The common doubt of majority of teen entrepreneurs is “how to run a successful business”. How to achieve success when there are so many troubles on the road to the top?
It is true that nothing will be achievable overnight. Colin R. Davis said one amazing thing – “The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same”.
So how to realize you are on the right path? How to achieve success in business as a teenager without any experience? There are many questions, but not so many clear answers.
It is actually quite good if one young person is looking for answers on how to run a successful business. If you are one of them, it means that you are part of one small group. In some way, it makes you special. That is a good sign for the lighter future.
Curiosity is a habit of good entrepreneurs. In this article, we aim to provide you with answers on how to run a successful business.
How to achieve success in business as a teenager?
The first thing you need to do is to define business success. You need to have a clear picture of what you want to achieve. More importantly, you need to know how to achieve that.
Someone’s main goal is to make a profit, and that is why he wants to find out how to run a successful business. Some other group of entrepreneurs doesn’t think money is a priority. They want to bring and offer something valuable to the world.
The goal you want to achieve is going to determine which path you are going to take. Listed below are some tips you can consider to assess your plans on how to achieve success in business.
There are several different steps you should follow if you want to discover how to achieve success and to become a successful teen entrepreneur:
• Be patient and start small
• Don’t try to imitate others, be unique
• Be grateful for every dollar you earn
• Don’t be jealous of successful people, learn from them
• Develop a powerful business plan
• Stay focused on your goals
• Improve your knowledge / Learn from your mistakes
• Don’t give up
Each step will explain to you better on how to run a successful business. Some of them are directly connected with your business, some of them are not. However, they are equally important. So, let’s start.
Be Patient and Start Small
One of the keys to achieving success in business, and in life in general, is patience. Joyce Meyer said a powerful thing – “Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting”.
When we say that you need to be patient, we don’t want to say you need to wait for success to come. You need to believe that you will achieve success by time. Expecting to make a multi-national company for one year is unrealistic. Coca-Cola didn’t achieve that, Apple didn’t achieve that, and no one expects from you to achieve it.
Let’s say that you are selling a hand-made item. No one in the world is selling the same thing, and your business is unique. Are you going to offer it to the whole world? No. You are going to offer it to your local area to start. That is what “starting small” means.
Don’t try to imitate others, be unique
We already mentioned Coca-Cola, so we will use it as an example. We won’t spend words on how powerful this company is. The question is, will you start selling soda because of that? Do you really think this is an answer on how to run a successful business?
The competition is there to inspire us, not to serve as an imitation. You need to find something different, something that will convince people to say “Finally, we have something new to see”.
Who would say that playing games can bring you profit? 10 years ago, games were only for kids. Now we have many e-sports competitions that are investing a large amount of money in e-sport teams. Each team has its’ own sponsor, and that is one more way to make money.
Be grateful for every dollar you earn
Gratefulness from every opportunity in life will bring you joy and satisfaction. When you earn your first dollar, be thankful like you earned your first million.
We have the type of entrepreneurs that are never satisfied. They are constantly complaining about how they don’t have enough money. When you do that, even when the situation is not bad at all, sooner or later, you will really attract financial problems.
Keep the same attitude even when things are not going very well. For example, you made a bad decision. Don’t be angry or nervous; be grateful for getting the lesson for the future.
Don’t be jealous of successful people, learn from them
Instead of trying to sabotage the success of other people, you should respect it and analyze it. People sometimes can’t accept that there are people better than them. Teenagers especially do that because they think they are better than others.
A big number of their friends is still hiding in their comfort zone. Maybe that makes you special, however, that doesn’t mean you are better than your competitors.
Try to reach out to those successful people. Ask them for advice, maybe someone has the will to help you. In case you can’t reach them, do your own research and see how they become successful. The research you make will give you plenty of answers on how to achieve success in business.
Develop a Powerful Business Plan
When we say POWERFUL, we really mean that. The business plan of your startup needs to have the power to make your idea become SUCCESS. It needs to have some kind of magical influence on you and the development of your business.
You have to cover all areas of business. There are 2 crucial things you need to take care of:
• Financial plan
• Marketing plan
The financial plan needs to give you a clear picture of your earnings and costs. You need to figure out how much you need to invest, and how big your expenses are. Besides that, you need to determine how much you can spend on your own needs.
