Why do some entrepreneurs make it while others fail?
Nine out of ten new businesses fail in the first five years. Of the one in ten that survives another nine out of ten of those survivors fail in the second five years.
May the odds be ever in your favor….. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
Seriously though, those are some pretty harsh numbers. So what separates the failing businesses from the successful ones? Could it be leadership qualities?
In his book 8 Lessons in Military Leadership for Entrepreneurs Robert Kiyosaki takes you back to his military career and lets you in on the qualities that have made him successful.
Robert Kiyosaki has been one of my favorite authors ever since I read Rich Dad Poor Dad (a must read for anyone wanting some out of the box personal finance.) So I was excited to pick up Kiyosaki’s latest book 8 Lessons in Military Leadership for Entrepreneurs.
What It’s All About
In this book Kiyosaki walks you through several powerful lessons learnt from the military including:
- Respect
- Speed
- Discipline
- Authority
- Sales and Leadership
- And More
This book was packed with all kinds of amazing insights. Today I just want to go over my two favorite sections. (And look for your chance to win a copy down below.)
Fail as Fast as You Can
“The number one reason why entrepreneurs fail is that they are terrified of rejection. Their fear paralyses them.” –Robert Kiyosaki
How true is that statement? Rejection used to terrify me. Being ignored or told no, even in the politest of ways would bother me for days. (In fact if you dig deep enough in these archives you can see some proof of my fear of rejection when I first started looking for writing jobs.)
I used to hate being rejected. And then, something changed.
Instead of beating myself up for not being good enough I started to embrace rejection and even failure. As you all know I’ve tried quite a few business ideas over the past couple of years. More ended up in failure than they did in success. And now, I completely agree with Kiyosaki – You need to fail as fast as you possibly can.
Develop Your Discipline
I love reading about discipline. I truly believe that having a strong sense of self-discipline will drastically improve all areas of your life.
When you do what you say you’re going to do your confidence increases. When you don’t do what you say you’re going to do your confidence and morale decreases. I want you to be aware of this because I promise it holds so much truth. (I’m speaking from experience.)
{I like to mark up the stuff I love in good books!}
There are so many get rich quick schemes aimed at those looking to start their own business and it’s tempting to want to try and take the easy way. Unfortunately, this just won’t work. Building a business takes time, patience, and most of all self-discipline.
You have to be disciplined enough to keep doing what you need to do even when you aren’t making any money. You need to be disciplined enough to keep pitching even though you’re getting hit with a handful of “no’s.”
In the book 8 Lessons In Military Leadership for Entrepreneurs Kiyosaki covers the four cornerstones you need to improve on to master discipline and offers some ideas to help develop self-discipline.
Want to Win a Copy?
Leave a comment letting me know which area of entrepreneurship you struggle with the most or which section of the book you’re most interested in.
The giveaway is open until June 16th. The winner will be chosen at random and contacted then.
In the meantime you can check Kiyosaki’s new book 8 Lessons in Military Leadership on Amazon.
How do you handle self discipline even when you are not sure you are headed the right way ?
I wonder how you can teach self discipline to your kids ?
I struggle the most with discipline. There are so many other things that can distract me that I get overwhelmed and think, “If I can’t do it all, I might as well do none.”
DISCIPLINE..and yes, I am yelling it to myself. I struggle with discipline as I am very easily distracted. I know what my passion is but the distractions tend to momentarily take me away from the things that matter.
Glad to see you are indulging in the military mind…just be careful for we might recruit you. You could blog about all the drama that goes on from day to day. Trust me when I tell you, it will be impossible to run out of material.
I think I struggle with a number of issues. I had business failure, so, fear paralyzing; I can relate to. Also, discipline to see it happen and just doing it, is an issue. Respect of ability, self-confidence…so many nuts to crack Would really be an interesting read, I think.
Discipline, and managing my ideas. It is sometimes hard to choose what to focus on and stick with.
Discipline it favorite area. Been experimenting with keeping track of my work in the way a marathon runner logs training. This way I’m rewarded for my work and can see what I’m up to. I don’t always so it but when I do I’m more effective and accountable.
Discipline of myself and trying to keep myself focused, I have so many ideas and things I want to try I lose focus sometimes. Also, getting busy with home life and not managing my time well.
Discipline, focus, and letting go of perfectionism. That last one is probably fear of failure in disguise.