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While these attributes will not translate into automatic success, they sure can help.
There are entrepreneurs who are extremely successful and everything they touch seems to turn to gold, and there are some that do not see as much success. What are the deciding factors that separate those that crank home run after home run and those that struggle at the plate?

While the majority of entrepreneurs have no problem working hard, not all work smart and possess the following entrepreneurial qualities responsible for driving success.

1. Not being afraid of delegating tasks

As entrepreneurs, we tend to always have a full plate and feel that we can take on any task. In reality, if we keep adding to the already-full plate it is eventually going to collapse and create a mess.

Don’t be afraid to delegate tasks to an experienced member of your company that has the ability to get tasks completed.

2. Managing time effectively

Proper time management is necessary to distinguish between extremely urgent tasks and those that can wait. Use a notebook or whiteboard to prioritize your tasks by writing them down.

Mobile devices and tablets have calendars and notepads, but nothing is more effective than actually writing down your “to-do” list. Focus on one task at a time and don’t let new “to-do’s” disrupt your focus. Knock them out one at a time.

3. Visualizing goals and success

You need to see your goals and success in your mind first if you plan on making them a reality. Not only do you need to visualize the end result, but you also need to visualize every step that it is going to take to get there.

4. Listening and communicating well

If you aren’t a good listener and communicator it will result in miscommunications and wasted time, not to mention added work to correct the miscommunications.

Time is one thing that all entrepreneurs would like more of. How often have you wished there was more hours in a day? Avoid wasting priceless time repeating and redoing tasks due to poor communication.

5. Understanding your time is valuable

While it would be great to be able to give everyone the time that they wanted, it would leave you with little to no time to accomplish the things that you need to get done.

If a sales representative has a question, they should address it with the sales manager. If a customer has a question they should be speaking with your customer-care representative.

While people might demand your time, it doesn’t mean that you have to grant them the time. Your time is valuable, so don’t waste it on disruptions that should be handled by other members of your organization.

6. Seeking help when you need it

We often let our stubbornness prevent us from asking for help. Have you ever been stumped and someone comes along with the answer and you think, “Why in the world didn’t I think of that?”.

Often times a clear mind and different viewpoint can quickly solve a problem or provide an answer to a question. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it, as it can also help to strengthen the communication within your organization.

7. Getting out of the office

As an entrepreneur, you have probably spent several 18-hour days behind your computer or worked through the night late at your office until the sun came back up. It is important to break your day up, for both your physical and mental health.

Take a few breaks throughout the day and walk around the office or take a walk outside to clear your head and give your eyes a break from the computer. Leave your office for lunch, even if you bring it – go eat outside and get some fresh air.

Want to jumpstart your day and have healthy energy throughout the day? Go to the gym bright and early before you hit the office every morning and get a good workout in. You will have a clear mind, abundant energy and improved mental focus.

8. Giving back

It is important to understand how lucky we are, as entrepreneurs, to do what we love. When you are appreciative of what you have accomplished and then take a step back to see what you can do to give back, it gives you a feeling like no other.

Nobody said being an entrepreneur is an easy thing to do, and while these qualities will not translate into automatic success, they sure can help.

From the Desk of the President
Huritt Global Business School for Entrepreneurship
Abuja, Nigeria

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Starting and building your own business is not easy. Nothing worth the effort ever is.

For anybody thinking about starting a business or had just recently started a company, it is always good to understand what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Never fall to some of the myths about entrepreneurship, like how to “get rich quick.”

I studied entrepreneurship for my graduate business degree (MBA), started a few companies, mentored entrepreneurs, and published a book on entrepreneurship. This is what I know.

1. Success can be defined in many different ways

Don’t make the mistake of focusing exclusively on how much money you make. I think money allows us to do things – nothing more, nothing less. You can use money to help others. It gives us the opportunity to be generous and to do the right thing.

2. Becoming successful will take longer than you think it should

And I mean much longer. There’s no way of quickly becoming successful. Don’t trust anyone who says otherwise. Those who advertise how rapid their success has been are conveniently leaving out the years they spent hustling prior.

Are you in this for the long haul? If not, you might as well get out now. This profession takes dedication.

You just have to hang in there. It is not a race or marathon, but a journey. You have to stick with something long enough to catch a few lucky breaks and eventually become successful.

3. There’s more than one way to achieve success

Learn as much as you can from others, especially those who are living the kind of life you want. Ask questions, the simple ones too. Take some entrepreneurship classes, and I suggest registering for Huritt Global Business School’s entrepreneurship class or boot-camp. Draw your own conclusions from what you learn. When you create your own road map, be willing to change it.

Flexibility will serve you well. Entrepreneurs are always in motion! We’re dynamic creatures. Evolve or die.

