Superheroes aren’t the only ones with secret weapons. Successful entrepreneurs have used this secret power that helped them catapult their business success for centuries. And no it’s not some secretive software that makes them 10x more productive or a pill that gives them the ability to predict the future (although that would be nice).
No, it’s actually three habits that anyone can build that turns you from mediocre entrepreneur to hulk smash kinda entrepreneur.
The Secret Sauce
When I was younger, I had a mentor that would constantly drill in this idea of an entrepreneur mindset. He felt it was the “secret sauce” that allowed entrepreneurs to be successful. I never really believed it because honestly it just didn’t click for me.
It probably wasn’t until several years later and multiple mildly successful businesses that the lesson became more real and personal. The secret sauce is a trifecta of habits that once combined, make you an unstoppable entrepreneur. Each habit in itself is powerful, but if you mix them all together you get IN-N-OUT (For all my West Coasters) amazing.
I’ll do my best to help it click for you faster than it did for me. The sooner you learn these habits, the sooner you’ll be on your way to business stardom.
Even Keel
The first habit of the secret sauce trifecta is being “even-keel.” If you haven’t heard this phrase before, it comes from a nautical term that means a watercraft moving in a smooth level manner. In more practical terms, it means you’re stable and consistent.
One of the truths of entrepreneurship is that you’ll face challenges. There are no ifs, and, or buts about it. You will face them. You don’t have control over the fact if you’ll come against them or not. The only control you will have is how you respond to the challenges.
I’ll admit, early on in my entrepreneurial journey, I was an emotional wreck. My emotions would flip flop like a fish out of water. When things were great, I’d be ecstatic, walking on cloud nine. When adversity hit, I’d wallow in my own self-pity and wonder why all these bad things would happen to me.
Now don’t get me wrong, we all have bad days. We won’t react well to all situations. BUT as we mature in our business journey, we should see less and less volatility (ups and downs) not in our challenges but in our emotions and how we handle situations.
In actuality, the more successful you become, the bigger and more frequent challenges you’ll face, and that’s not a bad thing. It just means you’re doing more and bigger things, that’s unless you’re foolishly sabotaging yourself and causing your own problems. That’s another story.
Emotional Stability
As I’ve grown in my own journey, I’ve noticed that I’m less reactive to both great news and challenging times. I just realize it’s part of the business and there is no point killing myself over the stress of it all. Yes, celebrate the wins but also don’t get so invested in them that when “crap hits the fan” you go from high to below the attic low. Stay even keel.
When things aren’t going so well, breathe, take the situation in, and do your best to find the best course forward. Problems will exist, you just have to stay level headed enough to figure out the best solution, which we’ll talk about in the next secret sauce habit.
Solution Oriented
If you’re even keel, you can make better decisions because your brain isn’t in overdrive. Once you have the right frame of mind, the next habit that catapults your business success is being solution-oriented.
This means that you’re constantly focused on finding a solution to whatever challenge you face. Have you ever hung out with a person that just complains about their situation or challenge without figuring out a solution? It’s like they enjoy just talking about how bad things are and why things always happen to them.
Think about that. That saps energy. Who wants to do business with someone that’s constantly draining your battery. Partners don’t, employees don’t, and sure as heck investors don’t.
Even as an employee, I don’t know of a single boss that loves hearing employees complain about a problem without coming up with a solution. The ones coming up with implementable solutions and acting on them are the ones that move up.
If you want to enable your secret super power, stay solution oriented. Don’t complain about your situation, find a solution. Act on it. That’s an incredible ability that will pave your way in gold.
Positivity
The last leg of your three-legged stool of entrepreneurial power is positivity. No, you don’t have to be unrealistic and live in la-la land but a bent towards positivity and optimism will make all the difference.
Staying positive and optimistic allows you to adventurously move forward in business. It gives you that extra oomph you need to take that calculated risk without thinking about all the negative things that could happen.
Yes, it’s important to be methodical and calculated by understanding the possible scenarios associated with the choices you’re making, but positivity allows you to take the leap forward regardless of the potential pitfalls.
If you’re always thinking about why things will fail, you’ll never take a step forward. And one of the biggest traits of successful entrepreneurs is a bent towards action and a willingness to “fail forward.”
With Our Powers Combined
If you were a fan of superhero cartoons like Power Rangers, Voltron, and Captain Planet (I’m dating myself) then you know that when their powers combined, they were much stronger together.
If you want to take on the next level of business, harnessing the three superpower habits together, even-keel, solution-oriented, and positivity, I’m sure you’ll see your business gaining more traction. These are indisputable traits of super entrepreneurs.
They might not all come right away. It takes discipline, experience, and dogged determination. The sooner you’re able to make these qualities a habit, the sooner you’ll see them working for you.
Go get em soldier.