Have you ever wondered about the Best Kept Success Secrets behind the most successful entrepreneurs in history? Here are the real corporate entrepreneurship examples.
First:
Who do I describe as great entrepreneurs?
I mean those who have great business success and have a remarkable approach that is worth studying and following.
When I started to research the topic. I found all the writings are not more than general attributes that all successful people must have.
Not only that, but any writer can list them from his mind without even bothering to do some kind of research on the real secrets that made those great business leaders great.
So I decided to do my best to get to the genuine secrets behind entrepreneurs who have added value to our world.
Let’s enjoy the secrets to success behind great entrepreneurs:
Table of Contents
You Have to Find What You Love – Find Your Passion
On top of all the secrets to success behind great entrepreneurs that they pretty much emphasize comes finding what you love.
When you do what you love you’ll do it much better.
Warren Buffett one of the greatest value investors in history says:
“ people who find their passion are lucky”
Warren Buffett
It’s essential to find and follow your passion to be able to pour your heart and soul into it. Then the chances will be higher to be remarkable at what you do.
Being remarkable in our crowded world today will get you noticed and stand out.
Consequently, it’ll be easier for your business to get to a wide range of potential customers. The number of prospective customers that we can reach is the first and foremost step for your business to succeed.
In this regard, Steve Jobs said in his commencement speech at Stanford University.
“You’ve got to find what you love If you don’t find what you love; keep looking”
Steve Jobs
Is it enough to find your passion to be successful at what you do?
Sure:
It’s quite true that when you do what you love you’ll put in the most effort with the sole purpose of, attaining your goal.
However, not just passion that leads to success!
It’s a passion that is accompanied by hard work. We need passion to make it easy to spend more time and effort building and running our business from the heart.
As a result creation and innovation will flow.
Then it’s more likely to offer unique products or services to the world.
What makes our clients proud to have and use them, just like most people are proud to use great brands today.
When it comes to passion there is a key question!
What do you need to find or develop your passion?
The scientists at Stanford University answered this question after performing some experiments in this regard.
And they advised that developing passion is working better than just finding it.
The path to success always has challenges and difficulties. And sometimes your business growth entails discovering new prospects that you should break into to sustain your success.
Here is a PDF about the research: finding your passion or developing it?
Successful Entrepreneurs Develop a Clear Vision of What They Want to Achieve.
I can say with no doubt that this is the most distinctive attribute of those great entrepreneurs.
As they have a clear vision for their final successful goal pictured in their mind.
That is the hidden secret that inspires them as they go along the way for their dreams to come true.
Andrew Carnegie who was a business magnate and one of the richest people in history classified his approach to success into three principles where vision comes first.
He broke vision (call it a creative vision) down into ten fundamental attitudes that constitute the basis of it.
He said vision is broader than the average person can conceive.
It includes:
Removing mind limitation, and developing the faculties of imagination.
More about Carnegie’s vision and thoughts in this Forbes article by Stephanie Denning.
In my own experience, I see vision plays the magic for anyone who wants to achieve a definite goal.
Why?
Imagine how powerful, focused, and never paying attention to distractions are, those who have a clear picture of his eventual goal.
That keeps them on the right track working consistently until the very last moment. Where their dreams come to reality.
Figuring out How to Get Started The Right Way!
Figuring out where and how to get started, is the first step and one of the key secrets to success behind great entrepreneurs.
As when you start from the right point the odds would work better for your interest.
Some people don’t pay more attention to this point.
However, it turns out that it played the main role in what successful entrepreneurs have achieved.
Here is a quick story on how the right start changed Warren Buffett’s life:
Upon graduation, at Columbia University, Warren Buffett wanted to set himself on the right path of security analysis to the investment markets.
More about the surefire way to wealth building here.
So he offered to work for Benjamin Graham, who was often regarded as the father of value investing, for free. However, Graham rejected him.
Why Benjamin Graham?
Graham is often called the dean of Wall Street and the father of value investing.
