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"You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere". Lee Iacocca
Many entrepreneurs are 'ideas people' or 'thinkers'. They sit down for breakfast and think about what they can do to change the world, improve their companies and inspire their people. Great ideas are good, but are nothing without being 'seen through'. There are many great entrepreneurs in history who had somewhat peculiar habits, but when it comes to strategy and the workings of how they made wealth and kept it, they each had something in common.
If you look at the life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., you would note that while he gave away his money as wisely as he accumulated it, he was incredibly focused. He retired at 35 after accumulating more wealth than anyone in history. He detested ostentation and raised his children as if he were not a wealthy man. He had an obsession with costs and is known for his saying "It's the figures that count". To that point, he recorded in a notebook every cent he ever made. This recording of his monetary status was something that many buddying entrepreneurs would note about Rockefeller, and it certainly gives backbone to what many entrepreneurs may think about doing when it comes to not only accounting for their financial growth but also, documenting their ideas and how they see it through.
Rockefeller once said to a friend while driving on a country road observing a happy boy whilstling and convorting on a beautiful day, "That young man will never be a success in life." When asked why, he replied, "Because he is not thinking of driving his horse, and that his is business."
Rockefeller was a practical man with an abundance of common sense, an activist and a doer, rather than a thinker.
Too many entrepreneurs are thinkers. Not doers. Are you one of them?
Many entrepreneurs are 'ideas people' or 'thinkers'. They sit down for breakfast and think about what they can do to change the world, improve their companies and inspire their people. Great ideas are good, but are nothing without being 'seen through'. There are many great entrepreneurs in history who had somewhat peculiar habits, but when it comes to strategy and the workings of how they made wealth and kept it, they each had something in common.
If you look at the life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., you would note that while he gave away his money as wisely as he accumulated it, he was incredibly focused. He retired at 35 after accumulating more wealth than anyone in history. He detested ostentation and raised his children as if he were not a wealthy man. He had an obsession with costs and is known for his saying "It's the figures that count". To that point, he recorded in a notebook every cent he ever made. This recording of his monetary status was something that many buddying entrepreneurs would note about Rockefeller, and it certainly gives backbone to what many entrepreneurs may think about doing when it comes to not only accounting for their financial growth but also, documenting their ideas and how they see it through.
Rockefeller once said to a friend while driving on a country road observing a happy boy whilstling and convorting on a beautiful day, "That young man will never be a success in life." When asked why, he replied, "Because he is not thinking of driving his horse, and that his is business."
Rockefeller was a practical man with an abundance of common sense, an activist and a doer, rather than a thinker.
Too many entrepreneurs are thinkers. Not doers. Are you one of them?
"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all." J.K. Rowling, Author.
Entrepreneurs often think of a great idea, and all short in implementing it, or seeing if it may be realised because they are an inherent fear of failure. Particularly if they have made some traction in business and have accumulated some wealth or status.
People learn from their mistakes. "When you stop learning, you stop developing and you stop growing", said Scientist Charles Darwin. The slogan "Fail often in order to succeed sooner" is a mandate for many entrepreneurs, but can also create a road block in our psychological state.
Only 34% of repeat entrepreneurs reported an experience of failure, in a sruvey of 576 UK-based entrepreneurs conducted by Nottingham University Business School, with Durham Business School in the UK,
Just because someone is a serial entrepreneur, it doesn't mean that they have been largely successful. Look at twitter. How many 'no names' proclaim to be successful serial entrepreneurs in their profiles?
I've often thought up great ideas that would 'change the world', but mostly I have not written them down or followed them through. It is important that as an entrepreneur we know the difference between being a 'thinker' or a 'doer' and knowing what to 'do' rather than just think about is equally as critical.
Coming up with great ideas may be something that comes naturally to some of us, but if we followed 100% of them through, would we actually be successful? Chances are that we would not. We would spend too much time in startup phase to reach any other level, let alone be able to tag it as another successful development.
Ideas take work. They take commitment and they take following through. Structure your great ideas with a rating system of where they fit in your ability to realise potential and cross out ones that are not doable and cannot gain traction under your guidance because of time, money or capabilities.
Mellissah Smith
Mellissah Smith is a marketing expert with more than 20 years experience. Having founded and built two successful marketing companies internationally, she is well recognized as a industry thought leader and innovator. Mellissah started her career working with technology and professional services firms, primarily in marketing, public relations and investor relations, positioning a number of successful companies to list on the various Stock Exchanges around the world. She is a writer, technology developer and entrepreneur who shares her thoughts and experiences through blogs and written articles published in various media outlets. Brag sheet: #2 marketer to follow on Twitter (2003), Top 150 Marketers to Follow (2015), Top 10 innovative marketers (2014), 60K+ followers on Twitter with 97% authentic.
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