Looking to start your own business? Go for it! If you need help with branding, marketing plans, or even a basic plan of action for how to get started, you know who to call. In the meantime, here are some great tips from a few of my favorite entrepreneurs.
Bethenny Frankel – Find out if your idea already exists.
“Once you have an idea, step one is to find out if your idea already exists. It is important to get your idea out there first, best and strongest and always make sure to trademark your intellectual property. If it turns out that your idea already does exist, that doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t do it, it just means there is a barrier to entry and you may have to climb a few more hurdles on your journey to success.”
Richard Branson – Make lists.
“To say that life as an entrepreneur and business leader is busy is an understatement. So, in order to make sure I achieve everything that not only needs to get done but also everything I want to get done, I make lists – lots of them.I have always lived my life by making lists. These vary from lists of people to call, lists of ideas, lists of companies to set up, lists of people who can make things happen. I also have lists of topics to blog about, lists of tweets to send, and lists of upcoming plans. Each day I work through these lists. By ticking off each task, my ideas take shape and plans move forward.”
Danielle LaPorte – Get over referring to your business in third person.
“People are hiring you, paying attention to you, coming to see you. So they want to here from…YOU. This is the stale old 80′s approach: “Danielle is a former think tank executive and communication strategist, who now works with entrepreneurs to develop their careers.” This is the magnetic/heart approach: “I ran a DC-based think tank for futurists, helped put a few authors on the map, and now work with entrepreneurs to rock their careers.” Who would you rather hire? Besides, anyone you want to work with is smart enough to know that the third person copy is probably written by…You.”
Tony Robbins – Stay hungry.
“The best entrepreneurs on earth never lose that hunger–they are hungry to grow, hungry to give, hungry to contribute. It’s more important than intelligence. There’s nothing that will stop a person who is hungry enough. A hungry person, failure doesn’t stop them.”
Sara Blakely – If you’re cold calling, make the other person laugh or smile.
“Try to make them laugh or smile. If you can do that, you always get another 15 seconds. Spend it saying why you’re better than the other options. Differentiation in those first moments is crucial. When I invented Spanx I heard ‘no’ for two years. It didn’t faze me. I didn’t have a special ability, it was sheer drive and telling myself to keep going.”
What are some of your favorite tips for entrepreneurs?
Need more help? Check out my 1:1, group and self-study offerings: https://christinagiordano.com/offerings/