When he was 19 years old Buffett stumbled upon Graham’s great book The Intelligent Investor. The book that he said about it later:
“It not only changed my investment philosophy, but it really changed my whole life. I’d be a different person in a different place had I not foreseen that book.” Warren Buffett
And also said about that book:
“I got a bedrock of investment philosophy that really hasn’t changed since I read the book.” Warren Buffett
From Buffett’s own words, we can infer how he saw Graham so great that he dreamed to be around working for him, even for free.
Graham rejected his request at first. Years later… he called Buffett to work with him.
Buffett happily flew to New York and started his work without even asking how much he would get paid.
Because his dream at that time was not money! Rather it was priceless.
He wanted to be around to see how things are done. So he absorbed all Graham’s principles and thoughts to the extent that he said about himself later:
I’m 85% Benjamin Graham.
How far has Buffett’s beginning contributed to what he is now?
The right answer is what is aforementioned in Buffett’s own words:
“I’d be a different person in a different place had I not foreseen that book”
So at the beginning of your business journey, it’s of core value to work as an apprentice for what would inspire you, and fuel your vision and thoughts. Not for who would pay you more.
Don’t let short-term failure discourage you. As it’s an inevitable part of the process toward achieving your goal. (PERSISTENCE)
Another one of the most significant attributes that make those business pioneers different. They focus on the final goal and see it has already been achieved in their mind as noted before.
Therefore, they consider short-term failure as inevitable on the road to success as they should face and tackle to keep going.
Case in point:
Thomas Edison is sometimes known as one of the greatest failures in history.
Do you know how many times he failed before perfecting the electric bulb invention?
Innumerable times. There are numerous stats with different numbers some of them go to 10,000 times, and others say 6000 times.
However, what is true, is that it isn’t less than 1000 times. As you can’t find any stats at all that go short of that number.
The average person will see these numbers of failures so huge that they could demotivate the most ambitious individual.
Sure that seems right. But, in the case of such amazing entrepreneurs, they see that:
The chances of success are growing at the expense of failure as they go along.
That concept makes them fight, so much so that, they sacrifice time, effort, and sometimes money to realize their dream.
Integrity and Honesty…Honesty and Integrity… Integrity and Honesty…
This attribute is the cornerstone of the intellectual framework of all who we describe as great entrepreneurs.
Some people pursue their dreams without putting this invaluable attribute in the first place. They may achieve some progress, but not for long!!
I can assure you after lots of reading and research in this regard that there was no single case that achieved a sustainable success that lasted for years without considering integrity and honesty.
That makes sense when we know that no business can get up and running without customers. Not to mention it’s not just enough to attract customers who take a look and go.
When it comes to building great businesses as our amazing business leaders have done. We need to develop a great base of loyal customers over time. And here stems the important question.
How can you build this base of loyal customers, clients, and followers before building trust?
Another key question:
How can you gain trust without being honest and trustworthy with all of your business partners?
The above two questions are at the core of the answer to:
Why is it next to impossible, to build a sustainable successful business without integrity and honesty in the first place?
Now Let’s Ask, What Is INTEGRITY?
Being honest, having strong moral principles, and treating others consistently, with what you believe, surely carries a lot of weight. And that is all about integrity. Let’s see what Napoleon Hill said in this regard.
“When you’re able to maintain your own highest standards of integrity – regardless of what others may do – you’re destined for greatness.” Napoleon Hill
Eagerness for learning
It shouldn’t have to be just the traditional ways of learning. Some successful entrepreneurs don’t even finish their high school education.
Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple didn’t finish college.
Even more, I’m sure that you’ll be amazed by looking at the list of the top 10 college dropouts.
Then what is meant by an eagerness to learn?
You need to be informed about the required information in your industry. Always scale and update your knowledge in our quickly changing world.
Don’t hesitate to ask questions, and ask for feedback from your customers to measure how satisfied they are with what you offer.