4. You must be willing to make sacrifices

Time is one of them. It just is. So make sure you enjoy what you do. Don’t let your dedication destroy other parts of your life.

5. Treat everyone with respect

We’re all interconnected. Industries are smaller than they seem. You’re going to meet the same people climbing up the ladder when you’re on your way down.

6. If someone treats you poorly from the beginning, don’t expect your relationship to improve

Unfortunately, in my experience, it doesn’t.

7. Try to be patient. I can’t stress the enough.

Lousy situations result when you rush. I think time is one of our greatest assets. If you give yourself enough time to think something through, you’ll discover more possibilities.

8. Don’t try to change difficult people

Focus instead on changing the way you deal with them. That’s the only thing under your control.

9. Have a positive attitude

People want to work with people they like. The only way you’ll be able to move mountains is if you believe you can.

10. Tell the truth, even when it’s painful

People might not like what you have to say, but getting real is what builds long-term relationships.

11. Admit when you’re wrong and move on

When people fail to take accountability for their actions, resentment festers.

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that life is too short not to enjoy yourself. Become an entrepreneur! Aim high! But more than that, focus on creating a business that has a great culture, does right by its employees and that people actually want to work for. That’s the best feeling in the world as far as I’m concerned.

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

From the desk of the President
Huritt Global Business School
Abuja, Nigeria

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1. Write a one-page business plan.

The key to a successful small business, especially in the startup phase, is to keep things simple and costs low. Costs don’t just mean your monetary costs, but also your time.
Many would-be small-business owners fall into the trap of trying to create the world’s biggest and most robust business plan. You’re only going to need that if you’re seeking investment or financing, and even if you will be seeking either of those things down the road, start out with by testing their ideas first before investing lots of time and money.

So to get started, create your own simple, one-page business plan that is a high-level overview of the small business you’re about to start.

1. Define your vision. What will be the end result of your business?
2. Define your mission. Different to a vision, your mission should explain the reason your company exists.
3. Define your objectives. What are you going to do – what are your goals – that will lead to the accomplishment of your mission and your vision?
4. Outline your basic strategies. How are you going to achieve the objectives you just bulleted?
5. Write a simple action plan. Bullet out the smaller task-oriented actions required to achieve the stated objectives.

That’s it. It might be longer than one page, but it will surely be more organized and shorter than a full business plan, which could take weeks to write. If you need more information on the one-page business plan, or want to write out a full-blown finance-centered business plan, you can contact Huritt Global Business’s startup center and speak with one of Huritt Small Business consultant.

2. Decide on a budget

While you must keep your costs as low as possible, you’ll still need to determine a budget to get started and how much you’ll be able to spend.

If you’re self funding, be realistic about numbers and whatever you anticipate your budget to be. An additional 20% tacked on for incidentals is a realistic overage amount that helps you plan your burn rate.

Your burn rate is how much cash you’re spending month over month. It’s an important number for you to figure out to determine how long you can stay in business before you need to turn a profit.

You should set up your business with profitability in mind the first 30 to 90 days. It’s possible. But have a budget reserve so you can survive if things go leaner than expected.

3. Decide on a legal entity

Filing paperwork to start a business costs money. Often, depending on the professionals, it can be a lot of money. You’ll need to account for any city or municipality licensing, state incorporation or business entity fees and more. Do a thorough search ahead of time to determine what the filing fees are for your city, county and state before starting any business.

Often in the initial “test” phase for your small business, it can be wise to start as a sole proprietor, as it means less paperwork and up-front expenses. That can save you some big-time cash while you determine the viability of your business.

Do be aware though that acting as a sole proprietor can put you at personal risk, so you’ll want to weigh the benefits vs. risks and then speak with a local attorney or tax professional to decide which is smarter for your short-term vs. long-term goals.

You can always file for a business entity once you’ve proven in the first three to six months of business that you’ve got a viable, sustainable model.

4. Take care of the money

Whatever business entity you decide on, keep the funds separate from your personal accounts. This is a big mistake that makes tax time and financials so confusing. It’s really easy to set up a free business checking account with your local credit union or bank.

All you’ll need is your filing paperwork, sole proprietor licensing information and an initial deposit to get set up from most financial institutions.

Don’t pay for an account or get any kind of credit lines yet, just get a holding place you can keep your money separated from your personal accounts. This should take you no more than hour at the financial institution of your choice.

5. Get your website

Regardless of whether your business will be brick or mortar or online, you’ll need a website and that means securing a URL. Popular domain sites such as HostGator and Go Daddy will allow you to search for the website domain address of your choice and purchase it for as little as 3,000NGN

If you’re starting an online business, you can tie your domain to an online shopping cart and store front such as Shopify for a low monthly fee, or you can build a basic website yourself on top of your URL with do-it-yourself drag-and-drop site builders such as Weebly for a low fee. Both are less than 20,000NGN a month.

