Photo credit: Brooke Lark
Sometimes, the idea of running your own company can seem really glamorous. You can look at all of these high flying female CEOs and think, yes – that’s what I want. But, they make it look easy. They really do. You see the lifestyle and the cool companies, and that’s what you focus on. When really, it can take a lot of work. Running your own business isn’t something that you can decide to do on a whim. You have to be prepared. And not just to actually set up and run the company, but for all of the lows that go with the highs – which there will be many. So even if this is something that you’ve been wanting to do for a while, it’s time to work out where you’ve really got what it takes!
1. Be A Self-Starter
So first of all, you have to be disciplined. You have to be a self-starter that is going to be motivated, most of the time. Because you’re only human – so it’s only natural that you may have some days that you find it harder to get things done than others. But if you know that you won’t ever be motivated to work on your company, then forget it. Building a business takes work – so you have to be passionate enough about it to start making waves.
2. Have Initiative
Then, it’s also handy to be able to take more initiative. Just take a look at these Fast Company ideas to find out how you can do that. But if you know that you aren’t an expert in certain areas, you need the initiative to hire people to help you. You need to know that certain things need to be done, and recognize that you aren’t the one to do them. And just make sure that you’re making the best decisions for your company at all times.
Image credit: Vana Ash
3. Value Innovation
Next, you need to be okay with new ideas and creativity. The world is always moving forward. As seen as a new technology launches, you should be testing it out and bringing it into the business. If you think that you dislike change and don’t want to work with modern technology, then a business may not be right for you.
4. Stay Ahead
Now, as a follow on from the last point, you not only need to embrace change and new ideas, but you need to stay ahead and invent your own! So research the market, look into cool ideas, like the CMC Markets platform, and follow trends. Then come up with your own platforms and ideas that allow you to stay ahead.
5. Care For Your Customers
Now, this final point may seem a little off compared to the rest. So far, you may think that you need to be a ball of energy, a fire starter, a genius. While all of these things can help, if you do not care about your customers, then you have a problem. A huge problem! Because without customers, you have no business. So, you need to really value your customers’ needs, and make sure that you’re giving them what they want with your product or service. Understand this and execute on it – and you will find success.