“Robbie’s Top 10” That Stand the Test of Time - 21 years!!!

Last month a very successful entrepreneur sent me an email with the subject line:

….so you know I am not just blowing smoke up your backside

And the email:

… Have had this taped to my desk for 21 years. It is timeless and industry agnostic. 

To say I was blown away by this would be an understatement – I had no idea anyone remembered anything I have ever told them or advised them beyond the day or week we spoke, but here was proof that I had made a difference for at least one person and really, what more can you ask for? I must agree that this 21-year-old Top 10 still applies today,  so here it is in my 2019 words:

1.     Practice Listening – Listening is the cornerstone to success for all of us and especially for entrepreneurs where often the key to success is discovered by listening to customers, partners, employees, competitors, and even family. Learning to listen to others rather yourself is not always easy but can be so powerful.

2.     Surround Yourself with Smart People – Surrounding yourself with really smart people from various disciplines and experiences makes you smarter.  Know your ultimate strength and then find those who will fill in all the holes that you can’t. Its fun, but can also challenging at times. But, so worth it.

3.     Spend Investors $ Wisely – I think this is always true, but particularly in Pre-revenue companies.   I suggest founders think of it as Other People’s Money (OPM) because it is!  Someone somewhere worked hard for that money and it deserves to be used wisely.  It often seems the easiest path is to “throw money at a problem” but indeed agility and leverage usually bring about better and more long-lasting results.

4.     Articulate & show vision – Founders can usually visualize their product or service, but it’s not always easy to share it with others. It is so important to share with others; it’s the only way to get feedback, pushback, buy in and the only way to build a team to take you there.

5.     Trust and Respect Partners –Your most important partner is always your customer, but here I am talking about partners like lawyers and accountants and vendors. Finding the right ones is like choosing your mate: you will spend a lot of time with them, probably money too, and you need to have mutual trust and respect for each other. Partners can lift you up or take you down and you can do the same for them, so choose wisely.

6.     Have Unlimited Stamina & Passion – This ”idea” that has you on your entrepreneurial journey usually comes with sleepless nights, self-doubt, enthusiasm, and gut wrenching fear… but with an unbridled passion that you are going to build/create/develop your “baby” and nothing is going to stop you or get in your way!!! Passion is both exhilarating and exhausting and you need to be healthy and fit and vibrant to get through it.  You need more than staying power! You need unlimited stamina which means you must take care of yourself, your body and your brain!!!

7.     Don’t take yourself too seriously – The entrepreneurial journey is filled with some incredible highs and some devasting lows.  It’s often easier to bask in the highs which can lead to what I call “ego blight.” What is ego blight? It’s when you think you are smarter or better than everyone around you and so you waste all your energy on showing off your brilliance rather than staying focused and leading your team to success. This ego blight causes great difficulties for everyone around you and damages and spoils all that you have built.

8.     Focus, Focus, Focus – It sometimes seems smart to explore several versions or channels for a product or service as a “hedge” against choosing the wrong path, but in fact what it does is dilute all the work and confuse the team and the market. You need to decide on a lane and stay with it until you realize it is wrong for any number of reasons. Only then should you stop and change lanes and start a new focus and go for it.

9.     Develop a Sense of Humor- Whoever said laughter is the best medicine was right, it is the glue that holds us together. To be able to laugh at yourself and all the crazy and ridiculous things that can happen, make them more bearable. It’s also good for the soul.

10.  Leverage Your Ego, Don’t Bronze it – It is said that you cannot be a successful entrepreneur without a big ego, but  I would  argue that  successful entrepreneurs don’t build companies or products or services for the titles or the money to feed their ego but for the thrill of the chase. They question the norm, are audacious enough to try something new, always looking for a better way. Their ego & confidence gives them the leverage they need to jump in and start a new venture and it also allows them to give credit to everyone involved – it is not about them.