1. Stick to your Idea

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. – Swami Vivekanand”

Entrepreneurship is fast becoming a fad. A new day college goer wants to pick it up as dare thing to do. The online world is showing an influx, the social media is promoting entrepreneurship and suddenly everyone wants to go online to launch a new business.

It isn’t that simple. So it is better to find the best idea based on expertise, team, skill-sets and budgets. The idea should be strong & worthy enough to sustain. So that it does not becomes another start-up attempt.

2. Stick to your Plan

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

When you launch a business, it is better to plan. Plan for a year or 2 and keep a steady expansion plan for 5^th year in mind.  One should always have a plan B at the same time. It is not necessary that everything goes by the plan but the business plan shall remain solid and we need to stick to it.

Many of my clients change plans quickly which is fatal for the business health and team motivation levels. All entrepreneurs must make it a habit to stick to the business plan, however the ways to accomplish that plan shall be kept flexible.

3. Stick to Hard Work

In the initial days of business, hard work will pay more than the smart work.  Though the world today vouch for Smart Work but an entrepreneur must be ready to work hard; harder if required. And sticking to working hard is good for health of business. The initial hard work pays with smart returns. So stick to it.

4. Stick to Your Passion

Passion is most important requisite for Entrepreneurship.  There are many hurdles in following the dream, getting new business, from executing projects to managing teams but an entrepreneur must stick to their passion. If they love doing the work, if they find peace in executing the projects even when they are more about portfolio and less about profits – they need to take it up. Sometimes, they have to stick to passion to gain the losing momentum and pace.

5. Stick to Absolute Clarity

It’s not that entrepreneur cannot have a plan or a change in plan. But they should be absolutely clear about what they want to take up and how they plan to go about it.

Streamlining of actions or action oriented effort is only possible – when one has got clear goals and a clear path to follow. So, all entrepreneurs must stick to make clear goals before they begin working on them.

6. Stick to your people – at least the Good Ones!

People, your team and stakeholders – there will be many. But there will be few who will always give positive energy, positive vibes, and sometimes referential business. It is not necessary that they will all be the advocates of your brand but it is just that they believe in you. They help you see higher and they offer sane advice.  An entrepreneur shall hold them close.

I recently came across a wonder article which talked about ‘Circle of Influence’. That is important for the entrepreneur. It is important that you are surrounded by positive people – who believe in your strengths and are always there to push you towards your dream.

7. Stick to it -Technology and Market updates

It is important for an entrepreneur to be updated with the market updates. Not only does this helps in service customization, promotions or consumer engagement. Technology after social media means engaging the right people – from partners, promoter to even customers.

The technology trends are also significant as they help the entrepreneur watch out & ascertain the forecasts and also it helps them in keeping their own business & brand – as per the industry norms.

8. Stick to it – The motto of Business is Profit

Yes, I wasn’t the one who believed in saying so a few years back. Because when I decided to work on my own- Passion was enough to start and to stick to it. But while we are counting the 10 things every entrepreneur should stick to – Profit Motive is important. Because, if you keep on working for satisfaction and happiness and not really earning much of it, chances are that, your business will exhaust before yourself.  And this is not a great idea. The concept of being an entrepreneur is – to have an idea, to have the passion to excel in that idea, to sustain and eventually progress to make it profitable for one and for others too.

9. Stick to it – Failure is not the End.

“Fall Seven times – Stand up Eight.”

Sometimes businesses fail; sometime even a sustained business becomes so monotonous and stereotyped. Few become obsolete because of redundancy of application, technological innovation etc and others just fail without a right or wrong reason.

Now that failure is not the end. Businesses need to evolve constantly. A constant check on the markets, the changing consumer preferences, the influencers should be watched. The basic rule of finding gaps remains true to each & every business – no matter how big or small it is.

For an Entrepreneur, what is important is to stick to it and to work towards exploring & creating new offerings.

10. Stick to it – Dream Big

In the worst case scenario, an idea, a business might fail. But that shouldn’t stop you from dreaming big. Dreams big or small – will work as per your execution. So if you have dream- do not waste time in assessing how big or small it is, how achievable & difficult it is, rather get to work and start executing the baby steps towards the dream. Only then a dream will become reality.

And Remember, you never fail – if we do not succeed we learn, one of it happens and it is a win-win situation.