Most successful entrepreneurs love reading and support learning
The one thing that almost all successful business leaders have in common is reading.
The business magnate Warren Buffett reported that he spends five to six hours a day reading. And always recommends those aspiring to success to do the same.
“I read and think, so I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life” Warren Buffett
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, and co-founder of PayPal reportedly was spending up to 10 hours a day reading science-fiction novels.
He loves reading so much so that he once said:
“ I was raised by books. Books, and then my parents”
Elon Musk
As a clue of his faith in the importance of learning and education Andrew Carnegie funded the building of over 2000 libraries within the English-speaking world.
Pursue your goal relentlessly – work hard and smart
What could the best humankind traits or even the experts’ tips do for achieving success in business without application and implementation?
“How can I leave my mark on the world, I thought unless I get out there first and see it”Phil Knight
At the end of the day, the implementation is what makes our ideas real, and brings them to life. However, the key question is:
Do people go to execute their thoughts with the same power and effort?
Truth be told, there are so many individual variations when it comes to how people implement their thoughts.
Who is willing to sacrifice and pour heart and soul into his work to execute his ideas?
No matter how great your thoughts are, they will not pay off unless you, yourself support them with appropriate attention and hard work to prove that they are great and will add value to the world.
Just then, and merely, in that case, you will be recognized and get the attention you deserve.
Plan your work and work your plan
This step is far from being the sexiest part of the journey to achieving a definite goal, but it’s a must.
There is no way around it:
Without a plan that outlines what we should do in tactic steps to achieve our goal, all our work isn’t more than shots in the dark.
The right plan ensures that all the above great secrets of success will contribute together in harmony for the sake of one sole purpose. It’s the dream that would eventually come true.
Without a thoughtful plan to achieve your goal. The only guaranteed outcome will become a failure.
That is what Benjamin Franklin wanted to advise the world about the importance of planning whatever you want to achieve.
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” Benjamin Franklin
Why should you stick to your plan?
- The work runs smoothly as there is a framework through which everything will be done at a specific time.
- Planning will impose a work discipline.
- It’s so easy to control your work. Everything should be organized according to the settled plan that should be followed by all the team members.
- Following a proper plan makes it easy to hold everyone accountable just by matching his output with the work plan in place.
- With a proper flexible plan, you can take corrective actions in case something that seems odd is spotted.
- We know when and how our goal will be accomplished just because we followed a plan from the get-go.
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The most important secret to success that often overlooked by most people.
Have not you ever asked yourself, why do some people succeed while others who may be in the same circumstances fail?
In other words:
Why cannot so many of us do like those great successful entrepreneurs we mentioned above?
The absolute answer:
That is because the key secret to all greatness is not far from you!
It lies within you, yourself.
All of us can get to the greatest secrets for success. It’s so easy to know about whatever you want with the abundance of available information today.
However, just a few numbers of people, can interpret this information right and tap into it through the application.
We all are different, yes there are individual variations between people. And not all of us think or behave the same way.
People who are proactive and take the initiative to apply information seriously and constantly until they reach their goals. Those only can be like those great entrepreneurs.
So you have to believe that you’re always the core of the process. And trust yourself.
You have to believe that the more passionate you are about your thoughts and willing to take executive actions to make them real. The more the chances to put your mark on the world.
Now your thoughts are highly appreciated and will add value to our topic.
Feel free to let us discuss in the comments whatever point you see relevant to the secrets of success and entrepreneurship.
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Hello Sir Hassan,
I just finished reading the first point regarding passion, and my mind is all over the place now. I’m such a big advocate of “finding a strength” and cashing in on it — I write about it, talk about it on Instagram stories, and share it in my YouTube vlogs.
I’m so glad I found your blog and looking forward to reading regularly.
*let me continue reading*
All the best.
Hassaan Khan
Hi Hassaan, You’re welcome. I appreciate that. And glad that you know how it worthwhile to adopt that way of thinking.