When your expenses are higher than your profit, you will know that something you did is wrong. It is the best possible situation if you realize that before even starting.
A marketing plan is even more important plan of your business plan. Most of your money needs to go to your marketing strategy. Luckily for every teenager, young people are well-familiar with social media.
Opposite of older entrepreneurs, they know how Facebook and Instagram are functioning. Because of that, it will be a lot easier for them to adapt to a new way of advertising.
In the end, we have to give one more piece of advice. Some entrepreneurs do not know how to control themselves. More precisely, they are not self-disciplined. When they earn a certain amount of money, they mostly spend it on their own needs.
You have to find a way to resist your needs. If your friends call you to a party, take the drink you usually take. There is no place for ordering expensive drinks. Also, there is no place for buying an expensive wardrobe. Those are the two common problems of most of the teenagers.
Parents are responsible to teach their kids that. It really doesn’t matter if they are not entrepreneurs. Older people know very well how much money they spend on these things.
Stay Focused on Your Goals
Teenage entrepreneurs have more than enough positive energy at the beginning of their entrepreneurship journey. The dreams they have are big; the intention they have is too powerful. However, the lack of life experience can sometimes bring them many troubles in business.
People, in general, don’t like when they see someone is different from the masses. Probably they can’t understand why you want to become an entrepreneur. The biggest distractions you will have are coming from your environment. It is definitely good to listen to every advice you get. But, if there are people that are TOXIC, and constantly negative, avoid them.
Second biggest distraction you will have is – YOU. Remind yourself that you were just an average kid in the near past. Most of the problems are handled by your parents.
Now, when you are an entrepreneur, you can’t count your parents help you with everything. You are becoming independent, and that means you are completely responsible for your life.
Whatever bothers you – STAY FOCUSED.
No one says that being an entrepreneur is some kind of utopia. Negative and positive moments are part of every success. Toxic people are there to motivate you, not to demotivate you. Prepare yourself for that, and everything will be a lot easier.
Improve Your Knowledge / Learn from Your Mistakes
Without any doubt, you will make a lot of mistakes. That is usual for first-time entrepreneurs. Even when you think some decisions are perfect, it can happen that they are a total mistake.
Ask yourself, have you invested enough time in improving your knowledge?
Let’s compare something. We have two entrepreneurs, one of them has 100k dollars to invest, and another one has enough knowledge about the certain industry. Both of them are without life and business experience. Which one has a bigger chance to make a success?
The rich one will be able to hire quality people to do business instead of him. Still, that doesn’t mean he will surely know how to handle the whole business process. More directly, he WON’T know. In the other hand, the one that has knowledge will be able to make money because he knows how everything works.
Mistakes are the best possible lessons you can get. Next time you will know which solutions or decisions are right and wrong.
Don’t Give Up
The phrase “never give up” is something you can hear on every corner. Honestly, this is actually good, and you need to put it in your subconscious. Besides that, it is better than to hear “don’t even try” on every corner.
Imagine how you would feel if you get back where you started. Was there anything nice? No, you were just an average teenager without any financial or decision-making independence.
This thought needs to encourage you to constantly move forward, even when things are going another way around. Don’t even think about giving up, that is something that losers do. Remind yourself that you want to be a WINNER.
Conclusion
We hope that the steps from the list gave you a clear answer on how to run a successful business. One thing you can’t forget ever. In every step, in everything you do as an entrepreneur, you need to invest EMOTIONS. The most important emotion is – LOVE. In that way, you will find out if the business you are running is the right one.
Several indicators will show you if you have picked the right business. When you open your eyes, the first thought will be your business. If you don’t feel excited because of that, it only means that you missed the industry.
Your business needs to be your soul mate. There are reasons why you got out from your comfort zone, and that is not to do what you don’t like. Positive emotions will motivate you to give 100% of your strengths. Exactly, that is the secret formula for success.
When you invest will, effort, and strength in the steps we mentioned above, the success will be closer than ever.
Are you ready for that? If the answer is “yes”, don’t delay, your time is NOW!
