When you think of great entrepreneurs, what are the names that come into your mind? For me, its people like Jack Ma of Alibaba, Anthony Tan of Grab, Richard Branson of the Virgin Group and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook.

What did these entrepreneurs do that made them great? I have identified 7 habits that they practise to be the great entrepreneur they are today.

1. Sales

15% of Fortune 500 CEOs had their start in sales. If you are the founder of your company, you need to be personally involved in sales. You know your company better than anyone else. Use this advantage to generate bigger sales instead of solely depending on your sales team.

The key is always in ABC – Always Be Closing!

2. Recruitment

If you want to build a big and sustainable business, it is all about finding the right talents.

For my business, how I conduct recruitment is to first determine the “who” before I determine the “what”. In my process of recruitment, I look for two quality points:

  • Their character
  • Their level of competence

Obviously, a person’s character and actual level of competence cannot be fully observed in an interview.

My practice is to create probing questions on a person’s character and provide them with situations to answer. To determine their competence, I would listen to them explain their previous work experience and to perform a pitch for my company through his or her work.

3. Training

As the founder and CEO, you know the type of work culture you want in your organisation. What is the best way to ensure that your employees are able to fit into your culture? Be involved in corporate and induction trainings to help employees to fit in.

Listening to the founder is very powerful if you want your people to catch your vision.

4. Planning

As the saying goes, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Apart from marketing, business development, sales, communication and administration, strategic planning is the most crucial part if you want to put your brand on the global map.

Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and a pioneer investor of Facebook wrote a book entitled Zero to One. In his book, he identified strategic planning as an important part for businesses to grow into a global brand.

If you already have the other departments in place, it is time for you to shift your focus to strategic planning. If you are still in the setting up phase, complete your strategic planning for your brand then build the other departments accordingly.

5. Learning

I believe that every great entrepreneur has an attribute of learning. They are keen readers, always up to date with the latest trends and technologies. If you desire to lead your business bigger and better, it is time for you to read and learn more! Remember that all leaders are readers.

There are so many things in the world to learn – focus on what you need to learn that will directly grow your business. There are two things that you need to consistently learn:

  • How to increase your personal value
  • How to increase your business value

How can you increase your personal value through learning? Read up on materials that focus on motivation, focus and discipline. You can even read up on books written by established entrepreneurs on their success stories to replicate their soft skills when they are faced with tough situations.

Every business has opportunities for branding, marketing, and industry advancement. Look for materials that provide insights on future development for your industry to regularly update yourself with the latest trends to expand your business’s capabilities.

6. Communicating

Every entrepreneur needs to communicate their thoughts, ambitions and goals clearly and concisely to everyone in the organisation. Great entrepreneurs have the ability to communicate well to prevent miscommunication in the organisation’s directions and goals.

It is important for business leaders to gather feedback and listen to the voices from the ground. Employees are the executioners of the organisation’s directions and goals, they understand problems faced on the ground better than senior executives.

Value their feedback, help them to solve their problems and you will have a team of motivated advocates to grow your business bigger together.

7. Motivating  

Great entrepreneurs are able to consistently motivate their employees to believe and achieve bigger accomplishments. Employees that are unmotivated will leave your organisation to seek new opportunities to keep them motivated and valued.

Being the top gun in your organisation can create distance between your employees and yourself. How can you close the gap and motivate them as a leader?

  • You need to be in constant communication with all your people
  • Empower your people
  • Promote positivity

You need to develop a healthy mind to keep yourself motivated and positive before you can motivate your employees. You cannot motivate people when you are unmotivated yourself.

Humans are sensitive beings – we are made to sense emotions from people around us. If the entire organisation can sense your negativity, it will spread. Negativity is contagious, but so is positivity! Work hard to maintain positivity because it will greatly benefit your organisation.

Keep these 7 habits close to your heart and see your organisation explode in growth and stretched to new heights!

To your success,

Mario