We learn some important points and lessons at home, at school, and even at the university, and after a few days, they are forgotten or practically have no special use in work life. We hear from an entrepreneur who started his business from scratch and shared his good experiences from his working life with us, which are the most common issues we face in the business world and what problems are in our way.
- Your wins will not always be linear and durable
When we were students, we were told that if you try harder, you will get a better grade, and if we did all the guild and factory activities correctly, we would get a better grade. In schools, the criteria for measuring success is practically clear. More study, hard work and concentration will make you get a good and excellent grade. It means that everything depends on only one factor. X activity results in Y result.
But in entrepreneurial life, the situation is completely different. You can work hard, sometimes even more than usual, but not see results and vice versa. You may get some good opportunities and feel that you are in the right time and place. You may miss some opportunities completely and it doesn’t matter how much you get them.
When I first entered the job market, I worked 12 to 14 hours a day, I had control over all my work, and all I tried was to increase the amount of sales in my business as much as possible. But I didn’t always get the results I expected.
I had a broad vision of the market, but it was very difficult to compete with competitors who had more budgets and better networks. Even my work ethic towards others was insufficient.
I finally realized that when entrepreneurs create formulas for success, they are not dealing with one variable. Many factors and variables play a role in our work process. Some of these variables are under our control, but the majority of variables (especially external factors) are beyond our control. Identifying the factors and the effort made always leads to a proportionate result. For this reason I needed to expand my formula and make room for many other variables to enter the equation. - Rejection will be part of your routine
If you are a school student and you work day and night to get a good grade, it will be difficult for you to accept failure and not pass the exam in the first step. But in entrepreneurship, it may take a lot of effort to attract customers, buyers, investors, and even more sales, and you will face many negative answers. A lot of people might say “no” to you. This is saying “no” and not accepting the nature of entrepreneurship. Rejecting and not accepting is normal and constant.
For the first time, when our company opened a wholesale account, I really admired it because it was beyond our capacity and we were actually operating at the level of a relatively large retailer at that time. I felt very good about this step and felt that our products and prices were compelling in the market. After that step I didn’t hear from the customer, didn’t hear, and didn’t hear back, and finally I got a “no”.
At that time, I had a bad feeling and thought that my whole inside was hurting. That feeling and that pain was because I didn’t experience rejections and I thought everything would go my way. Then I realized that the more you are involved in the business, the easier it will be for you and you will find that rejection is a natural part of the growth process.
- Not everyone is going to like you—and that’s okay!
No matter who you are or how you treat people, there are people around you who don’t like you for no reason. This is a little difficult at first, but later it becomes routine. When I first started my job, I thought that since I treat everyone well, they should be kind and nice to me. But over time, I realized that the case is completely different. There are many people who are not always your fans and don’t like your work.
The presence of such people does not mean that we change our behavior or reduce our kindness. Not. Not really. We must continue our work honestly, warmly and comfortably. There is nothing wrong with having such people around us!
This is not only a fact, but also quite acceptable. There is no one on this planet that everyone loves him. Experience has proven that the more success you have and the more you enjoy it, the more exposure you have to your organization, and the more people who dislike and dislike you. Simply because the number of people who know about you and have the necessary information about you will increase. Part of hating weak people is being aware of your strengths. - Managing people is as important as managing your work
When I first started, I knew nothing about managing people. In school, we were taught to concentrate on our work. Instead of focusing on topics such as management, teamwork, negotiation, communication, decision-making, etc., many educations in school usually focus on thematic topics.
But recently, I realized that team and people management is equal to, if not more important than work management. This management is not just about reporting to them, but interpersonal, professional and management relationships that maximize value creation for all parties.
People management is more true for entrepreneurs. When you start an organization, you become a leader of leaders. Your job is to lead the entire organization and make it flourish, and your first line of defense is the leaders and managers who report to you.
When we reached the growth stage in our company where we had an executive leadership team, I was so used to managing my own workflow that I had to make a change and try to allocate most of our time to empowering other leaders.
Thinking about direct reports used to be a relatively small part of my workday, and now I pay a little more attention to it. Most of my time is spent working directly with organizational leaders, making sure they get what they need to improve and empower their teams.
- Be your own biggest hero
At home, when we were growing up, more emphasis was placed on being humble and thinking about others instead of emphasizing ourselves. In school, there was less need for self-improvement, professors only gave feedback on lessons and homework. But when I entered the business world, the rule and law are completely different. I found that being our own champion is not only important for us, but also effective and useful for creating and adapting our ideas.
In school and university, we used to get feedback from our professors about how to do class activities and exams. As an entrepreneur, there is practically no specific feedback about your work activities. In the professional world, there is no mandatory process by which your work is considered.
In order for people to even say “yes” or “no” to my business, I have to actively explain and share details about what I do. I had to learn to communicate with people, to be present at events, to understand the facts, adjust my activities and achieve my goals.
In closing, I must remind you that no matter how old you are or how far your career has grown, the important thing to remember is that it’s normal to have questions, that you don’t know how to do everything, never hesitate. Feel free to raise your hand and ask. Let your work be seen and be willing to remove the ideas that do not suit your business from your work system and instead focus on new ideas that meet the needs of the customer.
