The Entrepreneur’s Playbook for a Big 2020 – Part 2

Being successful at anything requires dedication, but dedication is often mistaken for relentless and gruelling hard work, blisters, sacrifice and tears. Well, ok, sometimes that is what it takes, but there are also ways of grafting smarter or simply adapting your approach to make the load slightly lighter and remove some of the obstacles along the way. 

Here’s some more tips and suggestions from our 2020 entrepreneur’s playbook:

Everyone seems to want independence; there is a strange pride driven need among some entrepreneurs that they need to achieve success on their own. The reality is that very few genuinely successful people in the world who haven’t achieved their success through good fortune, have managed to do so alone. Entrepreneurship isn’t about isolation, it’s about being enterprising and creating success, it doesn’t take anything away from your success to say you have had help along the way. 

You can’t beat experience and if you can find a mentor who is willing to share theirs with you without asking for a great deal in return, then we strongly suggest you take the time to learn from them. 

There are pros and cons to choosing a more modern way of working and abandoning the idea that you need to have a centralised place of work or a ‘head office’ type location to run a brand or business. If you have a team you trust to work as expected and you all have the appropriate organisational and of course communication skills, there is no need to tie yourselves to a set location in order to be able to work or progress your ideas. 

There is a great deal of trust involved and of course having the right team around you is absolutely vital for this to work. But having location independence means less restrictions, often less expense and more time to spend in action instead of traveling. Give it some thought. 

It’s a cliché one and we’ve said it before, but you need to take care of yourself if you’re going to be able to genuinely turn up and fire on all cylinders day in and day out. We’re not going to preach too much on the body is a temple but keep your health (both physical and mental) as a priority. 

Watch what you’re eating, not so much for your waistline and vanity but for foods which provide genuine energy. Eat breakfast, take your vitamins and drink plenty of water in-between your hourly coffee from Pret. Get enough good deep sleep and take time to exercise or be active even if it’s taking a walk around the block instead of sitting in a meeting room. Allow yourself down time away from screens and work related stress, it’s a marathon people, not a sprint, look after yourselves.