success is unpredictable, and even with the best strategies, failure is always a possibility. But these eight disciplines can give you an edge for your entrepreneurial success.
They won’t eliminate every challenge, but they will help you navigate them more effectively. And if you do fail?
Fail forward. Learn from it, adjust, and try again. Because the only real failure in entrepreneurship is giving up before you succeed.
Looking to increase your entrepreneurial knowledge? Get a copy of Gino Wickman’s acclaimed book, Entrepreneurial Leap®.
Join the Entrepreneurial Leap Academy today and start building the business you were meant to lead!
Next Steps
Each of the Must-Dos above contains a link to more information. Choose the one you are most drawn to and go deeper. If you’re not sure, start with number one and go from there.