6. Test sales

You have enough of a foundation now that you can start testing some sales. Try to spread the word in inexpensive and creative ways.

If you have a service-based business, get involved with your local chamber of commerce or small-business chapter immediately and ask what resources are available for you to speak, present or share information about your business.

If you have a product-based business, test the viability of your product at local swap meets or other community events to test what the public really thinks (and if they’ll purchase) from you.

Drive traffic to your website through simple Facebook Ads with capped budgets, or set up a simple Google AdWords account with a budget cap to test if traffic is going to your site.
You can follow these six steps by yourself for not a lot of money. It’s a fantastic way to test the viability of your small business before throwing all your time and money into an unproven idea.

From the desk of the President
Huritt Global Business School
Abuja, Nigeria

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Building the Buzz for your Small Business: Increase your number of clients

To grow your small business you must increase your number of clients. Here is a compilation of the several techniques that you can actively implement to help you grow your customer base.

One way to increase your business growth is to increase your number of clients. But first you must identify who your customers are and why they would buy from you.

You can define your target market by determining who is already selling to the clients you want to reach. Who has their respect, trust and goodwill? You can also list the benefits your product and/or services provide potential customers.

Next make a list of people who have a need or want for those benefits. You have just compiled a list of people who make up your target market. Now you need to grow your market. More customers will lead to higher profits and more business opportunities.

 Step 1. Refer a friend – develop a referral program

A referral programme is the systematic way your business encourages existing clients to tell people about your product or service.

A marketing referral is defined as an act of referring a friend or acquaintance to receive the same product or service that was offered to you. In this way your small business acknowledges your client’s value and importance, while increasing your number of clients and increasing your business growth.

How to build a customer referral system?

Evaluate your current customer contact list: Segment your current customer list into predefined categories. Example: Males and Females. Males might prefer certain products that women would not appreciate being referred for. Narrow down your list by only including those customers you know value your business and would refer you without an incentive.

Keep your information organized and confidential by using a referral template: There’s a lot of tracking involved when receiving referrals from customers. The referral codes, contact details, demographics and financial status. To keep track of all this it might be necessary for you to implement an automated system. See resources below or choose an automated process, there are many automated email and website tools available.

Contact your customers for referrals: Always explain to a client the type of referral you’re looking for: ‘A like-minded individual, like yourself’. Give them a clear picture of who in their lives would benefit from your product or service.

Extend a total risk free, obligation free offer: Offer to consult their referral or let them sample your product, without expectation of purchase.

Be consistent and follow through: Call these customer referrals as soon as possible and provide them with the same courtesy and professionalism you deliver to your current customers.

Step 2. Use online advertising

Online ads have become a daily part of internet life. Social media ads can boost your business’s ranking in the Google search results page; increasing your customer base through online conversions. As a small business wanting to grow your clientele, you have many affordable online ad options available to you:

Advertise on Google: Google search ads are online ads that appear alongside the search engine results page when users search for something in Google.

Use Google Adwords to bid on certain keywords in order for clickable ads to appear in Google’s search results. You can advertise your business on Google by opening a Google Adwords account.

Advertising on Facebook: Facebook ads are very popular and in most cases highly effective. 79% of adults have a Facebook account. Your company’s ad will appear on the side columns of the Facebook website with a headline, copy and an image. Facebook advertising tips:

• Have a goal. The Facebook type you choose will depend on what you’re trying to achieve.
• Use Facebook Offers to capture attention. This lets you exclusively promote to Facebook users.
• Include a clear and direct Call-to-Action.
• Use your Facebook ads to highlight special deals.
• Go crazy with images, Facebook loves it!

Twitter ads: Promoted tweets will let your tweets reach more people, effectively increasing your business’s visibility.

Use Google Display Network if you want to buy online Ad Space: This will enable you to capture people’s attention at different points of the buying cycle and you can choose more specifically where you want your ad to appear.

Step 3. Develop a social media strategy

Many small businesses have successfully used social media to grow their business and so can you. Create awareness of your brand and attract new customers by using social media to increase your business’s visibility.

Share information about your business by interacting with people on various social media platforms. Facebook is by far the most popular social networking site, though there are several other very useful ones for connecting with people. Popular social sites include Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram. Decide which social media platform suits your brand identity and start sharing.

How do I develop a Social media Marketing Strategy for my small business?

1. Firstly, choose your preferred social networks. Remember, if you don’t have time to consistently interact with people, DO NOT commit yourself to these networks.
2. Then fill out your business profiles and ensure you appeal to the heart of your audience.
3. It’s important that you find your marketing voice and tone. Look at your target audience and spend some time developing marketing personas. A buyer persona is a clear, detailed description of your primary, target customers. This is key to maximising your business exposure online, building relationships and increasing your number of clients.
4. Next, create a content plan and editorial calendar. The content you publish must be planned in such a way that it elicits sharing behaviour from users. If you do this correctly you’ll receive your very own team of brand ambassadors.

