Adel de Meyer in Entrepreneurs
New Media Specialist - Author - Mentor - Consultant and Brand Influencer • adeldemeyer.com

What's Keeping You from Entrepreneurial Success?Two years ago I decided to become an entrepreneur and I was thinking about a few reasons why I didn't do it sooner and some of the obstacles I faced so far.

I've been helping other entrepreneurs with Social Media strategies and noticed some of the things holding them back too and wanted to share some of my thoughts with you today.

Being an entrepreneur isn't easy, but you work hard at it. You put in the hours and do the research, but somehow success eludes you. Something's keeping you from succeeding and you're not sure what it is. What's worse is that more than one thing might be holding you back. You need to figure these things out if you want to start succeeding.

1. Focusing on the Past
Regret is a powerful emotion. There will be moments when you'll remember the mistakes you've made and what they cost you, and you may find yourself stuck on them. Things are going to go wrong. Mistakes will be made. Any time spent thinking about your mistakes should revolve around learning from it, no more and no less.

2. Being Envious of Your Peers

You're going to see a lot of people get ahead of you, especially at the start. Every time you do research on the competition, you're going to find a company or a person doing exceptionally well. It can get disheartening seeing people do well, doubly so if they're in your industry, while you're wondering how you're going to ever make a profit.

But being a successful entrepreneur is about maximizing your time. Every moment you spend focused on someone else's success is a moment you're not spending on your business. If there is any exception to this, it is when you use your envy to inspire you to work hard. Even then, you should use that technique sparingly.

3. Surrounding Yourself with Negativity
Give the ocean enough time and it will wear down the toughest rocks. Think of negativity as the ocean and your willpower as the rocks. No matter how determined you are or how good your idea, you can only hear so much negativity before it starts making your mornings darker and gloomier.

You can't surround yourself with people who do nothing but complain and criticize. Work with people who have a positive attitude and look for solutions instead of just looking for the next thing to complain about. If someone like that works at your company, observe them. See if they're actually working to fix the object of their concern or if they're just whining.

4. Making Excuses Instead of Admitting Fault
You're going to make mistakes throughout your life as an entrepreneur, and sometimes, people are going to notice. For especially severe mistakes, it might be tempting to prattle off a series of excuses instead of doing something productive such as admitting fault and looking for ways to prevent that mistake from occurring again.

Pride and ego are dangerous things and can ruin companies. Don't let these two things make decisions for you. Focus on what is good for the company.

5. Becoming Mentally Stagnant
You're never going to know everything about your industry. You might know everything you need at the moment, but the future can change things enough to render your knowledge useless. That's why you need to stay on top of the game and keep learning. It doesn't matter if it's your first day or your thousandth day as an entrepreneur - keep learning and stay relevant.

6. You Don't Plan Your Day
Competition is fierce. Even if you're the first in a brand-new niche, chances are that you're going to face some form of indirect competition. Each moment you spend awake must be accounted for and must serve the future of the company.

Spend your evenings making an action plan for the next day so that you wake up ready and with a plan in mind. This lets you spend your mornings getting ready for the day instead of trying to figure out what you're actually going to do.

7. Being All Talk
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you're going to do more than just talk about what you're going to do. If you talk the talk, you had better walk the walk. Show your investors that you're not full of hot air and empty promises. Give them statistics and profit margins instead of speeches.

Note that this can be a good way to make yourself accountable to your peers. The fear of getting called out on your failures can be a powerful motivational tool. Of course, this will only work if you have the right kind of personality for it.

The road to success as an entrepreneur has enough barriers as it is. Don't let bad habits or bad people make it more difficult. Clean up your act and clean up your life.

Post Originally on LinkedIn

Entrepreneurs
 Adel de Meyer Adel de Meyer
New Media Specialist - Author - Mentor - Consultant and Brand Influencer • adeldemeyer.com