• Make sure users are able to share your content. Find out how to develop social share buttons in the resources section.
• Users must be interested in the content you created. Do your research.
• Your content must be relevant to your intended audience.
• Feature your fans in your content. Put them in the spotlight and show how much you appreciate them. Their friends will be impressed.
• Use an editorial calendar to help you plan your content. Remember, timing is everything.

Lastly, it’s important that you listen and learn from your social media strategy. Analyse, measure and evaluate your social media marketing efforts. Social listening, also known as ‘social monitoring’, is the process of identifying and assessing what is being said about your business. You want it to be positive.

 Build testing capabilities into every action you take on social networks. Track page visits, bounce rates and marketing success. Most social networks have basic analytics built into the site, but you will benefit from reporting tools.

Social media marketing tips

• Arrange a virtual meet and greet. This puts a human face to your business.
• Connect with prospects across various social communities. This will expand your follower base and extend your overall online reach.
• Improve your response times. Show you care by listening and responding in a timely fashion.
• Tailor content to your audience. Keep your content relevant and useful.

Now that you’ve attracted your target audience you want them to convert into customers. Do this by implementing risk reversal tactics.

Step 4. Risk reversal

It’s human nature to avoid the risk of pain; the risk of losing money or looking foolish. For your business to develop and grow you should make it as easy as possible for people to say ‘Yes’ to becoming a customer. Do this by taking away the financial, psychological or emotional risk factors.

Implement risk reversal strategies to lower a customer’s barrier to action. People regret it far more when they take action and receive negative results, than when they take no action at all. Combat this inaction by taking away the risks.

The more risk you eliminate the more pain you remove. This will result in an increased customer base. Risk reversal gives people a feeling of security and control and helps them decide to act immediately without fear or concern.

Type of effective risk reversal techniques:

• Return purchase without questions asked
• Money back guarantees
• Full and immediate return of purchase
• Define the minimum results a client can expect in a defined period of time
• Use customer testimonials to remove emotional risks
• Free trial period

Grow your Business by winning friends and influencing people

How to make people like you, by Dale Carnegie.

1. Become genuinely interested in people. I’m not saying you should be a suck up, but people like to be admired. When you greet people with animation and enthusiasm you will win more customers.
2. Smile. It’s not hard and it costs nothing. “You must have a good time meeting people if you expect them to have a good time meeting you”.
3. Remember your clients’ names and recall them easily.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage potential clients to talk about themselves and ask questions they will enjoy answering.
5. Talk about the other person’s interests.
6. Make the prospect feel important and you’ll have a client for life.

How to win people over to your way of thinking, by Dale Carnegie.

1. Avoid arguments. It’s true that the customer is always right. Even when he/she isn’t, why not let him save face? Don’t embarrass the person. You’ll catch more flies with honey.
2. Show respect for people’s opinions. Use a little diplomacy. Remember if you post it online, it’s public.
3. Admit when you are wrong. Be transparent when trying to gain new clients. Be honest and truthful, they’ll respect you for it.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person to say “Yes, Yes”immediately. Emphasise the things upon which you agree and get the prospect to say “yes”. With a second “yes”, there’s no backing out. People pride themselves on being consistent.
6. Let the prospective customer do most of the talking.
7. Let the client feel it’s their idea.When you make product and service suggestions to a customer, let him/her come to their own conclusion.
8. See things from the customer’s point of view. Become interested in the cause of their action and you can influence the results.
9. Be sympathetic to a client’s ideas and desires.
10. Believe the customer is being sincere and truthful. Always give him/her the benefit of the doubt.
11. Dramatize your idea.The benefits your product produces needs to be made vivid, interesting and dramatic for maximum impact.
12. Throw down a challenge. Stimulate a bit of competition to evoke their desire.

Even more ways to increase your number of clients

• Offer coupons and samples.
• Post YouTube videos demonstrating how your product works. Never sell without demonstration.
• Refresh your business image. Spruce up your logo and online profiles.
• Personalise user experience. Alter price and payment options to fit individual needs.
• Have human appeal. Be humble and don’t flatter yourself or your business, this harnesses resentment.
• Only give samples to people who have to take some form of action to acquire them.

Increasing your number of clients can be challenging, but the reward far outweighs the challenges. Implement above strategies and techniques to give you a boost over the competition. Remember to fall in love with clients, not your business or product/service.

Clients only care about what’s in it for them. Remove pain and demonstrate how your product can benefit their lives. Once they’ve become a committed customer ask for referrals.